My brother just bought a wireless router and we're trying to get it hooked up and working. However, whenever we use the router, the internet speed drops to like 1kb/s. Webpages start loading, but they never finish, which means that the speed is dropping to near 0 kb/s.

 

Any ideas on where to start troubleshooting this? I have roadrunner cable. I checked the cables and they seem to be fine. It seems to be a problem between the router and the cable modem.

Have you tried some basic single-elimination troubleshooting? Like disconnecting the other computers from the network, or testing connections between local computers through the router? That would definitely pin it down to a router-modem issue.

 

Which router and modem are you using?

 

Can you list some of the basic configuration settings?

you might want to get a modem and router in one. Thats what we have and it works ok.

Make sure you have any required software installed.

 

If the signal is encrypted for security, which apparently most routers now do, make sure your computer can decrypt that, (normally from some software you need to instal).

 

Make sure you actually have a connection... go to DOS which in windows XP:

start > run > cmd > ping [router's internal IP address]

so for me, my router's IP is 10.0.0.2 so I'd type:

ping 10.0.0.2

Internal IP, this is different from what you'd get if you went to http://www.whatismyip.com/ internal IP's vary between:

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255

172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

I'm not sure how you can find it out, it might say in the router's manual.

 

Once you know if you've got a connection I'd try going through the router configuration stuff.

mine is, I think, 192.168.2.1 That's where I go to configure my router, etc. All innet addresses, are for some reason, 192.168.2.X. The router holdign the first position.

 

That's probably the default. You could run ifconfig in a shell. I think there is a less comprehensive version for windows called ipconfig, though you can still find the IP in it (i would assume).

 

I know that for wireless connections, software is required (on my router) but anything running acorss ethernet doesnt. Did you read your instructions? The software comes before the hardware comes before the device/driver install. Put in an ethernet card and run a cable to your computer. If it runs faster, then your problem is in your network card install.

My brother just bought a wireless router and we're trying to get it hooked up and working. However, whenever we use the router, the internet speed drops to like 1kb/s. Webpages start loading, but they never finish, which means that the speed is dropping to near 0 kb/s.

Make and model? We could be here all year with the random suggestions party. It's most likely DHCP not behaving, or entirely absent.

Are DNS names being resolved? Do you actually see any part of the webpage?

 

Also, is the NIC PCI or USB?

I'll start with what I've done, then maybe you guys can make suggestions on where I should go:

 

I've eliminated the possibility of:

• faulty cables
  
• faulty cable modem and internet connection
  
• faulty router ports
  
• bad wireless reception
  
• faulty computers (same problem on both computers)
  
• faulty USB ports, ethernet cards
  

I'm using a motorola cable modem (I'll have to look up the exact model), and a D-Link 524 (revision c) wireless router. My ISP is brighthouse roadrunner cable. The router appears to be working fine. I can ping it and connect to it by typing in the IP address. One of my computers is hooked up to the router via an ethernet cable. The other computer is on a wireless connection. Both computers are assigned an IP address by the router. The router can release and renew the IP address from the ISP (brighthouse roadrunner).

 

I believe it's a router-modem issue. Some setting isn't right and thus the router and modem have a hard time communicating.

 

Can you list some of the basic configuration settings?

Yea, don't know which settings would be useful though.

 

I'll post some screenshots of configurations here in an hour or so.

Are DNS names being resolved? Do you actually see any part of the webpage?

Yes.

 

Also, is the NIC PCI or USB?

One computer is connected USB (wireless), and the other is NIC. Same problem on both machines.

Believe it or not, I'm using exactly the same router right now.

 

Can you go to the Router's setup pages (192.168.0.1)? Then click the WAN button at left and tell me how that page (the Home tab should be yellow) is configured.

Yea. I'll post it in about 10 minutes (had to disconnect everything to get back on the internet).

Ok, I'm gonna run out for a few minutes and grab some lunch, but I'll check when I get back. I don't know that I can really help you much, though, because what I'm thinking is that you are going to have to talk to someone who uses the same service as you, so you can figure out what the settings are supposed to be and then translate them into terminology that the 524 uses. That's where I may be able to help. You should run some searches and see if you can find some boards with other users of your service.

 

I have DSL service through BellSouth. We use PPPoE here and the router has to issue the username and password. Generally speaking if you get these settings wrong it doesn't allow connection at all, but I can see where some of these settings might cause you to have an intermittent connection.

Here's some SS of the router config

Well my car appears to have died on me, so it looks like I'm dining in today. (chuckle)

 

Ok, are you sure you're not supposed to be using PPPoE and logging in to the service? What you've done is how most cable services work but not all of 'em.

We had problems with our router's DHCP when we had both LAN and WAN nodes connected to it. With just one or the other it worked fine.

Tried that :/ I'm just going to return it and try a different one.