Broadband connection failure

georgiac

My broadband is playing up, I'm not sure what the problem is, and would appreciate some advice.

I'm with TalkTalk - I know, I know !!! but to be honest for the last 5 years or so they have been great.

Now however my internet connection fails very regularly, at least half a dozen times a day, often more.

My router is in the lounge connected to a satellite box, and wirelessly to pc's and laptops.

The signal strength from the router is also poor and often non existent to other parts of the house.

How do I diagnose the fault and what would you suggest I do next please?

I have heard you can update the firmware by entering 192.168.1.1 in the browser but that brings up a user / password box and I don't know what to put in there?

Is it possibly just my router that is rubbish and if so what would you recommend?

Leaving TalkTalk isn't an option as I am tied for quite some time.

Thanks

robmar0se

Good day.........

What would I do?

1. Have you rebooted the router, ie removing power, count to 10, and restarted?

2. If yes: to test, I would temporarily move the router to near the telephone master socket, and plug in one of the laptops into the test socket (behind the faceplate) via an ethernet cable. Run a speedtest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_telephone_sockets

Try again with a different filter.

3. If still a problem you need to eliminate yr equipment as the cause - ie I would "borrow" a router so that one can compare the evidence - appreciate that this isn't always practical/possible. If telephone engineer is called, and identifies the problem as internal you could be charged £140 for the pleasure!

4. Router sign-on may be found here http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/1397/~/how-do-i-set-up-my-router%3F
- usually there is a small hole at the back which allows you to reset back to factory settings (in case you have changed the sign-on details and can't remember them).

macman

If you know that the signal strength is poor, then you've probably answered your own question-but you need to test with ethernet as advised above to rule that out.
Make and model of router?

lemontree

Talk Talk often offer discounts and special offers to accept further contracts. I have been with them for years and although the price is good, Customer Service is incredibly bad and most give incorrect answers to queries
Keep your options open and don't extend your Contract again.
Hope you resolve your problem!

georgiac

Thanks guys, it's a D Link DSL-2640R.

I can't test at the socket at the mo. but will later.

robmar0se

http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/1376/~/how-do-i-set-up-my-router%3F

access is 192.168.1.1 : admin & admin (lower case)

georgiac

I have just done a non-scientific speed test - ie via wifi dongle on pc and it gives me 12.5mb download speed, which seems fine.

WHat I don't understand is why it hicups so often and loses connection.

GunJack

possibilities.....

1. satellite box
2. weather
3. dodgy microfilter
4. router beginning to fail
5. a line fault external to your property.
6. other equipment/phone extensions/etc. failing within your property
7. a neighbor has got a new router and it's wifi is interfering with yours

7 in particular is becoming more of an issue as more people get N-standard routers - the extra bandwidth is, if the router is using the 2.4GHz band, actually broadcasting over several wifi channels to achieve this. This happened to me recently with next door, I solved it with a higher-gain antenna on my router and picking a channel that was away from theirs. Theirs was spanning channels 1-5, so I ended up on channel 8 (also avoiding the other popular channel, ch.11. Just this by itself can cause poor performance, run inSSIder on one of your wireless lappys, it'll show you what other routers are operating close to you and help you pick the least congested channel in your house. Use a lappy so you can move around the house with it, 'coz I bet you'll pick up more or less routers in different parts of your house.

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

TalkTalk

hi georgiac,

There are a number of possible causes of interference that can affect speed and stability.

If you contact us via the TalkTalk Members Forum we can investgate into any issues you may be experiencing. Alternatively you can tweet us @TalkTalkCare.

Cheers

Mark
TalkTalk Online Community Department