Interesting modum/router issue

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Wes
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#16

Post by Wes »

I don't have Att but Verizon's supplied router and wifi box is junk as well. I too disabled the wifi functionality so I could keep their router and just added an access point. Works flawlessly. This is the one I used, it's very good. I get 45mbps down on my iPad two rooms away. It would work with atts 2wire just fine. " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by Wes on Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#17

Post by Piney »

This is sort of related to the original post--
We've got Comcast for Internet. I had a heck of time with their modems- replaced it several times. I bought my own Motorola model and *poof* troubles went away . Perhaps the suggestion of buying one's own may be the answer. That is, if AT&T's service will allow it.

Charles--putting your own wireless AP might also help-- just turn the AT&T wireless off.

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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#18

Post by powerboatr »

well
your not alone

we have a dsl modem and if we have a few stormy periods it will slow down to the point of loosing or having no connectivity, even though the lights indicate otherwise. weds it wouldn't even load this site, until i reset it.

if i reset the modem...it brings back the speed right away. By reset i mean turning it OFF and waiting for at least 30 seconds before switching it back on

we live in a very rural area and telephone dsl is all we can get, sans satellite, but that is too expensive for the speed and connectivity. my friend across the street has sat internet and its pretty lame compared to my dsl

if we are away for a time and i shut it off, it will loose everything and takes a few minutes longer to connect...i have no idea why


all of our tablets, smartphones and laptops are connected via the wireless modem, the desktop is hard lined to the modem.
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TexasFlash
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#19

Post by TexasFlash »

Charles; the 2wire modem/router is the only type that is used w/U-verse IF the feed into the modem is via coax from the Network interface outside the house; the NVG 589 is the modem being installed now (but requires a Cat 5 feed as a home run from the box outside). If your input to the modem is coax, pm me and I can share some possibilities.
Dave :txflag:

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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#20

Post by cb1000rider »

I had a 2Wire that was nothing but trouble. AT&T finally replaced it with an Arris NVG589 and haven't had any trouble since.
Charles L. Cotton wrote:Well, there's another lie AT&T told us! They said only 2Wire would work on their system. I'm tempted to go back to Comcast, but everyone seems to hate them too.
Chas.
Lots of options for carriers, but only a limited set that are tested/supported.. And if you call support with an unsupported device, they'll be even less helpful than usual.
They may have a list of "supported devices" if you push them, but get it via a web page (AKA in writing).
AT&T will sell you a new router, of course... Or allow you to rent one indefinitely until you've paid for it at least 5 times.

My vote:
If your service is otherwise good, turn off wifi and go pick up the wifi router of your choice - something modern - wire it into the existing router.


The wifi part of the device likely bugged out on you, but the wired part kept working. Not terribly uncommon, unfortunately...
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#21

Post by Keith B »

Piney wrote:This is sort of related to the original post--
We've got Comcast for Internet. I had a heck of time with their modems- replaced it several times. I bought my own Motorola model and *poof* troubles went away . Perhaps the suggestion of buying one's own may be the answer. That is, if AT&T's service will allow it.

Charles--putting your own wireless AP might also help-- just turn the AT&T wireless off.
AT&T requires their router/gateway for Uverse TV services.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#22

Post by Keith B »

TexasFlash wrote:Charles; the 2wire modem/router is the only type that is used w/U-verse IF the feed into the modem is via coax from the Network interface outside the house; the NVG 589 is the modem being installed now (but requires a Cat 5 feed as a home run from the box outside). If your input to the modem is coax, pm me and I can share some possibilities.
Dave :txflag:
I was in the trial on the NVG589 for HPNA on coax. It didn't work well with the coax, so that is why they have tried to limit them to Cat 5 seervices.

The problem with the 3801HGV is the WiFi is 802.11b only. This means it is limited to the 2.4Ghz band and has a limit of only 11Mbps on the bandwidth. All wireless devices have to share that bandwidth, as well as any neighbors that are close enough to you and are on the same or close channel frequencies.

The NVG589 does dual band 802.11b/g/n and on 2.4Ghz & 5.8Ghz bands with up to a 40Mhz bandwidth, so it will do up to 600Mbps.

Your WRT54G Linksys is much better than the 3801HGV WiFi portion, so, if you only are running one or two wireless devices on the network and you don't have close neighbors competing for the same band and channels on 2.4Ghz, then it will do fine for you. The way to find out who is on WiFi in your area is to download a sniffer program like inSSIDer3and see what the SSID, band and channel they are using. That will allow you to move your WiFi to a to a less crowded channel and help throughput by avoiding packet collisions with co-channel or adjacent channel interference.

