Another Router Problem?

I have been connected with Sky for about 3 months now and all has been good - I started using my own router pretty much straight away (D-Link 604T) since the Sky one kept flaking out. I put it back in the box and thought nothing more of it.
A few days ago, the wireless component of the D-Link failed meaning I went to using the Sky router. This was okay for a few hours, until I rebooted it and the wireless component failed to work correctly. I should note I am using two laptops, with one Vista Home Premium, the other with XP Home SP2 via wireless, and all steps were repeated with both.

First of all, wired ethernet connections work okay.
At times, the laptops can find the wireless network but not connect, othertimes they cannot see the network at all. This seems somewhat random, and sporadic in nature - cyclic between power downs.

I contacted Sky about this, but no doubt they will give me the run around so I am asking the Hive Mind once again. I saw elsewhere on this forum that it is a known problem and updating to the latest firmware may fix "an" error (though perhaps not mine). I would try this, but I don't think Sky would take too kindly to replacing my re-flashed router if the update isn't successful.

Any thoughts?
Thanks.

It seems very odd that you should have wireless problems from two different routers. Maybe there is something interfering ?

That would indeed be correct, but my other router is almost 2.5 years old and was playing up in a different property with a different ISP with a different computer on more than one occasion before now. It is just a coincidence they have collapsed together.

I have found that routers can struggle (get much hotter and suffer dropouts) when used to supply both a wireless connection and act as an asdl modem.

I have a stable setup using one router (the Sky supplied) as the adsl / dhcp router with only wired connections (wireless turned off) and I reserve an ip for my wireless router which is connected by cable and only supplies the wireless connectivity (i.e. dhcp turned off, set to use the reserved static IP).

If that makes sense to you, it might be worth a try, as you can set this up just from the control panel, using your old router as the modem and the sky supplied one for wireless. If you can get another wireless router, you could do the same as me and use the Sky supplied one as the initial connection, which keeps you within the Sky terms and conditions.

I also find it very odd that both routers wireless sides failed - I'd expect the whole router to die not just wireless. I would suspect something else going on - are there other local wireless networks trying to use the same channel? Have you tried getting a connection with security turned off on both sides and both sending and receiving machines physically close to each other?

Hope you get this sorted

Though it seems bizarre that both have failed, in fact the Sky one was faulty out of the box and the D-Link one went iffy almost a year before in a different house so I know it isn't something else at work - just bad luck.

The Sky router is currently working wirelessly, but who knows if it will after the next reboot?

I have thought about using them as a Modem -> Router set-up but using two boxes is a pain for me since they are both visible in my living room, never mind the wires etc.

If companies designed products properly (and/or had good tech support) we wouldn't need these workarounds.

True duffbeer, SKY's Netgear DG834GT seem struggling when after warmup.
I notice that 2 of the BROADCOM chips on the circuit broad are too hot but nothing to cool them inside. Alot heat buildup when the modem sit horizontally, the over heat chips slow themself down or stop .
My solution are sticking heat sinks (eg: ram sink ) on both chips and stand up the modem by install 2 legs. It will work alot stable and cool.

I am not Sky BB customer since May, I mod the modem back to stock Netgear firmware. I have block of 8 IPs (5 usable) from my current ISP.
My setup is Sky's modem as adsl modem only. 1 of 5 IP used by one wireless router for all my pc. Another 1 of 5 IP used by VOIP ATA .

DG834GT is a fast modem if you can take the heat out of it.

Personally speaking, I wouldn't give either the Netgear or the D-Link routers house-room (too many bad experiences with these brands in the past). Within 30 minutes if getting Sky, I had switched from the frying-pan Netgear to my trusty Speedtouch 546 v5, which has already given more than a year's stirling service. The Speedtouch is very stable on Sky Max, and will quite happily work down to 0.5dB SNR. If you want wireless, I would recommend the Speedtouch 585.

I think only the business model of Netgear modem is worth to buy these day.

BUFFALO is my choice now . My wireless router WHR-G54S need only 3.3v , power consumption about 3.4W (said on the package box ). Cool at summer too.