Desktop Connects Via Lan Cable, Laptop Doesn't With Wifi

[d0ndela]

Correct, and then you would need to setup the wireless with security.

Edit: You could also try to get the people at the computer store set it up for you. That can easily be done anywhere, you just need a computer to plug into the router. Then you just bring it home and hook the cable and you are rolling (hopefully)

Just to confirm your suspicions about the cheap ZyXEL router. Most cheap routers cannot handle more than 99 concurrent connections, and when you use uTorrent you have tons of connections open to all the seeders and leechers, then you will probably experience the router rebooting to try to reset the number of connections, but your uTorrent will just once again max out the connections and the same thing will happen again and again..

Edited October 23, 2009 by d0ndela

[MaiDong]

Thanks for your advice d0ndela, have you got a recommendation for a modem/router? I don't really want to spend more than B3,000 if possible

[MaiDong]

What about this one? D-Link DSL-2640T

[d0ndela]

Oh no, stay well clear of those!! Those are the ones that people often get with their TOT/TT&T internet, and they are nothing but trouble.

When I get to work I will give you some models that we have been happy with over the last months.

[MaiDong]

Oh no, stay well clear of those!! Those are the ones that people often get with their TOT/TT&T internet, and they are nothing but trouble.

When I get to work I will give you some models that we have been happy with over the last months.

Lovely, thanks d0ndela

[d0ndela]

Oops just remembered my promise I made this morning. We've tested quite a few different wireless combined router/modem models over the last half a year or so.

The ones we've ended up using for now is the following:

Home (NAS server downloading torrents 24/7, 4 laptops, 2 desktops): Buffalo Nfiniti™ Wireless-N Router - price is below 2,000 baht.

Office (~15 computers with a mix of wireless and wired through switches): TP-Link TD-W8901G - I think price is just above 2,000 baht.

Both are working flawlessly without problems.

I'm by no means saying that these are superior to all other models, but we have found that they cover our needs fine.

[MaiDong]

Thanks d0ndela, I'll check out the price of the Nfiniti locally

[trogers]

Correct, and then you would need to setup the wireless with security.

Edit: You could also try to get the people at the computer store set it up for you. That can easily be done anywhere, you just need a computer to plug into the router. Then you just bring it home and hook the cable and you are rolling (hopefully)

Just to confirm your suspicions about the cheap ZyXEL router. Most cheap routers cannot handle more than 99 concurrent connections, and when you use uTorrent you have tons of connections open to all the seeders and leechers, then you will probably experience the router rebooting to try to reset the number of connections, but your uTorrent will just once again max out the connections and the same thing will happen again and again..

The lowest grade of ZyXEL wireless router has been tested and found to support only 16 simultaneous connections - model NBG-318S

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/index.php?o...=&chart=124

[MaiDong]

I've just had a look at the graph in the link, it's showing the top routers as only supporting a maximum of 200 connections - I've seen people recommending settings on uTorrent, for example, at 500 connections - is 200 acceptable?

[MaiDong]

From the list:

Trendnet 300Mbps Wireless N Gigabit Gaming Router (TEW-633GR) 200

Belkin N+ Wireless Router (F5D8235-4) 200

Netgear Wireless N Router (WNR2000) 200

D-Link Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router (DIR-825 (A1)) 200

Linksys Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router (WRT610N) 200

D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router (DIR-655) 200

ASUS Multi-functional Gigabit SuperSpeedN Router (RT-N16) 200

D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855 (A1)) 200

Netgear ProSafe VPN Firewall 200 (FVX538 v2) 200

PepLink Balance (30) 200

D-Link RangeBooster N Router (DIR-625 [C1]) 200

D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router (DGL-4500) 200

D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router (DIR-655 [A4]) 200

Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNDR3700) 200

Netgear ProSafe 8-port Gigabit VPN Firewall (FVS318G) 200

Netgear ProSafe Dual WAN Gigabit Firewall (FVS336G) 200

Buffalo Technology Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Router & Access Point (WZR-HP-G300NH) 200

Linksys Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router (WRT400N) 200

D-Link Xtreme N Storage Router (DIR-685) 200

Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT320N) 200

Trendnet 300Mbps Wireless N Home Router (TEW-632BRP) 180

Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Router (F5D8232-4) 180

Linksys 4-Port SSL/IPSec VPN Router (RVL200) 180

Adtran NetVanta (3120) 180

D-Link Wireless 108G Gaming Router (DGL-4300) 180

Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link (WRT160NL) 180

Linksys Wireless-N Home Router (WRT120N) 160

Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT310N) 160

Linksys RangePlus Wireless Router (WRT110) 136

Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT600N) 136

Apple Airport Extreme (MB053LLA) 128

Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless N Router (WNR834Bv2) 128

