Accessing wireless router config site very slow

[Elliot B.]

We moved into a shared house (via. letting agents) and can not gain access to the wireless router (locked room).

The ISP is TalkTalk (UK) (discovered by using the IP).

We can access the Belkin router via. 192.168.2.1 and it's running the latest firmware (dated July 2008).

Our connection to the Internet is often fine but once a week or so, it is awful and struggles for hours (it's hard to even load a webpage without it showing "page can not be displayed").

Even loading each page on the router config website is slow (2+ minute page load times) or pages time out (80% of the time). This, to me, suggests something serious is occurring since grabbing pages from the router should load almost instantly I guess.

Any ideas?

[fusi0n]

Is the WAP secured? Sound like you have some people hammering the crap out of it..Is talktalk DSL or cable? Also, is it the same time the slow down? You could have some workstations/servers uploading or backing up data the same time. Or it could be downloading new updates.

[Elliot B.]

Is the WAP secured? Sound like you have some people hammering the crap out of it..

The "DHCP Client List" page only shows my PC, my partners laptop and my Android tablet. However, the DHCP Server" section on the router's home page shows "Enabled (0 LAN, 4 WLAN Clients".

The "Security" is set to "WPA-Personal (PSK).

[fusi0n]

Does anyone have any kind of backup software on their computer? Also, is this happening the same time every week? There are some line monitoring tools you can use to see the patterns and maybe even the source.. Maybe budman of sc302 will see your thread and help with that.. Meanwhile, I will see if I can find it

[Elliot B.]

Does anyone have any kind of backup software on their computer? Also, is this happening the same time every week? There are some line monitoring tools you can use to see the patterns and maybe even the source.. Maybe budman of sc302 will see your thread and help with that.. Meanwhile, I will see if I can find it

There is absolutely no pattern and it's definitely not an issue with my PC, her laptop or my tablet :( This problem only began to occur since coming here. I believe the router was made in 2007, which seems very old to me.

Here is some more information from the router's home page:

[fusi0n]

The router is definitely old.. Maybe you could see if they could upgrade it? The problem could have been before you came and no one noticed it..

[Elliot B.]

The router is definitely old.. Maybe you could see if they could upgrade it? The problem could have been before you came and no one noticed it..

I'll call them tomorrow, see if they can talk to the ISP.

[+BudMan MVC]

Are you all wireless? ie you say even the router web ui is slow and takes forever to load. Are you wired or wireless when you try and access the web ui. Try it wired. Is it still slow?

[Elliot B.]

Are you all wireless? ie you say even the router web ui is slow and takes forever to load. Are you wired or wireless when you try and access the web ui. Try it wired. Is it still slow?

Wireless. As I said, we can't access the room the router is in, so we can't connect to it physically.

[Elliot B.]

Maybe more info.:

[djdanster]

Try an alternative channel? Also, check for dropped packets on wireless in the admin panel? I'm not 100% sure, just throwing it out there!

Also, it says Wireless mode is 102.11N, however the connection speed is only 52Mbps. Shouldn't it be 150Mbps or even 300Mbps?

[Elliot B.]

Try an alternative channel? Also, check for dropped packets on wireless in the admin panel? I'm not 100% sure, just throwing it out there!

Also, it says Wireless mode is 102.11N, however the connection speed is only 52Mbps. Shouldn't it be 150Mbps or even 300Mbps?

That 52Mbps reading seems to change every 2-3 seconds, between around 40Mbps and 115Mbps.

[+BudMan MVC]

Why does the router being in a locked room have to do with being able to be wired too it?

So this is not your router? Who's router is it, who provides the internet - you pay rent, and internet is included in this cost? Tell the landlords to FIX it then.. Not sure why you would be expected to do anything if not your router (you don't have access)?

Only thing I could suggest if when the connection is bad and you have access to the gui, is can you reboot it from the gui? If so - try that.

[Elliot B.]

Why does the router being in a locked room have to do with being able to be wired too it?

So this is not your router? Who's router is it, who provides the internet - you pay rent, and internet is included in this cost? Tell the landlords to FIX it then.. Not sure why you would be expected to do anything if not your router (you don't have access)?

Only thing I could suggest if when the connection is bad and you have access to the gui, is can you reboot it from the gui? If so - try that.

Since the router is in a locked room, we can't connect an Ethernet cable to it.

It's the ISP's router, and the letting agents include the Wi-Fi as part of our rent. Unfortunately, as with most landlords, they don't care about fixing it quickly and/or easily since it's just hassle to them.

Rebooting via. the GUI is a good idea :) There has been two times in the past month we've lived here that we can't even access the GUI due to the slow speeds and timeouts, so we resorted to flipping the breaker that controls the downstairs electricity. Worked a treat :p

[+BudMan MVC]

Again just because its in a locked room does not mean there are no wired ports around the house, etc. Stating its in a locked room, does not mean your not wired too it is all I am trying to say. When I asked if your wired or not, stating you don't have access to the router does not rule out a wired connection.

