Virgin Broadband?

[aztecbandit1]

Been having a lot of problems with my wireless/wired connection this week, its been going on, off, on, off, on, off and mainly off? :tsktsk: Been in touch with virgin and they say my connection is working fine??

I use 2 laptops and a desktop at home and the 2 laptops have had problems connecting all week, which has been annoying so thought i'd use the desktop which seemed to work ok but very very slow?

I've ran virus scans and have, AVG, One care, spybot and even tried a few others this week to see if i have a problem thats spread between my setup? But nothing has been found on any of my systems? And its now getting very annoying

Seems to work ok for most of the morning but in the afternoon it keeps going down, as if my wireless was turning off and on all the time? There are 7 other wireless terminals that my laptops pick up in the vicinity and wondered if that would cause any problems? Its as if when people in the area all start using there systems mine goes down?

What do you guys think? could it be my wireless router playing up? or could it be something else?

Thanks for any idea's :)

[Saraj]

personally its probally your router, how long have you had it and which one is it, mines stays on 24 hours a day, and over the years it haves it affects.

I had the same problem but mine was permantly off, rang virgin and there connected a laptop directly to the router via ethernet and it worked fine.

maybe worth a try, this would defo rule out the router and virgin if it works fine via ethernet.

other then that, buy a new router from pc world, currys or comet or even argos, try it if it still odes not work, just return it nothing loss, if it does then its sorted.

[Mike_B]

Do you have Virgin TV as well? Whenever I see my internet connection playing up, I look at the cable TV box. There is a green light on there which flashes, if it's lost connection to the 'net, which means it's probably a network problem. If the TV box looks fine and you can access stuff like On Demand (which uses IP over the network, same as your internet modem), then it's either your cable modem or your router which is giving you grief.

I think you can get decent cable routers for about £30 these days, might not be a bad idea to get a newer one anyway so you can take advantage of WPA2 security at the same time.

[Saraj]

Yeah WPA2 and get N, that would boost up your connection to the computers and range.

[aztecbandit1]

Cheers guys, been and plugged the laptop in and it does seem to work ok with a direct hookup? so it does look like the problem is the router playing up? will get a new one and see how it goes :D Thanks again :)

[Asi]

try reseting the router to factory settings or leave it off for a few hours and see how that goes.

[Anees]

Chris you will probably have interference with neighbouring wifi networks in your area. In your router configuration you should have an option to change the channel. Try a few different channels and hopefully that fixes your issue.

Anees :)

[Asi]

Chris you will probably have interference with neighbouring wifi networks in your area. In your router configuration you should have an option to change the channel. Try a few different channels and hopefully that fixes your issue.

Anees :)

i didnt think of that. chris try what anees said it may work

[Steviewevie]

If you are using wireless "g" (i.e. 802.11g), then there are only three channels which are totally non-overlapping (i.e. don't interfere with any others). They are 1, 6 and 11. See what channels the others are using and hopefully one of those three won't be in use by the others, if so change to using that one.

I have found that wireless routers are very very unreliable and over a relatively short space of time they simply stop working properly and need replacing.

[Asi]

If you are using wireless "g" (i.e. 802.11g), then there are only three channels which are totally non-overlapping (i.e. don't interfere with any others). They are 1, 6 and 11. See what channels the others are using and hopefully one of those three won't be in use by the others, if so change to using that one.

I have found that wireless routers are very very unreliable and over a relatively short space of time they simply stop working properly and need replacing.

i have had my net gear router for a year and a bit. played up once but got it sorted. lets see how long it lasts lol dont think it will last long though.

[Steviewevie]

Yeah WPA2 and get N, that would boost up your connection to the computers and range.

Using N just means your signal goes further so you will potentially get interference with even more users once they all start using N too though :duh:

[chrisis200]

I'm having huge problems now as well Chris with virgin as well dam it cant play my ps3 properly as the connection keeps dropping what the hell is going on???

[Asi]

I'm having huge problems now as well Chris with virgin as well dam it cant play my ps3 properly as the connection keeps dropping what the hell is going on???

if signal just drops randomly then you my want to try a different channel.

