What's up with my connection?

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andrewNZ

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#178998 21-Aug-2015 21:45

My internet connection has been giving me grief for quite some time now. It seems my connection to the Spark DNS servers falls over on a fairly regular basis. Restarting the modem or resetting DNS settings fixes it.

I don't think it's the modem for two reasons.
1) It's happened on two modems
2) If I set the modem to use google's DNS servers, the problem goes away.

The problem resurfaced tonight after I set the modem back to automatic DNS a day or two ago.
My partner had no access using Spark DNS, I had no problem using Google. I changed my tablet back to automatic (Spark) and couldn't connect.
Changed the modem to google then back to auto, and we're away again.

The modem is a TP link TD-W8950N, the previous one was a linksys wag200g. When the DNS servers don't respond, the modem reports no problems.

I haven't tried pinging the servers when it's not working, I'll try that next time.

andrewNZ

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#1371906 22-Aug-2015 07:17

Right, it's happened again.

I cant ping either DNS server.

Before I correct the problem, is there anything i can do to gain more info on the problem.

cbrpilot

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#1371909 22-Aug-2015 07:32

Spark DNS servers do not respond to ping. Can you do nslookup from a command prompt and resolve host names?

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andrewNZ

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#1371913 22-Aug-2015 07:58

So if I go "nslookup live.geekzone.co.nz" it uses my modems address as the dns and fails.
If I specify the spark dns server, it works.

Specifying spark servers in my network adapter settings works too, but thats not a good solution.

Why are my devices using the modem address as the dns, is that normal?
the modem is saying it has the correct dns addresses.

josephhinvest

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#1371930 22-Aug-2015 08:59

Can you disable DNS proxy on your router? I think this should then forward the external DNS addresses to your devices instead of using the router as a proxy
Cheers,
Josepn

andrewNZ

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#1371935 22-Aug-2015 09:15

It doesn't appear that I can.

I seem to remember having the same issue even when i specify the dns in the nic settings. I guess i'll find out soon enough, that's what I've done for now.

I'm going to have to restart the modem soon or er-indoors is going to get cranky.

cbrpilot

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#1371945 22-Aug-2015 10:09

What OS are you using?

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Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

andrewNZ

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#1371956 22-Aug-2015 10:44

Win 10 / Win 7 / Windows Phone 8.1 / iPhone / Mac OSX
Happens on everything on the network.

Athlonite

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#1371961 22-Aug-2015 10:51

I get a very similar problem as you with the Orcon supplied NF4V if I let the modem perform on auto for DNS servers it alwats sets itself as the DNS server, If I set the actual primary and secondary servers to Orcon's DNS servers or google or Opendns the problem goes away which leads me to believe that there is a problem with the firmware or more to the point the bit that deals with how Automatic DNS is worked

andrewNZ

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#1371980 22-Aug-2015 12:10

It's been a while since i tried, but i'm pretty sure if i manually set the router to use Spark's dns it fails after x time just like automatic does. If I set it to use Google's dns, I have no such problems.

Manually setting the dns on every connected device isn't a solution, and using Googles isn't ideal.

This is something that should just work.

BarTender

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#1371990 22-Aug-2015 12:41

Have you checked to see if there is newer firmware for your router?? And/or done a factory reset on it and tried setting it up from scratch?