Anyone work for BT Broadband? or anyone who knows about BT Broadband

widget1974_2

My parents keep loosing their wireless broadband connection. I sorted it out yesterday when I saw them by pressing the restart button and following the screen instructions. Its done the same thing today, Dad has done exactly what I ave told him to do after yesterday but still they have problems.

Im wondering whether it is a BT connection issue or the computer? Anyone have any ideas? I am not seeing my parents until the weekend so any help would be appreciated.

Widget 1974

staffie1

Mine kept doing that when I first had it. Got fed up with resetting and reconnecting, so used the ethernet cable supplied and now have a normal wired connection from the hub. Can't be doing with it. Safe from roaming hackers too.

darich

my laptop does that aswell.
I'm running vista and have heard of problems with vista and firefox so I've got firefox, explorer and Chrome installed.
I find that chrome doesn't have that issue but the other two do.
Not sure of a proper fix though.

Strider590

Sounds to me like you need to change wireless channels, they role out these routers to just about everyone and leave them all set to wireless channel 6, Ive detected 3 poor saps around where I live that have the routers set to the same channel.
You won't get a stable wireless connection if your getting interference from other networks.

People go out and buy new routers which they don't need, but the new router works because it's not set to the same channel.
You need to get into the router config by connecting using the ethernet port and typing "api.home", from there it's in wireless settings.

You also need to check that their computer isnt jumping between networks, it should be possible to tell it not to.

staffie1 wrote: »

Mine kept doing that when I first had it. Got fed up with resetting and reconnecting, so used the ethernet cable supplied and now have a normal wired connection from the hub. Can't be doing with it. Safe from roaming hackers too.

What roaming hacker's? believe you me, your not that important that someone will sit outside your house for nearly a day trying to hack your WEP key lol

Plus, connecting via ethernet cable makes no difference, your still on the network and unless you turned off the wireless in side the router, your still at just as much risk.

staffie1

Strider590 wrote: »

Plus, connecting via ethernet cable makes no difference, your still on the network and unless you turned off the wireless in side the router, your still at just as much risk.

How do I turn off the wireless then please?

Strider590

Open internet explorer, type "api.home" into the address bar (the long one at the top).
Click on "advanced"
The default username/password should be admin/admin (If I remember correctly).
Click on wireless.
Deselect "Interface Enabled" and hit the Apply button. Done.
Warning..... this will stop any wireless devices connecting to the router including the Hub phone.

Psychofly

Strider590 wrote: »

Sounds to me like you need to change wireless channels, they role out these routers to just about everyone and leave them all set to wireless channel 6, Ive detected 3 poor saps around where I live that have the routers set to the same channel.
You won't get a stable wireless connection if your getting interference from other networks.

Exactly what I was going to suggest. I had problems with my BT Home Hub until I changed the channel. Think I switched to channel 11 but it's all dependant on who is using what channels in your area. Switch it and see how it goes for a couple of days then if necessary try switching it again until you get one that's stable.

Guide for doing it here :
http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_adp.php?p_sid=xYNHQYaj&p_faqid=9605&cat_lvl1=346&cat_lvl2=502&p_cv=2.502&p_cats=346,502

frivolous_fay

We only used wireless for a few days while our homeplug was out of action, and we were ready to smash the homehub by the end of it!

Every time a neighbour connected their wireless, it would shunt us off. Changing channel did not help. Putting the wireless antenna at 45 degrees angle (lol) did not help.

Save your sanity... use wired

Strider590

frivolous_fay wrote: »

We only used wireless for a few days while our homeplug was out of action, and we were ready to smash the homehub by the end of it!

Every time a neighbour connected their wireless, it would shunt us off. Changing channel did not help. Putting the wireless antenna at 45 degrees angle (lol) did not help.

Save your sanity... use wired

Using a laptop per-chance?

Most laptops will try to jump onto the strongest wifi signal (for wifi hotspots etc), especially for some reason those with Belkin wifi adaptors.
They need to be set so that they stay locked on to your network.... This normally involves setting up a "profile" in the connection utility.
My brother's block of flats had something like 7 or 8 wireless networks on the go, his laptop wouldn't stay connected to one or another I of course fixed it for him.

frivolous_fay

Strider590 wrote: »

Using a laptop per-chance?

Most laptops will try to jump onto the strongest wifi signal (for wifi hotspots etc), especially for some reason those with Belkin wifi adaptors.
They need to be set so that they stay locked on to your network.... This normally involves setting up a "profile" in the connection utility.
My brother's block of flats had something like 7 or 8 wireless networks on the go, his laptop wouldn't stay connected to one or another I of course fixed it for him.

Actually no, two custom towers, both with the same problem, but admittedly two (not quite identical) Belkin adapters.

Strider590

frivolous_fay wrote: »

Actually no, two custom towers, both with the same problem, but admittedly two (not quite identical) Belkin adapters.

Ewwwww, im inclined to withdraw my laptop comment, but my Belkin adaptor comment still stands, are they USB dongles?
The configuration utility was a pain. I can't termember how i worked out it was jumping from network to network, I think the info comes up when you hover over the network icon in the notification area. I wish I had my brothers laptop to hand, I could be more useful I think.