[chrisis200]

how can I do that? it's making me very angry cant even play online on the ps3 an that it plugged into the wirless router.. my connection speed on my wireless laptop keeps dropping from 54mbps to 48??? its never done this before though?

[chrisis200]

Chris has yours fixed itself yet? I have a netgear wireless router of which I plug my ps3 in by the ethernet anyway.. so it rules that out i believe... rang virgin on the overpriced line, an they told me they can see no problems in my line.. but I can clearly see it keeps dropping low an normal all the time..

I cant find where to change the channels etc as suggested above :(

[aztecbandit1]

Chris has yours fixed itself yet? I have a netgear wireless router of which I plug my ps3 in by the ethernet anyway.. so it rules that out i believe... rang virgin on the overpriced line, an they told me they can see no problems in my line.. but I can clearly see it keeps dropping low an normal all the time..

I cant find where to change the channels etc as suggested above :(

Thought i'd sorted it mate by resetting the router, but its back again today and i just keep losing connection again every 2 mins :tsktsk:

So going to try the different channels on it in a bit to see if that works? With my router i had a setup booklet with an http// address to type in the address line for the router which takes me into the wireless settings? It gives me 12 different channels to try so will see if it works?

Bloody annoying though :tsktsk: Think my problem is to do with the other networks in the vicinity as now i pick up a few with very high signals which i never picked up before? The stupid thing is that my laptop picks up a full signal for my setup at 54mbps

(wahay just taken me 15 mins to post this?)

[sparkystav]

Chris has yours fixed itself yet? I have a netgear wireless router of which I plug my ps3 in by the ethernet anyway.. so it rules that out i believe... rang virgin on the overpriced line, an they told me they can see no problems in my line.. but I can clearly see it keeps dropping low an normal all the time..

I cant find where to change the channels etc as suggested above :(

use saynoto0870.com mate much cheaper.

Virgin Media 0845 4541111 0800 1831986 Broadband faults & services upto 10pm

[Asi]

try 192.168.0.1 for netgear router see if that takes you in to the settings.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Hope you remember the userid and/or password from when you set it up.

[Steviewevie]

You need to figure out if it's the wireless going wrong or the broadband connection itself, e.g. by plugging in something directly to the router and seeing if that's ok. If it's just the wireless then it might be the router failing, or it might be interference from other nearby users. If the problem has just started up it could conceivably be someone new using the same channel as you. As I posted before, if you are using 802.11g, then preferably try and use channels 1, 6 or 11, because these are the only non-overlapping channels, the others all overlap with at least one other channel.

With routers, yes, you usually have an http:// address that you can go to which will get you into the admin system of the router. This requires a password but there's usually just a default one that should be in the instructions (or even possibly on a sticker underneath the router) unless you've changed it.

If, however, a PC plugged directly into the router has the same problems, then it's probably the broadband link itself, which you can speak to your ISP about.

[aztecbandit1]

Right changed the channel on mine about 8.30pm from channel 11 to channel 1 and the signal is at its peak again and staying connected :)

See how it goes now and thanks for the help guys :D

[Steviewevie]

If you have forgotten the default userid/password for your router, and don't have the instructions you will be able to find it by Googling it. If you changed the password when you set it up, and can't remember it, then there will be a way of resetting the router back to defaults by pressing some sort of reset switch on it. This will set everything back to default, however, so your router may well need configuring again to work with your broadband (but your ISP should be able to help you with this).

[aztecbandit1]

I reset my router on the back of it and then set it up again but still had the same problems? But have now had over an hour of normal service since i swapped the channel over :D

[Asi]

I reset my router on the back of it and then set it up again but still had the same problems? But have now had over an hour of normal service since i swapped the channel over :D

good to hear its all working.

[Steviewevie]

Hopefully it will help a lot being on a different channel Chris. But people do use their Internet at different times of day/days of the week, of course, so keep an eye on it over the next few days and fingers crossed it will stay well-behaved !