Belkin N Wireless Router [V4] (F5D8233-4) 128

Netgear RangeMax Dual-Band Wireless N Router (WNDR3300) 124

Linksys Ultra RangePlus Wireless-N Broadband Router (WRT160N) 96

Zyxel Internet Security Appliance (Zywall 2 Plus) 96

Linksys 10/100 4-Port VPN Router (RV042) 72

Netgear RangeMax Next Wireless Router - Gigabit Edition (WNR854T) 72

Zonet Cable / DSL Broadband Router (ZSR0104CP) 64

Buffalo Technology Wireless-G MIMO Performance Broadband Router (WHR-HP-G54) 64

Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router (WRT54GL [V1.1]) 64

Trendnet Cable / DSL 4-Port Broadband Router (TW100-S4W1CA) 63

Linksys 4-Port Gigabit Security Router with VPN (RVS4000) 48

Belkin N150 Wireless Router (F6D4230-4 v2) 48

D-Link Rangebooster G Router (WBR-2310) 48

D-Link Ethernet Broadband Router (EBR-2310) 32

USRobotics Broadband Router (USR8004) 32

D-Link Wireless N Router (DIR-615 [b2]) 32

Trendnet 108Mbps 802.11g Wireless Firewall Router (TEW-452BRP) 32

D-Link RangeBooster N Dual Band Router (DIR-628) 32

Netgear Prosafe VPN Firewall 8 (FVS114) 16

Zyxel Wireless Powerline Router (NBG318S) 16

Belkin N1 Wireless Router (F5D8231-4) 10

Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router (WRT54G2) 8

Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router (WRT54G [V5]) 8

Netgear RangeMax Wireless Router (WPN824) 2

[trogers]

I've just had a look at the graph in the link, it's showing the top routers as only supporting a maximum of 200 connections - I've seen people recommending settings on uTorrent, for example, at 500 connections - is 200 acceptable?

"The maximum possible number of connections is 200 due to IxChariot license limitations."

Home grade routers have a max of 200. Commercial grade will exceed this number, and so will the price.

I set mine to 40 for my ZyXEL P-600 series and I am getting almost 400 KB/s from a well-seeded torrent. You do not need to have high connection nos. to max your download speed. But make sure you limit your global upload speed to 60-70% of what your ISP is giving you.

[MaiDong]

I've just had a look at the graph in the link, it's showing the top routers as only supporting a maximum of 200 connections - I've seen people recommending settings on uTorrent, for example, at 500 connections - is 200 acceptable?

"The maximum possible number of connections is 200 due to IxChariot license limitations."

Home grade routers have a max of 200. Commercial grade will exceed this number, and so will the price.

I set mine to 40 for my ZyXEL P-600 series and I am getting almost 400 KB/s from a well-seeded torrent. You do not need to have high connection nos. to max your download speed. But make sure you limit your global upload speed to 60-70% of what your ISP is giving you.

I see now, so that must be a particular ISP, understood

My original problem was that only 1 computer could connect at a time, this, I assumed, was due to my inadequate router. I have played around with my uTorrent settings - limiting it to 60-70% of what my ISP is supposedly giving me amongst other settings and it is still impossible to use a second computer at the moment.

I currently have 400kB/s on several torrents from all over the world, the speed is not really the problem, the problem is that using a Thompson Speedtouch modem with an old SMC router with TOT internet I had before I was using True, I was able to use 3-4-5 computers simultaneously with no problems, is it advisable to buy a decent modem/router? Or is it just True who is the problem?

Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by this situation.

[Prasert]

Maidong, check the Zyxel website for a newer firmware.

I've got a few P-660R-T1 v2 and P-660HW-T1 v2 routers running, they are very stable and perform well, even under p2p downloads.

The one you have should perform just fine, but Thai ISPs are known to put limited firmware versions on the routers they sell.

The session limit is per IP address. 200 is already quite high, theoretically it would allow for 200 simultaneous sessions, but when using bittorrent it takes a while for no-longer-used sessions to time out and decrease the session counter.

In the home routers, setting these time-out values for NAT is often not possible.