Another advantage of putting a stand-alone access point or wireless router on is to place it in the house so you have better signal strength across the residence. The antenna and power on the 3801HGV is limited compared to the external antennas on the WRT54G. The signal getting to your device may not be as optimal as it would be by placing the WRT54G on an Ethernet connection more in the center of the house or closer to where you use your wireless devices.

Bottom line, try out your WRT54G connected to the router and disable the internal WiFi on the 3801HGV and see if it makes a difference. You can test your speed at http://www.speedtest.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#23

Post by Charles L. Cotton »

Thanks for all the help folks. It looks like using an access point is the best option.

The feed to the 2Wire is coax, so that answers that part of the question. AT&T came out to fix a problem outside the home and the technician (very nice guy) offered to install a Cat 5 cable, but it would have been run outside the house and up to the 2nd floor where the 2Wire is located, then through a hole in the brick. I told him thanks, but that's not an option so we're still using the coax.

I looked at the new AC routers and they are blazing fast, but there's a hitch. The only things using wireless are my laptop, two tablets and our Samsung Galaxy phones and none of them will support the speed. My laptop can handle up to 400+mbs, but I have no idea about the tablets and phones. (Phone are not a big issue anyway.) I'm tempted to go with the AC router anyway for future use.

Thanks again guys,
Chas.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#24

Post by Keith B »

Charles L. Cotton wrote:Thanks for all the help folks. It looks like using an access point is the best option.

The feed to the 2Wire is coax, so that answers that part of the question. AT&T came out to fix a problem outside the home and the technician (very nice guy) offered to install a Cat 5 cable, but it would have been run outside the house and up to the 2nd floor where the 2Wire is located, then through a hole in the brick. I told him thanks, but that's not an option so we're still using the coax.

I looked at the new AC routers and they are blazing fast, but there's a hitch. The only things using wireless are my laptop, two tablets and our Samsung Galaxy phones and none of them will support the speed. My laptop can handle up to 400+mbs, but I have no idea about the tablets and phones. (Phone are not a big issue anyway.) I'm tempted to go with the AC router anyway for future use.

Thanks again guys,
Chas.
The AC may be overkill if you don't need it. Chances are by the time you would need the speed there would be a better option available.

I have 2 wireless cameras and 2 wireless thermostats in the house. They are constantly communicating with the servers. I bought a Linksys N600 dual-band router and run the cameras and thermostats on 2.4Ghz and my laptops, tablets and phones on 5.8Ghz. That keeps keeps the competition for the bandwidth on 2.4Ghz down and lets the devices that are only periodically accessing the Internet use the 5.8Ghz wider bandwidth.

One note though, 5.8Ghz has a shorter range than 2.4Ghz, so make sure to place a dual-band router closer to where your devices are used most.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#25

Post by TexasFlash »

Keith B wrote:
TexasFlash wrote:Charles; the 2wire modem/router is the only type that is used w/U-verse IF the feed into the modem is via coax from the Network interface outside the house; the NVG 589 is the modem being installed now (but requires a Cat 5 feed as a home run from the box outside). If your input to the modem is coax, pm me and I can share some possibilities.
Dave :txflag:
I was in the trial on the NVG589 for HPNA on coax. It didn't work well with the coax, so that is why they have tried to limit them to Cat 5 seervices.

The problem with the 3801HGV is the WiFi is 802.11b only. This means it is limited to the 2.4Ghz band and has a limit of only 11Mbps on the bandwidth. All wireless devices have to share that bandwidth, as well as any neighbors that are close enough to you and are on the same or close channel frequencies.
/
Actually, both the Pace/2Wire 3800 and 3801 modems are 802.11b/g capable, so speeds can go to 54mb/s. If a "b" only (older) wireless device is in the home network, speed will default to the lower 11mb/s setting.
FWIW
Dave :txflag:
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#26

Post by Keith B »

TexasFlash wrote:
Keith B wrote:
TexasFlash wrote:Charles; the 2wire modem/router is the only type that is used w/U-verse IF the feed into the modem is via coax from the Network interface outside the house; the NVG 589 is the modem being installed now (but requires a Cat 5 feed as a home run from the box outside). If your input to the modem is coax, pm me and I can share some possibilities.
Dave :txflag:
I was in the trial on the NVG589 for HPNA on coax. It didn't work well with the coax, so that is why they have tried to limit them to Cat 5 seervices.

