I Think I Found Out What Is Wrong With My Internet

[Z0rz]

As I stated in my introduction topic: My internet has been going out.
But I think I've found the problem.

I'm certain my router is going out.  We plugged our internet line directly into our computer and my internet is suddenly working fine.  Just need a new router and I might actually be able to do something here, heh heh.

[Leviathan]

Hope you get it sorted !

[RockNavator]

Of course we care! And lets hope the a new router solves it, eh? I think I have the same issue with my freinds router.

[BlackBox]

One thing you might try is updating the router's firmware. That might resolve problems / bugs that are preventing it from working properly. I know a recent firmware update with mine resolved some nasty bugs when using BitTorrent. (Too many connections from BitTorrent would cause the router to crash / lock up, before the update).

Also, some routers become unstable after running for a couple weeks. Cycle the power every so often and it might work fine. (After all, a router is just a very small, inexpensive computer with a (usually) specialized installation of Linux (and they usually have less than 32 MB of RAM. This is too little to reliably run Linux on)).

Linksys, since the v5 revision of their WRT54G router, has switched away from Linux (which is too bad for people who do firmware hacking / modifications) because of the memory requirement.

Oh, word of warning when you do the firmware update. Be sure you are connected to the router directly (via a cat5 cable) instead of via wireless during the update. Also, if you use a laptop, connect to AC power (don't run off of battery power) when you are performing the update. (You wouldn't want to accidentally lose the connection or lose computer power when the firmware is being flashed -- the router will become unusable).

[Z0rz]

One thing you might try is updating the router's firmware. That might resolve problems / bugs that are preventing it from working properly. I know a recent firmware update with mine resolved some nasty bugs when using BitTorrent. (Too many connections from BitTorrent would cause the router to crash / lock up, before the update).

Also, some routers become unstable after running for a couple weeks. Cycle the power every so often and it might work fine. (After all, a router is just a very small, inexpensive computer with a (usually) specialized installation of Linux (and they usually have less than 32 MB of RAM. This is too little to reliably run Linux on)).

Linksys, since the v5 revision of their WRT54G router, has switched away from Linux (which is too bad for people who do firmware hacking / modifications) because of the memory requirement.

Oh, word of warning when you do the firmware update. Be sure you are connected to the router directly (via a cat5 cable) instead of via wireless during the update. Also, if you use a laptop, connect to AC power (don't run off of battery power) when you are performing the update. (You wouldn't want to accidentally lose the connection or lose computer power when the firmware is being flashed -- the router will become unusable).

Ah, thanks for all of the tips..

But we're certain it is going out... well, I do tend to be wrong though... I think this router is over 4 years old... my brother gave it to us since he got a new one.

It only goes out at certain times (usually around 7 to 10 PM), so we think it might just be it getting too hot or something.  Although, it went out completely the last few days we were using it, whether we had it unplugged for hours or not.

I think by next week someone in my family will go and buy a new one...

[Hooman]

I had problems with my old router sometimes crashing. Usually only under high load, but sometimes it seemed pretty random. Restarting it usually helped, but sometimes it took multiple restarts before things started working. We eventually just got fed up and got a new router. I never have any connection problems anymore, but the throughput for large files transfers is significantly slower now. I used to get 127 KB/s up regularly, but since the new router it seldom goes above 80 KB/s up. Then to make things worse, we got a newer cable modem that's capable of capping the bandwidth. Since that I don't seem to get more than 50 KB/s up. Granted, there are probably other factors, but those values were averages, and it's been significantly lower for days now.  


Btw, from what I hear, a lot of the older cable modems didn't allow for software set caps. They were set to work at about 7 Mb/s. A lot of cable companies seem to offers plans at 5 Mb/s and 10 Mb/s. But if you're paying for a 5 Mb/s subscription and have an old modem with no software set cap, then you can quite possible achieve up to 7 Mb/s speeds. If you want the faster subscription then they force you to upgrade your modem to the newer kind that can actually handle over 10 Mb/s, but also has a software settable cap.


Anyways, long story short, my brother decided to surprise my dad with a new TV and a cable TV subscription. When the cable guy came by to deal with the cable TV he also upgraded our cable modem. I wish I had been there to complain about that part. The worst part is, the old modem is gone, and it was paid for.

Btw, my brother is a network engineer working for a cable company. Hence how I've heard about some of those things. Among other things the cable company probably doesn't want you to know. Like how [bit of uncertainty here of details] your cable modem actually keeps track of bandwidth usage, and sends the logs everyday at some preset time to the cable provider. At least with the old modems I've heard that power cycling them will make them forget. So if you power cycle your modem just before it's supposed to send it's logs, it will register as no bandwidth used for that day. I don't know for sure if that really works as I've never tested it, nor am I really sure how to test it. Plus it sounds like a really dumb way to operate, so I can't imagine why it'd be done that way. But hey, I've heard of worse.

[BlackBox]

Btw, my brother is a network engineer working for a cable company. Hence how I've heard about some of those things. Among other things the cable company probably doesn't want you to know. Like how [bit of uncertainty here of details] your cable modem actually keeps track of bandwidth usage, and sends the logs everyday at some preset time to the cable provider. At least with the old modems I've heard that power cycling them will make them forget. So if you power cycle your modem just before it's supposed to send it's logs, it will register as no bandwidth used for that day. I don't know for sure if that really works as I've never tested it, nor am I really sure how to test it. Plus it sounds like a really dumb way to operate, so I can't imagine why it'd be done that way. But hey, I've heard of worse.

Hmm, I've never heard of that (at least in the US, maybe different depending on different parts of the world).

I know in the US, most cable modems use the DOCSIS standard. It defines how the cable modem is to connect to the system. Probably the most important thing that it changed from old modems was the way it throttled bandwidth.

During modem boot-up, it connects to the ISP's gateway server using TFTP and downloads a configuration file. This file gives the operating parameters to the modem, including the maximum transmit / receive rates. (Basically, a different config file is selected based on what service tier you're paying for).

On most modems, this is always read from the network (coax side of the modem) and cannot be replaced by the user. On certain modem (like the Motorola Surfboard, probably others), if the modem is booted up before the coax cable is connected to the modem, it will try to download the config file from a TFTP server on the LAN (ethernet) side of the modem. This is one way people "uncap" their modem (get the ISP's config file and transmit a modified version of it to the modem to allow for faster speeds).

I have also heard from people who work for the cable company that it is next to impossible for the ISP to detect uncapping (usage of service above the speed being paid for), since the way cable systems are setup (bandwidth is shared among all users in a certain neighborhood / area). This way, if you uncapped a little bit (say you set your cap to that of the highest tier service), it would look normal to the ISP. (If you started going wild and setting the cap to ten or fifty times the normal data rate is, then you're in for some trouble since that would create a noticeable difference).

I've never heard of logs being transmitted though. I know when I had cable internet my modem kept basic logs (which you could read through the config page) regarding connection and line status (stuff like sync being established, signal-to-noise levels, etc). There was nothing regarding bandwidth usage that I could see (I don't think the logs got transmitted to the ISP either).

(note: regarding the uncapping discussion above -- uncapping is theft of services and is illegal. If the ISP does catch you, they will probably terminate your service and possibly may want to take you to court to try and get restitution for the extra bandwidth you 'stole').

[Hooman]

Yeah, my new modem is DOCSIS, the old one wasn't.