So your saying flipping the breaker solved the slowness issue? There you go then, you have your work around. Have your landlord contact the isp to fix the problem.. Not sure what help you expect? Its not your router, your not the name on the contract with the ISP, etc. There is really not much you can do than to complain to your landlord or move ;)

You can not even switch between wired and wireless to see if just wireless problem, etc. So not many options here for helping you - sorry.

[Elliot B.]

Again just because its in a locked room does not mean there are no wired ports around the house, etc. Stating its in a locked room, does not mean your not wired too it is all I am trying to say. When I asked if your wired or not, stating you don't have access to the router does not rule out a wired connection.

So your saying flipping the breaker solved the slowness issue? There you go then, you have your work around. Have your landlord contact the isp to fix the problem.. Not sure what help you expect? Its not your router, your not the name on the contract with the ISP, etc. There is really not much you can do than to complain to your landlord or move ;)

It solves it for a few days, but of course, we can't keep turning the electricity to the downstairs on and off once a week.

I posted in hope there was a setting on the router that could have been causing this but if not, no worries, I'll keep moaning to the letting agents (it's what you have to do to get them to do anything).

[djdanster]

Ah, I've had a similar issue is the past, for me it was when the router was under so much stress on it's little CPU (for what ever reason) and it (in my case) was getting too hot to function. Flicking the switch gave it the opportunity to cool down!

[Elliot B.]

Ah, I've had a similar issue is the past, for me it was when the router was under so much stress on it's little CPU (for what ever reason) and it (in my case) was getting too hot to function. Flicking the switch gave it the opportunity to cool down!

Yeah, it's a probable cause since the router is from 2007. However, trying to explain (and convince) this to letting agents is not an easy task :p

[JJ_]

Out of curiosity, what is the routers model number and which firmware is it currently on? The model number should begin with F5Dxxxx-xx and the firmware version will be a sequence of numbers - both are found on the main admin interface page.

[Elliot B.]

Out of curiosity, what is the routers model number and which firmware is it currently on? The model number should begin with F5Dxxxx-xx and the firmware version will be a sequence of numbers - both are found on the main admin interface page.

Firmware Version 1.01.06 (Jul 29 2008 10:41:04)

Boot Version V0.05

Hardware F5D8633-4 v1 (01)

Serial No. 12810863346728

[JJ_]

Hmm, I've worked with these in the past and what you describe is usually down indicative of a hardware fault. Nevertheless you could try changing around some settings to see if these alleviate the issue you're having.

In the 'Channel and SSID' menu change the Bandwidth option to 20/40MHz. Then turn off both Protected Mode and 802.11e/WMM QoS to OFF. Then go to the 'Wi-Fi Protected Setup' menu and set Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) to disabled. Monitor the situation over a few days and let us know how you get on.

[Elliot B.]

Hmm, I've worked with these in the past and what you describe is usually down indicative of a hardware fault. Nevertheless you could try changing around some settings to see if these alleviate the issue you're having. In the 'Channel and SSID' menu change the Bandwidth option to 20/40MHz. Then turn off both Protected Mode and 802.11e/WMM QoS to OFF. Then go to the 'Wi-Fi Protected Setup' menu and set Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) to disabled. Monitor the situation over a few days and let us know how you get on.

Can you possibly explain why I should be changing these things? Just so I know before I do it :)

[JJ_]

I've had experience with both this router and its cable alternative the F5D8233-4 .Turning off WPS will not make a dime of difference. As you have no physical access to the router, WPS is useless and turning off wireless QoS will probably improve performance. I turned these off by default for my clients as I had a feeling both features were buggy at firmware level.

The 20/40MHz mode will give you speeds of up to 300Mbps. 20MHz limits you to 150Mbps

[redPill]

Hello All,

 

This thread seems to be very very old. But i am facing the same issue and there are less than a few post on the entire internet about it. Seems like an Alien invasion, I don't know!

 

My internet connection has been like this since i moved to my new apartment. For a first few weeks i didn't really pay attention to the whole thing as it occurs very random. I will always have full connectivity displayed on my task-bar 'no exclamation icon' but unfortunately the internet crawls, my router admin page crawls. as soon i unplug the fiber optic which comes from ISP i can access the admin portal like magic, But whats the use of that anyway.

 

I tried changing channels, frequencies, passwords, SSID's. the ISP technician visited 3rd time today. Connected the laptop directly to the router via LAN and voila. I was getting the speed i was promised from the ISP. but he failed to understand that his answer didn't make sense at all, as even he did not understand the situation and the exact problem.

PS: this is a new router that i have purchased recently after smashing the old one on wall as I really thought there was something horribly wrong with my the old one. 

'

I don't really understand how to solve this. If anyone still following this thread please help.

[sc302 Veteran]

A lot of soho routers are garbage and should be replaced.  My suggestion to you is, replace the router with a more premium router.  Go with ubiquiti.  I know that doesn't help, but the router hardware and the firmware loaded on a lot of them leave a lot to be desired.  A free option would be to wipe it and reconfigure.