The problem with the 3801HGV is the WiFi is 802.11b only. This means it is limited to the 2.4Ghz band and has a limit of only 11Mbps on the bandwidth. All wireless devices have to share that bandwidth, as well as any neighbors that are close enough to you and are on the same or close channel frequencies.
/
Actually, both the Pace/2Wire 3800 and 3801 modems are 802.11b/g capable, so speeds can go to 54mb/s. If a "b" only (older) wireless device is in the home network, speed will default to the lower 11mb/s setting.
FWIW
Dave :txflag:
You're correct. They are 802.11 b/g. However, the throughput on the WiFi is poor and chokes very easily, especially as you stated if there is a b device it will kill your speed. Putting a much better b/g/n stand-alone WAP or router on the modem will do a lot better job of handing the WiFi traffic.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#27

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My brother signed up with ATT a month or so ago and the speed they promised never came until he agreed to pay extra money per some small print stipulation. Improvement came but then went down to a dribble until they came and installed a new Modem/Router. I'm not a computer guy and neither is he but he said the modem was the one they use for accounts with TV. He only has Internet but he said there was dramatic improvement immediately.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#28

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We have AT&T U-Verse for TV, internet & phone service. We run wireless on 2 laptops, 2 tablets, an Epson wireless printer & 2 cel phones.

Back in November we lost internet & TV service after a bad storm. We called AT&T and the next day a service tech came out and spent an hour troubleshooting our problem, and it turned out to be the little WAP thingy(wireless access point). Luckily, he had a good supply of those things with him, because he had to switch it out 2 of them before he found one that worked. :???:

Apparently those things are pretty much junk, because when I returned my original wap to the UPS store for shipping back to AT&T, the desk clerk there said he literally gets about 4 or 5 of them to send back every day! YMMV

Have had no problems since then. Works great. Laptop speed is running at 54.0 Mbps which is more that adequate for our needs.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#29

Post by Keith B »

joe817 wrote:We have AT&T U-Verse for TV, internet & phone service. We run wireless on 2 laptops, 2 tablets, an Epson wireless printer & 2 cel phones.

Back in November we lost internet & TV service after a bad storm. We called AT&T and the next day a service tech came out and spent an hour troubleshooting our problem, and it turned out to be the little WAP thingy(wireless access point). Luckily, he had a good supply of those things with him, because he had to switch it out 2 of them before he found one that worked. :???:

Apparently those things are pretty much junk, because when I returned my original wap to the UPS store for shipping back to AT&T, the desk clerk there said he literally gets about 4 or 5 of them to send back every day! YMMV

Have had no problems since then. Works great. Laptop speed is running at 54.0 Mbps which is more that adequate for our needs.
The modems themselves are not junk, but the older models (3800 & 3801) are weak in their WAP capability IMO. There are reasons why the modems go bad, from storms to power surges, etc. And, the returns may also be people moving and disconnecting their Uverse service because it is not available in the location they are moving to.

I am surprised that they had you return the gateway yourself. Most of the time when the tech comes out and replaces a modem they will take the defective unit with them. Maybe this is a new method for returns since they now have an agreement with the UPS Stores to do the returns on the equipment.
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Re: Interesting modum/router issue

#30

Post by joe817 »

Keith B wrote:The modems themselves are not junk, but the older models (3800 & 3801) are weak in their WAP capability IMO. There are reasons why the modems go bad, from storms to power surges, etc. And, the returns may also be people moving and disconnecting their Uverse service because it is not available in the location they are moving to.

I am surprised that they had you return the gateway yourself. Most of the time when the tech comes out and replaces a modem they will take the defective unit with them. Maybe this is a new method for returns since they now have an agreement with the UPS Stores to do the returns on the equipment.
I think we are talking about 2 different things. Our modem(they call it a gateway) is a model 3800HGV-B. That wasn't the piece of equipment that was giving us a problem.

The defective piece of equipment IS called a WAP(there's an AT&T sticker on it that calls it that.) It looks like a kind of, sorta, rounded off wedge of cheese that's about 4.5"H x 6"L x 1"-1/2"W. It's a Cisco Model# VEN401-AT. THAT was the thing he had to replace 2 times. On thinking about it, I think it's a kind of like an antenna for the wireless set up. It's a/c powered and connects to the modem. (you'd think an extra class ham would know those things, but it's been a long time since I've done anything ham related. call sign AA5LD. :oops: )

As far as me having to return it via the UPS store, I asked the service tech about it. He said it's because of inventory control reasons, and to be sure I don't get charged for it, to return it that way. UPS store is hooked up somehow to AT&T's distribution inventory control system.
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