Noisy router

Horizon81

I've just joined plusnet and have been supplied with their technicolour 582 router. I know the reviews of this aren't great, mainly due to the wifi but mine's ok in this regard - I have a strong wifi signal throughout the house. My problem is there's a faint (but clearly audible) high pitched noise coming from it.

When I put my ear to the top of it I can hear an electrical interference buzz, with the high pitched 'squeal' in the background. It's like that ringing noise you get in your ears. Any idea's what's up with it, or if they're all like that?

I'm sure my friends home hub 3 and talk talk D Link routers run silently or arent audible unless you stick your ear right up to them. Those both have a large power supply on the plug, whereas mine is just a flimsy looking mobile phone style charger/plug. Does this play a part? Why is the plug/power supply so much bigger on the home hub and other routers?

Ximian

I have the same router and it does not make the high pitched noise you described, I know what you mean though, I've had other equipment such as a cheap switch make this high pitched sound.
I'd recommend contacting Plusnet and informing them that the router is emitting a high pitched noise and you would like a replacement. You're not the first to mention this issue, the following Plusnet thread might help: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,108864.0.html/

Horizon81

Thanks. I did a thorough google search but couldn't find anything specific to plusnet. That's the exact sort of post I was looking for.

Horizon81

Oh and ximian, if you put your head to it, can you hear any noise at all?

Enterprise_1701C

I don't have the same router, but my guess would be this is a capacitor overloading on the power supply, this is likely to go before too logn so definitely ring them and ask for a replacement.

Ximian

Horizon81 wrote: »

Oh and ximian, if you put your head to it, can you hear any noise at all?

It's completely silent, I wouldn't know if it was on or off if it wasn't for the lights.

kwikbreaks

These sort of problems are usually reported for switch mode power supplies which operate at much higher frequencies than the older transformer type. I think what you hear is caused by actual physical vibration of the inductors in them and it represents a fault. Large numbers of people have complained about the VM Superhub PSU in the past and although I've had 5 of the wretched things because of other faults I've never heard one - that may just be beacuse I'm a cloth eared old git though.

Just out of interest does this router have an internal PSU (ie no power brick)?

Horizon81

kwikbreaks wrote: »

These sort of problems are usually reported for switch mode power supplies which operate at much higher frequencies than the older transformer type. I think what you hear is caused by actual physical vibration of the inductors in them and it represents a fault. Large numbers of people have complained about the VM Superhub PSU in the past and although I've had 5 of the wretched things because of other faults I've never heard one - that may just be beacuse I'm a cloth eared old git though.

Just out of interest does this router have an internal PSU (ie no power brick)?

The plug is small and light, unlike the plug on my friends Talktalk D Link one, which is chunky and heavy. Excuse my non technical explanations. I'm sure the plug says 'Switched mode' on it.

But the noise is primarily coming from the router, rather than the plug itself.

Horizon81

Ximian wrote: »

It's completely silent, I wouldn't know if it was on or off if it wasn't for the lights.

Something else I'll ask, is do you use the wifi on it? In the router settings there's a power reduction mode which is meant to turn the wifi off it's not being used. I enabled this function on mine however even after I didn't use any wifi for 12 hours the wifi light on the router still comes on periodically.

Ximian

I don't use the WiFi on the Technicolor, it has been disabled because it sucks, this is an interesting read: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,108698.0.html/.
I use a Buffalo WAP flashed with DD-WRT for my WiFi needs, which is much better and I can get close to 300 Mbps if I use a USB WiFI adapter TP-Link TL-WN821N
I'll run some tests on the router with WiFi enabled with power saving and let you know what happens.

Horizon81 wrote: »

Something else I'll ask, is do you use the wifi on it? In the router settings there's a power reduction mode which is meant to turn the wifi off it's not being used. I enabled this function on mine however even after I didn't use any wifi for 12 hours the wifi light on the router still comes on periodically.

kwikbreaks

Horizon81 wrote: »

The plug is small and light, unlike the plug on my friends Talktalk D Link one, which is chunky and heavy. Excuse my non technical explanations. I'm sure the plug says 'Switched mode' on it.

It certainly sounds like it has an external switch mode PSU. Strange that the unit itself is making a noise - I've certainly never come across that either personally or on boards like this one. Whatever the cause it certainly shouldn't be doing it and you should be able to get a replacement.