If you want a router that can handle a couple of thousand simultaneous NAT sessions, configure time-outs and all possible kinds of portforwarding: Cisco (didn't see that one in the list)

I have never yet set up a wireless router without tearing my hair out. I am no IT specialist but I am pretty clever otherwise. Can any IT person explain why the industry has not solved making this a less painless process? Everything else seems to be plug and play.

My brother used to work in the IT helpdesk for a large company. He used to tell me when users asked him for help, he would go to their work space and tell them to go for a coffee. The problem was usually fairly simple to fix, often as simple as cleaning the fluff and dirt on a mouse ball. he would do it and when asked what he had done he would just say it was a bit technical to explain and go back to him office. I asked him why he didnt explain it and allow the user to self help in the future? His answer probably answers your question. It kept him in a job.

Funny. I used to do the opposite:

Walked into an office to help a lady install a network printer. So after I told her this, she got up and wanted to walk out for a coffee. I told her to get back behind her computer, as I was gonna help her, not do her job.

Initially annoyed, she read the instructions on paper out loud (I wrote those earlier) and then found out that it said right-click... while she was clicking with the left button all the time. After that, she had a bit of a rouge colour....

Point is, IT really does try to make things understandable for people. But the majority doesn't want to read and think. Just click-and-complain.....

[trogers]

My original problem was that only 1 computer could connect at a time, this, I assumed, was due to my inadequate router. I have played around with my uTorrent settings - limiting it to 60-70% of what my ISP is supposedly giving me amongst other settings and it is still impossible to use a second computer at the moment.

I currently have 400kB/s on several torrents from all over the world, the speed is not really the problem, the problem is that using a Thompson Speedtouch modem with an old SMC router with TOT internet I had before I was using True, I was able to use 3-4-5 computers simultaneously with no problems, is it advisable to buy a decent modem/router? Or is it just True who is the problem?

Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by this situation.

I have just received a new router (ZyXEL V1) from True for 4 mbps line in one of my condos. Have not run it yet. But I did notice it has only 1 ethernet port compared to the P-600 series with 2 ports. Not sure how it will perform with torrents.

On your problem of not being able to connect a 2nd comp (I assumed thru wifi), try setting Utorrent not to startup with Windows in the 1st comp and then connect your 2nd comp. If no go, problem may be in the wifi security settings or DHCP settings of the router.

[MaiDong]

Prasert, I checked the ZyXEL website and I can't even find my router on there!

trogers, have you had time to set up your router yet? I'm still having serious problems, I can use next doors wifi on both my other laptops but I can't use my own wifi! Please help

[MaiDong]

On your problem of not being able to connect a 2nd comp (I assumed thru wifi), try setting Utorrent not to startup with Windows in the 1st comp and then connect your 2nd comp. If no go, problem may be in the wifi security settings or DHCP settings of the router.

I've jsut checked the settings for the security on my router and it is set to 'no security', the True 'engineer' suggested I set it to that! His laptop was able to connect to my internet too, however, he told me not to use 2 instances of uTorrent, so I didn't, and even today when I've tried to use the internet from the other laptop I still couldn't get on!

Actually, I am able to get my own wifi intermittently, but I am unable to use skype, uTorrent, msn.

trogers, below is a pic of my DHCP settings, can you let me know if something fundamental needs to be changed please?

[surayu]

Hi MaiDong, i am back in town for a few days, so if you like i can pop up to your place and have a look into it, i can also bring along my 4 ports Zyxell router if you like, i am afraid i am not english however i believe i got a decent grasp of your language let me know.

[MaiDong]

Hi MaiDong, i am back in town for a few days, so if you like i can pop up to your place and have a look into it, i can also bring along my 4 ports Zyxell router if you like, i am afraid i am not english however i believe i got a decent grasp of your language let me know.

You are my savior! I'm pulling my hair out here!! Sending you a PM now

[surayu]

That's ok, i am not an IT professional, so i can't really guarantee on results, however i have succesfully done the setup for my machines and it's all working fine, so i got a certain degree of confidence i might be able to do the same for you too, it's up to you to take the risk or not, that's all

[MaiDong]

I'm perfectly happy to take the risk, the problem is that my knowledge of routers is zero. I could even be making a simple mistake with my 2 laptops but I can't understand why my desktop has no problems at all...

[trogers]

On your problem of not being able to connect a 2nd comp (I assumed thru wifi), try setting Utorrent not to startup with Windows in the 1st comp and then connect your 2nd comp. If no go, problem may be in the wifi security settings or DHCP settings of the router.

