wifi failure

Just moved from Be (several problem free years on adsl2+) to Plusnet FTTC in order to get more speed.

Using supplied equipment BT Modem + TG582n router (2nd one - Plusnet have swapped out the first one).

Ethernet is fine stable, doesn't drop and getting advertised speeds.

WiFi is problematic. I have a strong signal but the connection to the internet keeps falling over (and I only get it back with a reboot of the modem/router. My laptop can 'see' the router on WiFi but there's no connection to the net. Ethernet continues fine when this happens. Same with all devices: Win/Android/IPhones.

Have tried switching channels - no difference. Interference? - nothing obvious, it's not happened before (when with Be it would stay up for weeks) and it happens at seemingly random times.

Ideas please!

can you access the router on 192.168..... when it's in this "off" state

Try downgrading the wireless to 802.11g mode only - sometimes interoperability can be issue

If that does not work, then try turning off wireless security and then turn on a simple WEP key, then WPA and then WPA2. Have also seen devices that don't work with all the security modes sometimes

Yes

so that suggests the wireless layer is OK in that you can chat to the router wirelessly and see its web page.

When it's "off" you could try doing 'nslookup www.bbc.co.uk' from a command line to see if that works, and if it does try 'ping www.demon.net' to see if you can send packets across the internet.

If 'ping 192.168.whatever' on a command line works to the router address, and 'ping 89.145.83.36' doesn't, then your router has issues with routing. If these both work but 'ping www.demon.net' doesn't then it's a DNS issue.

thanks - will give this a whirl when it goes...

here we go ..

on ethernet - everything OK
on wifi:
nslookup - times out
ping demon - could not find host
ping 192.168.etc - 2ms 0% loss
ping 89.145.83.36 - 18ms 0% loss

I'd appreciate some help with what this means and how it might be resolved!

In reply to a post by Beetnik:

on ethernet - everything OK
on wifi:
nslookup - times out
ping demon - could not find host
ping 192.168.etc - 2ms 0% loss
ping 89.145.83.36 - 18ms 0% loss

Sound. This shows that you have a DNS problem, the DNS turns a web site or server name into a numerical address which is used for the comms. Your internet connection is working fine as you can ping to external sites over the wireless and the ping to the router is confirmation that the router is pingable over the wireless.

So, if you get a command window up like for doing the ping and do 'ipconfig /all' then post the output here (highlight it and press Enter to copy). I'm interested to see what the DNS server setting is.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Steve>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Anjare
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : lan

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-B9-00-93-1A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : lan
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-FB-9F-F5-B6
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::894a:f65:6eb6:5815%10(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.66(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 February 2013 09:38:35
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 15 February 2013 17:35:59
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 184558331
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-A9-5B-D3-00-26-B9-00-93-1A

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.lan:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:5ef5:79fb:849:1ec5:2bc7:9386(Prefe
rred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::849:1ec5:2bc7:9386%23(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4F0A8D05-935B-4CA0-8801-FF4624D798D5}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Steve>

firstly if you don't use IPv6 yet you could untick that in the properties of the connection as some routers seem to have issues with it.

You could put manual DNS server entries into the TCP/IP properties of the wireless connection to 208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS) and 8.8.4.4 (Google) or possibly get your ISPs DNS server addresses from the status of the WAN side of your router.

That way the wireless laptop will be able to access an external DNS server and bypass the router which appears to be failing to respond to DNS requests.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc775637(... may be interesting.

Phil

A big thank you! I think what you're saying is there's a problem with the router.

It's over two weeks since I raised a ticket with Plusnet and, despite pinging responses to and fro and maybe four hours on the telephone with them they insist it's a wireless quality issue, nothing to do with them and they've refused to help further.

So you're doing better than the combined resources of Plusnet - although I doubt you'll see that as any kind of a compliment!

Steve

A big thank you! I think what you're saying is there's a problem with the router.

It appears not to be providing DNS service to its wireless clients, so "yes"

Might be worth checking what the DNS server is on the wired ethernet connection, as the two connections have different TCP/IP parameters.

Conceptually a firewall could be responsible too.

Here goes!
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Steve>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Anjare
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-B9-00-93-1A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::dd86:d65c:c89c:407b%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 268445369
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-A9-5B-D3-00-26-B9-00-93-1A

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222
8.8.8.8
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : lan
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 AGN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-FB-9F-F5-B6
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.lan:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:5ef5:79fb:811:3c11:2bc7:9386(Prefe
rred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::811:3c11:2bc7:9386%23(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4F0A8D05-935B-4CA0-8801-FF4624D798D5}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Steve>

In reply to a post by Beetnik:

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222
8.8.8.8

Then the DNS settings in the router are faulty. Best to fix them there so that they will apply to all wireless devices.

OK, the wired Ethernet has manual settings and is using external DNS server settings and a manual IP address etc. It isn't using DHCP like wireless is, where the router dishes out settings to wireless clients. If that isn't a recent change it explains why wired works.

I would be tempted to factory reset the router by holding reset thingy in for >10s until the lights flash. Then put in your Plus net login details and retest.

Otherwise as before set the DNS servers manually in the wireless network connection on laptop.

