On 11/9/2013 11:25 AM, Charlemagne wrote:
On 11/9/2013 11:19 AM, wrote:
On Friday, November 8, 2013 8:38:34 PM UTC-5, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 11/8/2013 7:26 PM, Hank© wrote:
On 11/8/2013 7:50 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
I have an issue that is driving me crazy. Or crazier.
We recently had a full upgrade of all our Comcast provided
equipment in
our house. It involved a new signal booster amplifier, two new,
higher
bandwidth distribution amplifiers for the gazillion cable TV
outlets in
the house and a new combination modem/wireless router.
We have a large house and the Comcast tech suggested getting a Netgear
WiFi extender to give the router more range. I purchased and
installed
the extender. The extender adds another WiFi signal that has the same
name as the router except it has "ext" at the end of the name.
So, now the computers see two network connections available.
"HomeXXXX"
and "HomeXXXX.ext"
The router signal was the stronger of the two from where I normally
use
my laptop. So, I tried connecting to "HomeXXXX" and it would
connect to
the router, but with no Internet access. Said "Local only".
I tried connecting to the weaker "HomeXXXX.ext" (extender) signal
and it
worked fine. Local and Internet access.
Went back to the original router network signal ... Local only .. no
Internet.
I tried all the standard stuff, power down, power up of computer,
router, and even depressed the "reset" on the router. Same results.
Could only get Internet access on the extender's signal.
After about four days (and totally unrelated, I think) the new
modem/router that Comcast had installed **** the bed. The "on-line"
light would never stay on as it should.
After talking to Comcast tech help, I returned it to the local Comcast
service center and exchanged it for another one. Hooked it up, went
through the startup procedure and everything worked again normally. I
could connect to either the router directly or the extender signal and
both gave Internet access with no problems.
It all worked fine like this for about a week. About 2 hours ago, I
lost Internet access again on the router signal connection. Local
access only. Yet, when I connect to the extender's signal, I get
both
local and Internet access.
Again tried the re-boots and resets. No change. I even "deleted" the
router connection and had to go through the process of
re-installing the
security WPS number to connect to it again. But it still only gives
"Local only" meaning the computer is connected to the router but the
router can't connect to the Internet. When I connect to the
extender's
signal (HomeXXXX.ext) everything works fine ... local and Internet
access.
I can' make any sense out of this. The extender signal is nothing
but a
"repeater" of the router's signal to my understanding and the extender
depends on the router for an Internet connection. So why can I
connect
to the Internet with it but only get a "local network" connection
when I
try the router's signal?
Any insight would sure be appreciated. This is driving me nuts.
Sounds like the extender is grabbing your wi-fi and not letting the
router pass signals from your computers to the modem section. But since
you've already swapped the extender try a new modem-router or a
different brand. I'm surprised Comcast couldn't provide the solution
with their own equipment.
I haven't changed the extender. I changed the modem/router. Both
worked for a few days (could connect to either the extender or the
router) but then stopped connecting with the router.
There's an issue with the cable modem/wireless router. The repeater
can't "tell" the modem to only send the internet connection to it, and
the fact that the repeater has internet shows that the modem has a
good cable signal and that it also has internet access.
Is there a setting in the modem/router that limits how many (internet)
connections it will allow? Maybe if you're disconnecting then
reconnecting your device wirelessly, while you're disconnected
(powered down?) something else is connecting (cell phone?) and taking
the last available connection. Then when you try to connect it won't
serve you. The extender has been connected the entire time, so it
still has service.
Good luck!
We just went through this with Cox... The TV worked/works fine but the
internet goes in and out... Last time it was out for three days (with
perfect TV and phone signal over the same network) and when the idiots
finally went through our inside network, the guy climbed the pole, and
changed the tap... Although we still have a bit of slow connections here
and there (they said the "new" tap wasn't perfect and they would come
and change it, they haven't), we are able to connect 99.9% of the time
now...
I don't necessarily trust Comcast but the tech who upgraded our
equipment and checked the signal strengths was a good guy and knew his
stuff. I was there while he tested everything and he showed me the
results on the meter.
Comcast is in the process of upgrading *all* their systems. It will
eventually require that everyone have the latest and greatest
modem/router to the D-3.0 protocol standard and that "splitters" and
other signal devices be entirely eliminated. If you have splitters,
they are being replaced with powered distribution amplifiers.
They have not upgraded all their service areas yet. We had the
original modem/router and distribution system that was installed in the
house when we bought it in 2000. It worked fine until Comcast upgraded
the broadcast standard which includes higher bandwidth and faster
Internet speeds. The old system couldn't handle it which is why we
started having problems and they upgraded the system.
I can say this ... when it's working, the Internet is fast as lightning.
Much, much faster than the old system.