Router drops connectivity
 

We have a problem that's been developing on our home wi-fi network lately, in which we lose online connection every so often, usually after everything has been working fine for an hour or two. We get that message in Safari 'you are not connected to the internet', and no bytes are coming in.

What's strange is that all the green lights are still on on the router (Netgear D834G), no flashing lights, the wi-fi network symbol is showing fully in menu bars on our 3 Macs. Usually everything can be solved (for a while) by restarting the router (and also restarting individual computers).

It all used to work fine with the same setup (router wirelessly feeding 3 Macs).
My ISP has suggested a few things, and to get an engineer to check our system is going to cost an outlandish amount of money if it turns put to be a problem with our equipment rather than their line.

I've tried changing cables/plugs/resiting the router, updating the router firmware, everything short of trying a different router. I'm considering getting an Apple Airport Express, because I'm convinced that the router is the problem.

Anyone got any other suggestions before I spend the money?

It could be DNS related. As a test enter manual DNS settings in System Prefs > Network > Airport > Advanced > DNS.

You can use your ISP DNS servers or a third party like Google (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).
Run it for a while and see if you are still getting problems.

I have seen so many issues with Mac's not picking up or routers not passing DNS correctly due to Apple's move to using mDNSresponder. It is buggy.

Thanks agentx-tried that, but the problems remain. Still dropping connection regularly.
Extra info-we are out in the country, about as far from the local phone exchange as it's possible to be, and have always had a lousy broadband rate. That said, it was working consistently until lately.
Any other ideas?

Is the router provided by your ISP? If not, do you have the original modem/router? you could try swapping that one out for a bit to see if it is the router before you take the plunge and buy a new one.

Have you done the usual things - updated the firmware, reset the router and re-configure etc?

edit: didn't read the last paragraph, ignore me :/

Is the IP address set by DHCP or manually? I often find that manually setting it can be more reliable.

Looking like router swap then to test further. Of course there is other deep network stuff that could help MTU settings etc. But check router logs to see if there are any clues. However consumer grade routers do not have comprehensive logs.

Yes the log is incredibly basic and has no details. I've gone ahead and bought an Airport Express, and at least I'll know, once it's arrived, where the problem lies.

Also at the end of the day the Airport Express will still need to use the old Router/Modem ie. no ADSL modem. Also i am no fan of of Apple Network gear and would have just bought a new Netgear router for same money unless of course you want Airplay ( the AE only use IMHO)

I have had issues in the past (after a few years) with those Netgears WIFi transmitters soft failing and or modem not working correctly.

In my opinion, there are basically two places where this problem might be caused:

1) the modem
2) the router

With the modem, you can request your ISP to swap it out, in hopes that that is the cause.

With the router, you can bypass it completely--as a temporary check you can connect a computer (which I hope you have locked down well--it will be subjected to various attacks when unprotected by NAT) directly to the modem.

If a computer connected directly to the modem experiences these same drops, then the modem is at fault.

If swapping out the modem fixes the problem, then the old modem is at fault.

If, on the other hand, connecting directly to the modem does not experience drops, and swapping the modem for another doesn't fix the problem, then it's very unlikely that the modem is at fault and it is probably the router.

Trevor

Hi Trevor
The Netgear DG834G is both router and modem...so I don't know how to separate the two functions.
I've ordered another identical one-I found a new cheap one online-so then I can see if it's a fault with the original or something endemic to the line.
I didn't realise that Apple's Airport Express isn't actually an ADSL router...so as soon as that arrives, I'll put it up for sale if it has no useful added functionality.

One thing that's puzzling me is that whenever I get the problem, I reboot the router, and things are kind of OK, but when I then restart my Macbook, the connection is much better. Why should this be? (It's a real pain to restart my Mac ten+ times a day.)

Is it just one mac or all devices that suffer from problem ?
Can you wire in to router using cable and test for a while ?

That's puzzling, and tends to contradict my previous belief that it's an issue with either modem or router. Does the problem show itself on other Macs, or other devices on your WiFi network like game consoles, smart phones, tablets, or whatever?

Does the problem show itself on a different user account on your MacBook?

Trevor

All three of our (wireless connected) Macs (one iMac, two Macbooks) have the same issue, when the connection 'drops', it does for all of us.
And we did try plugging a laptop straight into the router: same problem-if the connection drops, the direct plugin makes no difference.

Instead of restarting your Mac, try just turning Airport off and then on again (using the Airport menu item near the right side of the menu bar).
This will result in your Mac re-initializing all the network stuff, including "talking" to the router to get an IP address and DNS server(s).

One thing that hasn't been clarified yet in this thread (as far as I can see) is whether your Macs are getting an IP address from your router or directly from your ISP.
You can usually tell the difference easily from the range of the IP addresses that your Mac is getting.
If the IP address (shown in Network Preferences) is in the range 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x, then it is provided by your router. If it is in some other range, then it is likely provided directly by your ISP - which might explain some of your symptoms.

No, it's the good old 192.168 type.
Thanks for the tip re turning Airport off. BTW I assume I'm correct in thinking that Apple call (what used to be) Airport 'Wi-Fi' now. I only get the Options 'Wi-Fi', 'Ethernet', 'FireWire' and 'Bluetooth PAN' in Network prefs, no sign of Airport.

hayne advised using the Airport menubar item, near the right side of your menubar, not your Network Preference Pane. Try that.

http://www.iclarified.com/images/tut...85/733/733.png

Trevor

No 'Airport' in my menubar-I think it's the same thing, something Lion started:-

Yeah - that's the same thing. WiFi = Airport
So use that to turn off/on WiFi when you have trouble.

You can also get detailed information about your WiFi connection from that menubar item.

Trevor

Tried a different router today, which I just bought brand new, to test the ongoing problem, and that won't even connect to ADSL? WTF?
It's the selfsame model as the old one (Netgear DG834G, only the new one is v5 as opposed to my old v3). When I plug it all in, the green light flashes at 2Hz, then at 4Hz (trying to establish ADSL link) but never gets there.
When I plug back the old router, it gets ADSL, using the same cables, straight off.
Yes, I've tried switching all the cables, changing the splitter for the phone/ADSL, unplugging the phone etc. I haven't even got to the point where I have to enter passwords etc.
I shall phone my ISP tomorrow. The only thing I can imagine is that our ADSL signal is so pathetic that the newer router just can't pick it up.

Why is it that problems just pile up when you're trying to fix them??

Any suggestions are very welcome, as ever.