Need a stable router that works with Airplay

Hi there!

I have a Marantz hifi, connected to my router/modem by ethernet and stream music wirelessly from a Mac using Airplay.

I'm with Post Office Broadband and my first router was a white Zyxel - can't remember the model. It wouldn't work properly with Airplay so PO sent me a Zyxel AMG1202-T10A. This worked like a dream until I moved house and found it couldn't hold an internet connection.

PO kindly sent me a Thomson Technicolor TG582n. This has given me a superbly stable connection, but now I'm having trouble with Airplay again...

I've tried several tips and tricks from other forums, then considered using the best features of both routers by joining them together and configuring the Thomson to bridge mode and letting the Zyxel handle the wifi and routing. But for some reason bridge mode isn't available on my version of the TG582n, or it's there but not available in the GUI. I tried a few telnet commands but didn't really know what I was doing to be honest.

So anyway, I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and part with some readies. Can anyone recommend a router that (a) offers very good stability on poor quality lines (presume this means a broadcom chipset?) and (b) works with Airplay.

Here's hoping!
nforne

You can use the Thomson as the modem and router, and then just use the Zyxel as a wireless access point.

The precise details will be different, but a quick guide doing this on another router should help you with the steps needed.
http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/wap/configuring-wap.html

More information for you on turning an old router into a wireless access point.

http://www.tested.com/news/how-to/298-how-to-use-an-...

http://i.dslr.net/pics/faqs/image93081.jpg

Thanks for the suggestions - I tried this setup last night:

TG582n (upstream)
IP 192.168.1.254
Gateway 255.255.255.0
DHCP 192.168.1.64 to 192.168.1.253
Wireless disabled (I'm not trying to gain extra coverage - both routers are in the same room)
Connected by ethernet to Marantz MCR-603 (I'm assumed that it doesn't matter which router the hifi is connected to?)

Connected by ethernet to:

Zyxel (downstream)
IP 192.168.1.2
Wireless enabled


With this setup I can access the Zyxel over wifi and connect to the internet as normal. The Marantz is connecting using DHCP and was allocated 192.168.1.64. The airplay icon was available in iTunes and I was able to stream music fine. Everything was looking good!

But then I had the exact same problem that I was getting when I only use the TG582n - after an hour or so the music stops and the Airplay icon disappears from iTunes.

So I guess that's eliminated wifi and it's something to do with the TG582n's routing?

The gateway is 192.168.1.254.
255.255.255.0 is the subnet mask.

Sorry, my error in typing this up from notes (not an error in the setup).

Are there any power saving settings anywhere?

UPnP issues maybe?

In reply to a post by Deadbeat:

Are there any power saving settings anywhere?

I'm fairly certain that power saving is disabled but I'll check tonight.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

UPnP issues maybe?

How do I troubleshoot uPnP?

In reply to a post by nforne:

..... How do I troubleshoot uPnP?

I doubt that the logs will reveal much so manual port forwarding is probably the best "test". I'm not sure that UPnP is the problem though.

Have gone back to a simple one-router setup with the TG582n. Tried port-forwarding using the ports listed here, restarted everthing, but still cutting out after playing an album or two.

Power saving is disabled.

I've had a breakthrough I think! An employee at Plus.net posted this, which has successfully put my TG582n into bridge mode.

Now I could do with a bit of advice on how to get everything connected up. I need the TG582n to handle the internet and pass the data on to the Zyxel, which will handle the wifi and routing. The Zyxel doesn't have a dedicated WAN port - hope this won't be a problem. Will this kind of setup work?

With the 582 in bridge mode you need another device that can handle and provide NAT to your LAN

So if the zyxel does not have a WAN Ethernet port then still stuck

Oh no..!

Well, thanks for trying anyway.

Problem solved! And it wasn't anything to do with the router after all.

Did I mention I'm a mac user? Well I took a look at console and at the exact same time the music stops there's a LOT of activity from something called 'GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon'. Seems that if you have any Google software installed on a Mac (Chrome, Google Earth etc) then you also have this automatic updater that dials home and installs things behind the scenes. Seems that the amount of activity was causing network issues.

I've uninstalled everything Google-related and am happy to report that itunes, airplay etc is behaving nicely once again! If you don't want to uninstall there's another option here� http://support.google.com/installer/bin/answer.py?hl...

Sorry for misleading you with my OP but I was damn sure it was the router, having had a similar problem in the past. Hope this helps someone.