[Mart1000]

Chaps,
My Internet connection is piss poor. For a while now when someone calls on the house phone I lose Internet connection. Also the landline sounds like it has loads of interference on it.

Just called my brother on the landline and turned the router off. The interference disappeared totally. Switched router back on and it returned. So I'm thinking the router is fried. I'm not gonna bother calling sky as their Bangladeshi call centre gets you to try all this stuff that it won't be (done it before) and I'm sure they are not tech savvy, just reading off a spider chart. The emount of hoops you have to jump through to get a new router is mental.

So... I'll buy an aftermarket one. I've been wanting to change to wireless 'n' for a while now anyway. Can anyone recommend a good router to get please?

I don't know how easy it is to change a router whilst bieng with sky as I don't have my username and password (they don't give you it anyway) but I'm sure it's not that hard.

Any help would be great thanks...

Mart

[ed335d]

Have you got an ADSL filter between the router and the phone socket? You should have one on every socket .

[chris_s1]

I'd be highly doubtful that a new router will solve your problems. It sounds more like interference which is normally down to filters (lack of or faulty) or malfunctioning telephony equipment.

Have you got filters on ALL the devices on the phone line? Sky boxes, handsets fax machines etc etc.

Unplug everything except the router from the phone line and see if things improve

[Vaheed1]

IMO, it could be 1 of two issues.

1) If the router is plugged in on the same filter which splits the phone line -i e right next to the main telephone socket - this could cause the interference. I read about similar problems on the sky website (despite the instructions telling you to plug both the router and telephone in the filter which plugs directly into the telephone line socket) So I asked the engineers who come to fit the Sky and they said 'it can be an issue' and ran a new line from the main telephone box into another room, where I've plugged the router - no issues at all.

Mind, I'm still not getting the guaranteed speed which Sky said i would get - so the speed issue could be resolved from you ISP - depending on what they have offered you.

2) Your filter could be shagged and you could do no harm but to try a different one?

[Mart1000]

Chris why wouldn't it be the router? If I turn the router off my phone line is crystal clear. Turn it back on again and interference makes it hard to even have a conversation.

This is my setup. Phone line comes in by front door. From there I have 1 extension lead into my living room with a double box. My landline phone runs off one socket and the router the other. The filter is plugged into socket, then router to the filter.

Internet works ok until someone calls then drops out. Phone crackly until router turned off, which is why I thought the problem maybe an internal fault with the router causing interference?

[Mart1000]

Ok it's all sorted smallest part first (thanks Chris), the filter was the problem. Didn't think these could actually fail lol. Whacked a new filter in and it works perfect.

Still, my initial question remains though as the sky router is pants and not very powerful for my house. Anyone recommend me a good wireless 'n' replacement? Ta guys.

[MEGA]

Mart. This is definitely your wiring / the filter (both. filter might be duff. wiring not ideal either). Dont waste 100 quid.

So. The router is digital. At that point it is 1's and 0's. It doesn't cause interference itself. It is converted to a high frequency voice signal on the board and output as noise down the line. IE, it is converted to analogue.

This conversion would either work or not work, but in either case wouldn't impact noise on your phone line.

The micro filter splits off the two ranges of frequences, the 'audible voice' range and the higher frequencies used by your DSL. Therefore even if your router was firing out total crap, it is highly unlikely that your microfilter wouldn't split this out.

Simply put, you are not taking out the broadband noise from the line due to your wiring.

"This is my setup. Phone line comes in by front door. From there I have 1 extension lead into my living room with a double box. My landline phone runs off one socket and the router the other. The filter is plugged into socket, then router to the filter."

As soon as you enable the phone, the ADSL signal is being sent two ways: halving the clarity of it (roughly doubling the SnR ratio) Furthermore as there's no microfilter on the phone line, you can hear it.

Do this instead:

Socket -> Filter -> Extension for phone in one, Extention for modem in the other. Into the products.

Or even better put the modem next to the master socket, and don't run any extensions for it at all.

WORST CASE SCENARIO splitting the phone signal using another microfilter on that side of your 'extension' will help alot, as nothing will be drawing in the adsl frequencies any more. But this may or may not 'fully' resolve the issues.

