Wireless broadband cuts out - making a phonecall fixes it?

minnie123

Hi,
I have a problem with my wireless broadband and just wondered if anyone could give me any ideas how to fix it before I get back on the phone to Orange.

It works fine for a bit but then the internet connection keeps dropping - it used to do it every so often but yesterday it was happening every 10 mins - which made the internet unuseable. But the strange thing is if I make a phonecall it comes back on. I normally just ring 1471 and then internet connection is restored.

I have googled this and spoke to Orange this morning but I can't seem to find out what can be wrong. I have done a full factory reset on the router per Oranges instructions and it has been working ok all morning but then it just did it again and I had to make a phonecall to get it back.

It's not my laptop because the internet is connected to another laptop and they both go off at the same time.

If any has any ideas I would really appreciate it - I need to do some work later and I need the internet so a bit worried it's not going to stay connected.

minnie123

Just gotta pop out for an hour so will answer and questions when i'm back - (if I can get online)

Thanks in advance x

penrhyn

Is it the wireless link failing or the internet connection to your router?

Suggest connecting one laptop using ethernet, see if that drops the connection.

MikeWhitehead

+1 on penrhyn's suggestion. Have one connected wirelessly and one connected wired (Ethernet) and see if the wired connection also drops. Make sure you disable your wireless connection on the laptop you are going to be setting up as wired, as it might lead to a false positive in the diagnosis.

Scho

I don't mean to insult your intelligence but I have to ask; have you got microfilters in every telephone socket you use?
Have you tried connecting the router to the master socket to reduce the change of internal wiring?
Then taken the faceplate off the master socket and tried in the 'service' socket behind there?

If that doesn't work it could just be a crap modem that's not able to handle your line. I had an old Belkin router at my rented place which kept dropping connections every 30 mins but seemed fine somedays and rubbish the next and only played up when I seemed ton eed it on. Line tests etc all resulted it being fine so the modem was the weak link prior to getting an engineer out that may cost me more. I bought a new one (the belkin one was mine anyway to reduce costs) and it suffered no problems. If you've got someone who can lend you their kit for an hour it may help diagnose it; you just need to grab the settings off the orange modem first.

macman

Can't see any connection to using the phone, but the first things to do are a) swap out the ADSL filter for a known good one, and b) change the wireless channel on the router to a different one. These are cheap/free possible fixes and quick to carry out.
If it drops out using ethernet as well, then you needn't bother with step a).
Dont bother with Orange TS, it's about as much use a a chocolate teapot. Their next conclusion would be that your laptop is faulty...
Be aware that the Orange Livebox is notoriously awful and you'd do better just to get a bog-standard Netgear DG834G for about a tenner on eBay and use that.

kwikbreaks

macman wrote: »

Can't see any connection to using the phone

When the phone is off the hook it draws more current and that can have an effect on any dodgy joints in the line. If it rings that involves even more current passing and a common issue is sync dropping when it does.

All the obvious stuff like filters needs checking over first but I have a nasty feeling that this could just be a line fault. Having to deal with Orange TS in such a case may be very frustrating indeed so let's hope it's not.

minnie123

Hi - feel free to insult my intelligence I admit I am useless when it comes to things like this.

The router is a siemens gigaset my livebox failed after 3 years of use and I have had this new router for nearly 2 years. I didn't know you could buy routers other than what orange send you - is that easy to do as I am happy to buy or borrow one and try that.

The laptop stays connected to the router but the router isn't connected to the internet (there are no DSL or Online lights on the actual router) as soon as I call 1471 it comes back on within 15 secs??

I have bought a new filter just from Tesco (I dodn't know some where better than others so I don't know if it's any good as it only cost £3) I have replaced my old filter with this one (old filter is prob a few years old). I am yet to see if it will continue to fail now the new filter is in place.

I haven't tried a wired connection yet - that is the next thing I will try if this new filter does not fix the problem.

How do I change the wireless channel on my router?

Thanks for everyones suggestions so far

Lil306

Make sure there is filters in every telephone extension

Try using the test socket on the main NTE5 Master Socket

Each time I've seen internet dropping it's been because of filters or bad settings within the router (i.e authentication types)

MikeWhitehead

If it stays connected to the router but the Internet connection itself is dropping, that would point more likely towards either issue with filters, issue with the line, or (although unlikely) even an issue with the phone itself. Out of curiosity, is it a cordless or corded phone?

Let us know how you get on with the new filter then we can move on from there; how often does it usually happen?

GunJack

these sort of faults inevitably turn out to be line faults, for the reasons outlined by kwikbreaks above (once you've ruled out the router/filters).

I agree that orange TS will make your hair turn grey before they actually resolve the fault