Still having Fibre issues - Keep the ideas coming please

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Aredwood

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#1500157 26-Feb-2016 20:24

Disable Wifi on all devices that are connected via ethernet. Just in case you have a loop going from router - wifi - desktop - ethernet - switch - router. And make sure there is only 1 cable going between the router and the switch. Try unplugging all your ethernet devices from the device ends of the cables. leaving the switch ends plugged in. Make sure your switch doesn't indicate any "live" ports. (as that would mean a loop).

webwat

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#1500173 26-Feb-2016 20:56

gedc:

Thanks for that. Why am I using a switch ? As I have a 24 port patch panel with generally around 20 connections into it and around 12+ ports being used around the house at any given time. To date I've not brought them all online however. It's a 16 port Netgear Prosafe Switch - gs116 v2. Given the router also sits about 5 metres from the panel, I'd rather string 1 ethernet cable into the cupboard where the above all sits and not 7.

Re the broadcast storm - I thought of that and basically read it's like a DDOS from inside the network. I'm not sure how I could have created that given I don't have any loopbacks or multiples switches. Connections are Fibre to ONT. ONT to Router. Router to Switch. Switch ports to various ports on the Patch Panel. So there is only one switch in the process and the only things plugged into the other end of the patch panel are laptops, gaming desktop, Skybox HD, an intel NUC that I access netflix etc from , a smart tv and an XBOX 1 ( that I noticed last night isn't registering as a Gigabit connection - 1 flashing light above the switch port instead of 2) . I have a different DNS on the intel NUC in order that I can access unblock us. Other than that ??

I'm gonna pop off the top of the switch tonight to check for bulging capacitors as that seems to be a common thread in some older netgear switches. If it doesn't fall over in the next few days I'll bring more of the ports online.

Why am I fault finding? As I'm an idiot who doesn't sleep at night knowing something doesn't work :) It may have been the supplied router all of the time but then again it may not hence the ongoing testing.

If you decide to turn off wifi on the router and use the ADSL modem for wifi, make sure you disable DHCP on the modems LAN setting.

Why not get a slightly longer patch cord to allow the router to sit in the cupboard? and complain to your ISP about the Chorus dude putting the ONT 5m away from your patch panel!! How silly is that, they are supposed to put it right next to the LAN hub if they know about it.

Time to find a new industry!

MadEngineer

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#1500182 26-Feb-2016 21:22

I'm guessing that the simultaneous flashing is pretty infrequent like once a second? Probably completely normal such as broadcast traffic from devices looking for media players. I wouldn't worry too much unless all the ports are flashing like crazy in absolute unison with very little inter-port flashing out of sequence

bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7-FADwzycY

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

gedc

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#1500191 26-Feb-2016 21:50

Hi all. Thx for those thoughts and links. Yup. Its not like that clip thankfully. The ont / modem is right next to the patch panel inside a cupboard but ive got the router sitting next to my desktop - about 4m away for two reasons - one was to plug it into the copper circuit for voip access and that phone point was originally behind my desktop for adsl and secondly was for wifi benefit around the home- less walls the better etc.

Ill keep this updated but so far so good with the new asus router. Its also about 4x the size of the supplied ISP unit so takes up a fair chunk of real estate.

gedc

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Ultimate Geek
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#1507803 7-Mar-2016 22:32

So as a close to this thread and a thankyou to all those who offered help and advice I thought it relevant to update you all. Given I've had next to no problems it would appear to be some issues with the router ( or three) from actrix and either they get them free with a box of cornflakes or it just didn't like my setup. Since installing the Asus router it's been plain sailing to be honest. It was up for 12 days and only reason I know it dropped connection was when I logged into it for a nosey I saw it was now only up for 5 days. It dropped connection but found it again on its own without me realising. It just works pretty much flawlessly from what I can see. It did cost a fair chunk of cash but if money buys tech happiness then so be it. Hopefully I won't be back on here talking about fibre issues and again, thanks for the time and help with sorting this out. Still don't have VOIP sorted yet so that'll be the next thing actrix need to sort out. Fingers crossed! Cheers

rjl

38 posts

Geek

#1516077 19-Mar-2016 14:17

Arriving late to this thread.

I've got a very similar configuration (UFB, Actrix, NetComm N300 router, patch panel, cat 6 wiring, multiple wired and wireless devices) and am having very similar issues. Generally every 2 or 3 days, but sometimes multiple times in one day the router fails in one of two ways:

Usually all home devices lose their IP addresses, so report no Internet access. But the router is actually still active, VoIP still works and I talked the Actrix helpdesk through pinging the external IP address successfully. So I then tried setting a fixed IP address on my PC and sure enough it was able to connect to the Internet at full speed and also log on to the router admin page, which all appeared fine. So in this case I'm pretty sure it is just that the router's DHCP server has hung/crashed. The admin page still reports (most) client devices as having allocated IP addresses, but Windows machines have auto-configuration IP addresses, so go nowhere, and mobile phones, etc have also lost contact.

From time to time the router hangs/crashes completely. In this case VoIP is down (no dial tone on POTS phone) and setting a fixed IP on my laptop doesn't help.

I'm currently on my second N300, which has already experienced the DHCP hang. In discussion with Actrix I've just tried upgrading to the latest firmware. Probably clutching at straws because the release notes don't describe these symptoms being fixed, but worth a try. Next step is a different brand of router.

As in your case, the hangs don't seem to be directly associated to any identifiable trigger. It sometimes happens during the day when I'm out and there are only a couple of devices in the house. My partner just goes to use her laptop and finds it's lost connectivity.