You could check the DNS settings on the router, perhaps it is wrong so the router can't resolve addresses.

OK I think I'm beginning to understand this...
Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
Ethernet is using 208.67.222.222 and 8.8.8.8 - Open DNS and Google and so is working OK i.e. bypassing the router.
Wireless is using 192.168.1.254 - the router and the router's faulty in this respect.
If I use 208.... and 8.8.... for wireless I'll bypass the router for DNS so should be OK.
I need to change the settings in the router and not my laptop or the settings will only apply to my laptop and other clients will continue to have the problem.

I've done a factory reset on the router but it still has the same settings as previously. So I still need to change the router settings for wireless. I therefore need to find out how to use telnet? OR buy a decent router which is easy to configure.

Sorry to need my hand holding on this and I do very much appreciate the guidance here (and I'm adding to my knowledge!)

You can manually set the wireless to use a different DNS server. So you could make the wireless use the same DNS as the Ethernet.

HOWEVER this isn't a solution it's a coverup. The router is not providing the DNS server properly with DHCP which it should be doing. Manually setting the DNS is just covering up the fact that the routers not working right.

You paid good money for this service and you should not have to mask problems. These things should just work. I would not settle with this as a solution.

You should not have to manually set a DNS server ever. It causes problems elsewhere e.g. say you try to connect to a WiFi hotspot such a BTopenzone, the cloud etc, it wont load with the custom DNS settings.

The true answer is to get the router fixed which may involve plusnet sending out another replacement. If possible ask for an alternative model.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 15-Feb-13 03:06:53)

In reply to a post by Beetnik:

OR buy a decent router which is easy to configure.

Why should you buy a router? The one plusnet provided is faulty and that's not your fault. I've never seen a router do this before. Mine can be plugged in for 3000 hours and not mess up like this. I just use my ISP provided router. You shouldn't have to pay yourself because the ISP has provided something sub-standard. Get onto them again.

Ethernet is using 208.67.222.222 and 8.8.8.8 - Open DNS and Google and so is working OK i.e. bypassing the router.
Wireless is using 192.168.1.254 - the router and the router's faulty in this respect.
If I use 208.... and 8.8.... for wireless I'll bypass the router for DNS so should be OK.

Correct. But these settings are all on the laptop, if you look at the ethernet connection TCP/IP properties you'll see it isn't using DHCP as it's set to manual with lots of entries. If you set it to auto like the wireless then the wired connection will probably not work either.

If that is the case, you need to check what the DNS server setting on the router is, from the WAN page where you see its external IP address etc. If the router has an invalid DNS then it can't do lookups on behalf of connected devices. Ideally you should fix that then any random wireless or wired device will work automatically in the future.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

OK, the wired Ethernet has manual settings and ... a manual IP address etc. It isn't using DHCP like wireless is

EDIT: Ah, OK! You are going by:

In reply to a post by Beetnik:

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 15-Feb-13 11:35:07)

Correct!

In reply to a post by Beetnik:

I've done a factory reset on the router but it still has the same settings as previously. So I still need to change the router settings for wireless. I therefore need to find out how to use telnet?

You should be able to change the router's DNS settings thro' its Web GUI interface. Look for something like
DNS Addresses: Manual/ Auto/ Obtain from ISP on its Set-up page.

and..

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1(Preferred)

That was my point!

In reply to a post by yarwell:

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1(Preferred)

That could have been issued by DHCP. It is similar to the IP for the wireless PC.

Or are you inferring that 192.168.1.1 is outside DHCP range?

I believe that the "(Preferred)" indicates the router trying to issue a sticky IP; not a hard-coded IP in the PC. I get it on my Vista PC but not on my XP PC with router DHCP issued IPs.

I've only seen preferred on fixed ip addresses TBH. But I don't do this "IP by MAC" stuff so don't have experience of what that looks like.

192.168.1.1 isn't the greatest choice of fixed IP, if the router is changed it may be on the same address.

No, I don't do "IP by MAC" either. I get the "(Preferred)" on Vista w/out using it.

We'll only know if this IP is fixed for sure by OP looking at his TCP/IP properties on wired PC.

Ah - yes - the DNS servers were set on the laptop. I thought they were on the router. Thought it was a bit odd that Plusnet would use Opendns and Google.

I've changed the settings on the ethernet connection to 'Obtain and IP address automatically' and 'Obtain DNS server address automatically'.

Plusnet have agreed it's a router issue and are dispatching a new one. Hopefully that will sort it.

Post deleted by XRaySpeX

Desktop? I don't think I mentioned a desktop (and I don't have one!)

Sorry, I assumed the Ethernet readings were from a separate wired Desktop.

So what you had before was DNS set on the Ethernet adapter of the laptop and Obtained Auto on the wireless adapter.

Yes -odd wasn't it?

If the DNS settings in the router are faulty and, as it seems, you can't change them, doesn't that make it that the laptop cannot evaluate any domain addy?

Wouldn't it be better to change the DNS settings on the wireless adapter to what they were (Google/OpenDNS) on the Ethernet adapter so that you have at least a working system until the new router arrives?