[TelstraClear] Telstra cable (kapiti) & wireless routers? Not working!

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zakblak

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#16787 28-Oct-2007 10:56

Hi TCL readers,

I have been installing Netgear wireless routers for some time now, mostly on TCLs fixed IP cable network in the Wellington region. As of yesterday morning (about 11am), a lot of my customers in Kapiti (including TCL techs, and myself!) have experienced a total failure in their routers. Some more info:

All routers are Netgear WPN824v2's, latest firmware
All connected to TCL fixed IP cable, SB51001 modems

When the router is first turned on, there is connectivity for about 10 seconds, then it all goes quiet...

If I run a ping 192.168.1.1 -t to the router using a LAN cable, it replies fine for about 10 seconds, then I get "Request timed out", and therefore cant access the EWS, or the internet, or the cable modem.

The _weird_ thing is that if I unplug the WAN cable from the back of the router, it all works perfectly, EWS is there, ping works no problems. Once that WAN cable goes back in, its all over.

(If I connect a PC direct its all OK)

So, I'm theorizing it could be:

ARP flooding shutting down the routers
TCL implementing some form of shutdown-on-connect-to-router (Maybe TCLs PCE checking also exclude either specific MACs, or specific MAC signatures from connecting?)

I'm currently trying to get Netgear to do some investigating, and am working on TCL from the inside, but wondering if any of the members have either experienced something similar.

I'll setup a packet sniffer shortly to investigate further.

Incidently, I havent had the same problem on ADSL connected customers, just cable...

Thanks,

Adrian

sbiddle

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#92730 28-Oct-2007 11:45

ARP traffic has caused issues in the past. By nature the cable network does have a lot of ARP traffic and many brands of "low end" routers have struggled with this. Dlink and Belkin routers are particularly bad.

Spyware

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#92731 28-Oct-2007 11:49

I had a similar issue with a Dlink DI-804HV in June/July in Christchurch. Pinging LAN interface was always possible however. On power cycle of modem WAN gateway would be connected for a brief period allowing typically 11 ping replies. Would reconnect apparently at random for only short periods without any power cycling of modem. TCL swapped out cable modem - no change.

We tested 804HV on another cable connection and it did the same thing yet was fine connected to ADSL modem. Swapped under warranty for 824VUP+. This did exactly the same thing on both connections. Telstra Clear claimed no issues. I had initially swapped the 804HV for a cheap Edimax which operated with no issues and is still going fine.

I was baffled but didn't really have time to investigate and TCL haven't been the gretest to deal with even with specific ADSL line faults.

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zakblak

26 posts

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#92737 28-Oct-2007 13:15

Hi sbiddle,

Thanks for the comments. It appears that TCL has lost some networking equipment, and as such alot of cross subnet ARP traffic is flowing around, which is bad for any ISP. I can only conclude that if ARP is flooding, then the routers are locking out under a DoS style shutdown.

Its particularly annoying however, as a cheap realtek NIC just keeps on working and doesn't care about the traffic!

I'll go into the TELNET shell on the router and see if I can customize the DoS shutdown levels.

Hi Spyware,

I too have had some experience with cheaper products working fine in similar situations. Netgear is certainly a good base product, so I would suggest that maybe these routers are "too smart" for their own good? Hopefully I can find a resolve, and advise other users of suitable settings changes.

Cheers,

Adrian

sbiddle

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#92745 28-Oct-2007 14:20

I personally recommend WRT54G (v2-v4) or WRT54GL routers. With 3rd party firmware on them they are rock solid, offer fantastic QoS and features you won't get on any other router that comes close to the price as well as being able to crank up the WiFi power levels to give great coverage.

zakblak

26 posts

Geek

#92753 28-Oct-2007 15:31

sbiddle, slightly off topic, but thanks for the recommendation.

Have you used these in a commercial environment? (ie have you got customers who use these?)

Do you use them on the static IP cable service? Any problems with either random disconnects or extended failures?

Cheers,

Adrian

zakblak

26 posts

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#92804 28-Oct-2007 22:25

Aaaaaand, just as mysteriously, as I was hooking up the packet sniffer, it all just started working again, as did the routers of my clients here in Kapiti.

Annoying, to say the least...

I'm going to go with ARP flooding, and continue hacking the router to see if I can get them working any better.

Thanks for the responses :)

Adrian

(sbiddle - I'll grab a Linksys as well as a Belkin and do some playing, I assume the L version is a Linux shell? What firmware have you used on yours?)

sbiddle

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#92810 28-Oct-2007 22:54

zakblak:
(sbiddle - I'll grab a Linksys as well as a Belkin and do some playing, I assume the L version is a Linux shell? What firmware have you used on yours?)

I personally use the Sveasoft firmware but there are a lot of people who take issue with their pricing model when it's based on open source software. DD-WRT would be by far the most common 3rd party firmware.

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BarTender

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#92880 29-Oct-2007 12:47

sbiddle: DD-WRT would be by far the most common 3rd party firmware.

I personally use DD-WRT and have never had a problem with it, great features, dual SSID support in the Beta 2.4 versions. I have had the router in for about 9 months now and never rebooted it. Had to reboot my cable modem a lot more often....

And as sbiddle says bang for your buck you can't go wrong with the Linksys WRT54GL.

I am currently looking at deploying these routers at a Wellington school to provide them with secure internet (over WPA EAP) plus free intranet access for students, and the fact that these boxes can run the Dual SSID / VLANs and only cost $150 per unit was a great selling point.

zakblak

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#92882 29-Oct-2007 12:50

Great, thanks for the info BarTender :)