Router Works at One Home but Not Another

[brajgreg]

I'm a new resident in a town with fiber optic network provided by the city (it's called CDE Lightband). My wireless router has always worked fine with no problems, but I've always had it hooked up to a modem. With a fiber optic network, you do not need a modem--you just plug directly into an ethernet cable coming from the wall. Well, my wired connection directly into my computer works great. My wireless router works when it's plugged in for about one minute, and then it stops working.

HERE IS THE INTERESTING PART: I can take this router to a friend's house a few miles away that ALSO has CDE Lightband, and I can plug my router in at his house, and it works great. Better than his own router. I can bring the router back to my house, and it doesn't work. I can bring his router back to my house, and HIS router won't work. I can still plug in directly to the computer, and it works just perfectly. I've made sure everything has the latest drivers and firmware. I've even recently flashed tomato firmware into my belkin N300 router to see if it would fix the problem--nothing. I've called the ISP--they're confused and can't even see my router when it's plugged in. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[ronintexas]

Something isn't right - if your router works at his house - it should work at your house. They don't have something installed correctly....

 

[brajgreg]

I agree. To me, it has to be something on their end, but I can't think of what in the world could possibly be wrong with their wiring that would allow my computer to access a wired connection, and my router to drop that same connection. I'm not surprised they can't figure it out--I've never heard of anything like it!

 

[ronintexas]

A router is really simple - it has a DHCP client that communicates with their DHCP server to give the router an IP address. The DHCP server in the router provides your LAN with IP addresses. The only thing I can think of is possibly they may have something going on with IP V6 that is confusing your router at your house, but it is turned off at his house (I am reaching.....this is a strange problem....)

 

[boosted1g]

There must be some sort of DHCP conflict with your home connection.

You have done good diagnosing it down to your home connection and proving that other routers have the same result at your home.
Time to call the ISP and have them figure out what is misconfigured on their end.

 

[brajgreg]

When I call them, they say that they can't even see my router when I plug it in. They're sending someone out on Monday, but I would ideally like it fixed before then--and I'm curious by nature and would like to know what's going on. Can I set the DHCP to something and leave it like that in my router's settings?

 

[ronintexas]

The DHCP client is automatically enabled (I don't know if it can be disabled) - the DHCP server is necessary for your computers to connect to the router (it is always on unless you configure it as an access point). Since it works at your friend's house - something is different at your house.

 

[brajgreg]

Any thoughts on why it would work for about a minute at my place and then stop working?

 

[ronintexas]

I took a quick look at your router - a couple of things - your LAN/WAN ports are only 10/100 - if you have fiber optic connections, you could have speeds up to 1Gbps (you need 10/100/1000 ports). Second - I don't see any configuration for IP V6.....I am not sure about the open source software and it's ability to handle IP v6.

You might want to consider upgrading the router:

Belkin N450: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ14J0722


I have this one - and really great price right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320062R

 

[ronintexas]

Both of those routers support IP v6.

I don't think your router is the cause of this problem - not sure what is causing the problem....

 

[brajgreg]

Yeah. I thought the speeds might be a problem for my router, but it works at my friend's house. The only thing I can think there is that it's possible my connection is better than his so I therefore have higher speeds? Will that cause a router to time out?

 

[ronintexas]

It will work - if you have 10/100 ports, and 1Gbps internet, you will only have 100Mbps internet speed (1/10 the total bandwidth). Your internet speed will be limited by the adapter on the PC, the router, any switches/hubs installed and the ISP. What the slowest speed of any of those items, that will be your max internet speed.

The router shouldn't time out - worst case scenario your router should run at less than optimal speed. If your computer is connected directly right now, go to www.speedtest.net - it will test your speed. If the number is above 100Mbps (up or down), your router will be the bottleneck.

This is the results from Time Warner Cable in Austin:


If I was using your router - it would not be 321Mbps - it would be somewhere less than 100Mbps.