On another note, if you wire it up properly you are likely to see an improvement in overall broadband speed as well

[MEGA]

Heh. It was bound to be. But filter the phone line too! From your description it is never having the ADSL ranges split out...

[Mart1000]

Mega, thanks mate, I just did as you said and put a filter in my hallway too. Things have improved again (as the phone is filtered).

Thanks mate I'll leave it now until it's broke

Mart

[MEGA]

Cool. Some of my descriptions might not be quite 100% - ed will be along shortly to correct me. But the gyst is there

Glad to have helped! You might find a reboot of your router now causes a slight increase in ADSL speed over the coming days too. Less noise...

[Giff]

You can get some interference if a close neighbour has their router set to the same channel, have a look at what yours is set to and try changing it to 11 or 5 etc.

[ed335d]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Cool. Some of my descriptions might not be quite 100% - ed will be along shortly to correct me. But the gyst is there

Glad to have helped! You might find a reboot of your router now causes a slight increase in ADSL speed over the coming days too. Less noise...

Nothing to correct

[Mart1000]

Thanks guys now this channel changing thing, your talking to an I/T illiterate here...

[MEGA]

Originally Posted by Mart1000

Thanks guys now this channel changing thing, your talking to an I/T illiterate here...

Heh - don't worry about it too much.

In this case we're talking wireless communications within your home. NOT the broadband speed TO your home.

I'll explain because I'm procrastinating from an assignment

There are I think 11 channels that the wireless router can use to ping data around the house..They have equal capacity, but interfere with eachother. More specifically they interfere with their neighbours. If another house is on the same channel then the overall transmission speed will be slower due to there only being one wave form to decode (You can think of it like a road.. only so much traffic can flow down it: So more traffic means less progress)

You're router will likely auto choose the best channel - unless it's very old. I manually set mine to 5 at home as there are a whole bunch on both 1 and 8 (for some reason) in my block. There are programs you can use to find out what networks are on which channels etc.

The most commonly used ones are 1, 6 and 11.

The output of this. If you have 54mbps wireless router but find you can only ever transfer to another machine in your network at say 20.. Then try changing channels.

NB. Mbps = MBPS*8. So if windows say c2c transfer is ~6.6 mega bytes per second (MB) then you are good. If it's alot less try tinkering.

[Giff]

In your wireless settings the channel will be listed usually with a drop down box next to it, if I remember correctly either 1 or 11 is often default so a neighbours router can cause interference.
Just try changing it to 5 etc.

[MEGA]

Just to reiterate, there is no way wireless channels could impact the interference you were hearing on your phone. This is an entirely different conversation.

[Mart1000]

Received. Thanks.

[chris_s1]

Glad you got it sorted. Routers generally either work 100% or not at all. In fact its pretty rare for one to fail. Its always filters or other bits and bobs that cause this type of problem.

If you're looking for a new router anyway - my personal preference is Netgear. I have used them for years both home and at work. Despite several ventures away I always come back to them. I currently use a WNDR3700 and its absolutely fantastic. In combination with a Wireless N network adapter, the wifi link is the best I've ever used.

Just avoid anything made by Belkin and you will be ok.

[rich1068]

If you do decide to upgrade Sky now do a Wireless N modem/router but they charge for it. You can of course buy your own but you'll have to do some trickery to get the username and password as Sky won't give it you. And you're actually in breach of their T&Cs if you use non-Sky hardware. So sue me.

Have a read here.

[AlwynMike]

I live in an old, rambling house with thick walls, some being faced with vapour check plasterboard, providing good electrical screening. Not ideal for Wireless. I have always struggled to get either any or decent wireless all round the house. Even with the aforementioned Netgear or Linksys routers, I have had little success in getting all round. I've even tried boosters that were as much use as a chocolate teapot.

I have considered getting BT broadband on the strength of thier ads saying that the router is strong. At the time, I obtained a BT wireless router, brand new, free, from the Freecycle website. I had to flash the router to use my current ISP, but the difference is amazing. I get good broadband now all over the house, with only a small area at the end of the kitchen that is a little hit-or-miss.

So, whatever you think about BT as a provider, the router they provide (and I think the latest supplied router is even better) is very good.

Mike