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I've got what I think is a bad broadband line, but I also think there's an additional problem with the router (a Linksys WRT54GH). Could someone let me know if I'm just unlucky, or if there's something I should look at? For various reasons (one being that I'm in a company house) it will be difficult getting an engineer out.

B/b connection is slow/unstable - typically receives data at less than 10KB/s. It can go up as high as 100KB/s, but tends to fall right back down to near 0 after a second or two. Late at night the connection can maintain around 40-50KB/s for several minutes at a time. I didn't set up the line but believe it is high speed.

This is using wifi, or with ethernet to the router. I also plugged the b/b line straight into my laptop - I wasn't sure what would happen but it identified a network and I could access the internet, but with the same speed issues (I didn't try it for long but if anything the speed was worse). That's why I think the line is bad. Under control panel -> network connections -> Network 3 (the active network) it listed the speed of the connection as 100Mbps.

Before that I was trying to look at the router settings. Here is why I think the router also has a problem:

  • the wifi had no password set; I thought people might be stealing bandwidth. Tried to log on to router settings (192.168.1.1) using the default username & password and couldn't get in.
  • tried to log in using IE instead of FF - had to log in FIVE times before it accepted it. Every time I click a button or access a page, I need to enter login credentials, again five times. The 'remember my details' check box does not work.
  • found the list of devices connected via wifi, there were indeed several that should not have been, including a surly next door neighbour who has her own wifi (with a password so we can't use it) so wasn't too pleased about that
  • found the wifi password security set to 'disabled', put it to WPA2, clicked save, was asked to enter login details - this time I entered them three times and it gave me a 401 not authorised error. Same thing when I try to change any setting, not just the password
  • is there such a thing as having two sets of router passwords, one for higher level access?
  • factory reset the router, no change
  • factory reset the router again, went as quickly as i could to 192.168.1.1 and this time it accepted my login first time. Added a wifi password and hit save. Had to enter details five times again but it saved

  • tried to change another setting and it went back to the 401 screen - evidently there is only time to change one thing before something comes alive and blocks you

    1. Router - is this some sort of malware/virus? Or could it be a security feature set by my employer that I have accidently circumvented? It's a weird security feature that leaves wifi with no password though.

    2. My broadband - noise on the line perhaps? Is there any way I can test this without having to ask my facilities manager to get an engineer in? She says she’s had people look at it before (but can't seem to recall what they said).

Thanks

EDIT

Router does not seem to have a stats page.

Pathping below

NB. I entered 'bbc.co.uk' but this is evidently automatically updated to 'net.uk'
NB2. The router has its own traceroute function, but this timed out once it got to step 5, had several more time outs, and finally reported: "13 610 ms 610 ms 610 ms www.bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.66]"

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.244.66] over a maximum of 30 hops:
0 laptop [192.168.1.xxx]
1 192.168.1.1
2 10.xxx.xxx.1
3 10.xxx.xxx.78
4 * 10.xxx.xxx.1
5 10.xxx.xxx.2
6 * * *
Computing statistics for 125 seconds...
Source to Here This Node/Link
Hop RTT Lost/Sent = Pct Lost/Sent = Pct Address
0..............................................................laptop [192.168.1.xxx]
............................................0/ 100 = 0% |
1.....6ms....0/ 100... = 0%....0/ 100 = 0% 192.168.1.1
...........................................0/ 100 = 0% |
2....10ms...0/ 100... = 0%....0/ 100 = 0% 10.xxx.xxx.1
...........................................0/ 100 = 0% |
3..562ms...0/ 100... = 0%....0/ 100 = 0% 10.xxx.xxx.78
...........................................0/ 100 = 0% |
4..567ms...2/ 100... = 2%....2/ 100 = 2% 10.xxx.xxx.1
...........................................0/ 100 = 0% |
5..567ms...0/ 100... = 0%....0/ 100 = 0% 10.xxx.xxx.2

Trace complete.

Hennes
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hoojaa
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4 Answers4

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I could not see any indication (from your post) that the problem is the router - it would seem to me more likely to be an issue with the broadband connection and/or data line entering your house.

You have not advised the type of connection you had, but I would focus on that. If its ADSL or similar, try (temporarily) unplugging all phones and filters, plugging only the ADSL router directly into the wall and see if that improves things. If there is a slight improvement its probably an issue related to the exchange/copper/distance. If there is a substantial improvement you most likely have a faulty filter - this is quite common. If you don't get any change then that does not tell you anything (ie it could still be a problem with the ADSL)

I also observe a lot of the IP addresses in your traceroute start 10.x.x.x - This, along with the latencies - tends to imply an incompetent company masquerading as an ISP - ie it may not be a problem with your connection it might be your ISP. (It could be legitimate, but it would be highly unusual for a provider to use that much RFC1918 IP space in their network). Who is your ISP ? Also, do you need this for work, and if so is there a VPN? That could explain the problems - and the business may be artificially limiting the connection speed.

davidgo
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Your probably is most definitely your cable/dsl connection. If I understood correctly, you plugged your modem directly into your PC once, so if it was slow at the point, your router is not at fault. It would suggest calling your ISP and working your slow connection out with them. You could also try restarting your modem and see if that does anything.

MicrosoftMan
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The problem with login credentials is very odd, never seen it. However theoretically it may be caused by two Wifi access points using the same SSID, and both without Wifi password. Your computer may just switching between two APs, yours another unknown router.

So please connect your computer with Ethernet cable to router, turn Wifi OFF in computer and check everything again.

user3767013
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I recently had a nearly identical login credentials problem with a Netgear wifi router. Some googling suggested the cause is a UPNP vulnerability. I solved the problem by disabling UPNP, blocking the UPNP port (5000/tcp), and power cycling the router. Good luck and hope this helps.

Richard St Peters
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