I've jsut checked the settings for the security on my router and it is set to 'no security', the True 'engineer' suggested I set it to that! His laptop was able to connect to my internet too, however, he told me not to use 2 instances of uTorrent, so I didn't, and even today when I've tried to use the internet from the other laptop I still couldn't get on!

Actually, I am able to get my own wifi intermittently, but I am unable to use skype, uTorrent, msn.

trogers, below is a pic of my DHCP settings, can you let me know if something fundamental needs to be changed please?

First question - did you set up a static LAN IP address in the properties of your comp's network connection?

Second question - If you did set up a static IP address, is it within the pool size of 32 of your DHCP server starting at 192.168.xx.xx?

Say the pool starts at 192.168.1.30, the last accepted IP address is 192.168.1.61 for a pool size of 32. If you set up a LAN IP address into your comp outside of this pool, it will not connect to the router.

Edited October 29, 2009 by trogers

[trogers]

I've jsut checked the settings for the security on my router and it is set to 'no security', the True 'engineer' suggested I set it to that!

Once your comp can connect to the router, you need to activate your wireless security using WPA or WPA2, and use a key of at least 12 alphanumeric values. Broadcast channels should be set to 1 or 11 for clear reception.

Without wireless security, any neighbour can connect into your line. And if 'Clients for Microsoft network' in the properties of your network connection is not disabled, a hacker can roam around in your comp.

[MaiDong]

On your problem of not being able to connect a 2nd comp (I assumed thru wifi), try setting Utorrent not to startup with Windows in the 1st comp and then connect your 2nd comp. If no go, problem may be in the wifi security settings or DHCP settings of the router.

I've jsut checked the settings for the security on my router and it is set to 'no security', the True 'engineer' suggested I set it to that! His laptop was able to connect to my internet too, however, he told me not to use 2 instances of uTorrent, so I didn't, and even today when I've tried to use the internet from the other laptop I still couldn't get on!

Actually, I am able to get my own wifi intermittently, but I am unable to use skype, uTorrent, msn.

trogers, below is a pic of my DHCP settings, can you let me know if something fundamental needs to be changed please?

First question - did you set up a static LAN IP address in the properties of your comp's network connection?

Second question - If you did set up a static IP address, is it within the pool size of 32 of your DHCP server starting at 192.168.xx.xx?

Say the pool starts at 192.168.1.30, the last accepted IP address is 192.168.1.61 for a pool size of 32. If you set up a LAN IP address into your comp outside of this pool, it will not connect to the router.

I haven't done anything trogers, I don't know anything about this subject

I don't know the first thing about network setup...

[MaiDong]

Without wireless security, any neighbour can connect into your line. And if 'Clients for Microsoft network' in the properties of your network connection is not disabled, a hacker can roam around in your comp.

I knew that, I thought it was a bit odd when the engineer told me to do that, I asked him if others could use my connection if it was like that and he said no!!

[trogers]

On your problem of not being able to connect a 2nd comp (I assumed thru wifi), try setting Utorrent not to startup with Windows in the 1st comp and then connect your 2nd comp. If no go, problem may be in the wifi security settings or DHCP settings of the router.

I've jsut checked the settings for the security on my router and it is set to 'no security', the True 'engineer' suggested I set it to that! His laptop was able to connect to my internet too, however, he told me not to use 2 instances of uTorrent, so I didn't, and even today when I've tried to use the internet from the other laptop I still couldn't get on!

Actually, I am able to get my own wifi intermittently, but I am unable to use skype, uTorrent, msn.

trogers, below is a pic of my DHCP settings, can you let me know if something fundamental needs to be changed please?

First question - did you set up a static LAN IP address in the properties of your comp's network connection?

Second question - If you did set up a static IP address, is it within the pool size of 32 of your DHCP server starting at 192.168.xx.xx?

Say the pool starts at 192.168.1.30, the last accepted IP address is 192.168.1.61 for a pool size of 32. If you set up a LAN IP address into your comp outside of this pool, it will not connect to the router.

I haven't done anything trogers, I don't know anything about this subject

I don't know the first thing about network setup...

Go to control panel of your comp and click 'Network connections'

Your laptop should have 2 icons, one for local area and one for wireless

Click right on an icon and select 'properties' and a menu will appear.

Highlight 'Internet protocol' and then click 'Properties' tab

A new menu will pop up.

Usual settings here would be - obtain an IP address automatically and obtain DNS server address automatically.

The alternative is to set an IP address, subnet mask and default gateway.

Check the properties of both icons.

Edit: A question - what kind of software firewall is your comp running?

Edited October 30, 2009 by trogers