One other observation. I have a few VMs running under Hyper-V on my laptop, with virtual wired and wireless NICs. The DHCP server in the NetComm router doesn't cope with the virtual wireless NICs - it keeps trying to give them the same IP address as the physical wireless NIC, which they detect and decline. This means that every 10 seconds my VMs keep asking for a new IP address and the DHCP server keeps giving them the duplicate. This means that the DHCP server gets vastly more calls than it would normally get on a home network (17,000 calls a day), which could just cause some sort of error of decay to show up much more quickly than otherwise.

That behaviour of not being able to cope with virtual wireless NICs is very common on low-end routers, by the way. It's because the wireless adapter always uses the same MAC address (unlike a wired NIC which can use multiple), so the DHCP server thinks all the requests come from the same client. The trick used by the smarter DHCP servers is that once the client has detected that it has been given an IP address that someone else has got and declines the IP address, the DHCP server remembers that and next time it gets a request from the same MAC address it gives it a new one.

Anyway, reading this thread convinces me that I need to get off the NetComm device.

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gedc

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Ultimate Geek
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#1516106 19-Mar-2016 16:06

Hiya. Since buying & installing the new ASUS router device my network has been as solid as a lump of concrete. Funnily enough there was an identical post on here to my / our problems that didn't get much response. Same ISP, same router, same issues. PM'd him about 4 weeks ago and he replied yesterday. All his issues dissapeared when he scrapped the Netcomm and bought a new router. I can heartily recommend the Asus RT-AC88u but that's only because it works and looks nice / has nice bios screens. I'm sure there are many other comparable models of which you no doubt have reviewed.

I think the only difference I was seeing was I couldn't access my routers admin page at all when it went down. Only way for me to get back online was to power off and on.

Only slight issue is the router i purchased has no voip connection so I'm awaiting actrix to get some rewiring done at the ont connection

Good to hear it wasn't just me. I was going mad for a while

rjl

38 posts

Geek

#1516142 19-Mar-2016 18:18

Like I say, sometimes I can access the admin screen - but only by setting a fixed IP address on my laptop, other times it's completely poked till I restart. Did you ever try a fixed IP?

Thanks for the router suggestion - though I do want VoIP and Actrix are still some way away from getting the ONT configuration done. It's odd, because when Chorus installed the ONT they told me to plug straight into the ONT and didn't believe me when I said Actrix said go via the router, which suggests that other ISPs probably go straight from the ONT.

Actrix apparently have another router option - the ZyXEL VMG8324 for UFB and have suggested I try that. You haven't seen any reports on that have you?

maca2play

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#1565438 3-Jun-2016 23:19

Hi There GEDC

I too are having problems similar to your plight ,I am running an Actrix Zyxel all on fibre and phone as well Actrix have been great and are there to help when called upon, but this new Zyxel has been only running for 6hrs and dropped out 2x already, I have been reading your posts and I'm not computer literate so all the jargon that is talked about is over my head, when internet goes down on the router all lights go out and its like its rebooting itself, I like actrix and have been with them for 15 or more years ever since PC GENERAL was around, but am wondering if maybe its at there end and not mine, in the past before fibre we had drop outs and was on a NetComm router, same thing would happen, I did go to the NetGear $600.00 job but did not have phone over fibre,and wife reckons it didn't drop out we didn't have it long enough to really try it out,,as had to have phone for business, hope you can help me

Cheers

Maca

rjl

38 posts

Geek

#1569900 11-Jun-2016 10:33

Actrix upgraded me to the ZyXel router rather than the NetComm one and that has been (almost) completely solid ever since. If I'd remembered to reply when I first saw your post I'd have said it had been completely solid, but VoIP actually dropped out a couple of days ago for the first time and I had to restart the router to get it going.

I know Actix were working on getting the configuration of the ONT (i.e. the Chorus termination box) changed so that you can plug your phone straight into there, in which case the router would no longer be involved in the phone service and you could go with other router options which don't have support for VoIP. I'm not sure where Actix have got to on that - might be worth asking them. When I last spoke to them they were hoping to have it ready well before now.

darylblake

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#1569904 11-Jun-2016 10:46

Glad to hear its all sorted. Yeh in general Zyxel and Asus, tend to be better brands. I do find that some of the cheap all in one products tend to do a average to bad job of all of the things they say they do.

E.g. Average Wifi, Voip that works sometimes, Routing is fine for 1 or 2 machines but once you add an entire household which might consist of 3-4 pc's + laptops + all the mobile phones and tablets they just run poorly.

I ended up getting separate devices (router, Ip Phone adapter, bridge and switch and wifi access point) and I have had absolutely no issues whatsoever for the last 2 years. But that's not to say that all in one products are bad, but what companies are trying to is squeeze all of these items into 1 box, which is a great idea. However to get it at a really low price point means corners get cut and when this happens it does not perform optimally.

In saying that some of the ISP provided modems are ok and some ISP's are providing better gear now days because they must have been getting a lot of support issues.

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gedc

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#1577269 20-Jun-2016 16:51

Hi folks.

Sorry for not replying sooner. Just caught upto this thread. Actrix are rolling out direct to ONT wiring for VOIP therefore bypassing the router. This allows you to therefore use an alternative router than the one they supplied which for my home network was as much use as an empty weetabix box. The catch is this only applies for download plans upto 100 in speed as they have been migrated to their Enable account. Those of us on the 200 plans still appear to be with 2 degrees wholesale through Actrix and the only option as of last week for me to get my homeline working again - 4 months and counting - was to step back to the 100 plan.

My fibre was cut by a contractor digging outside the house 2 weeks ago. I went through various calls to enable who kept telling me I already had fibre installed !??!!? - some language and comprehension issues !!!, then actrix ( 4 times ) and eventually they pulled strings with enable to get this fixed. From contractor cutting to someone attending was over a week. His job sheet highlighted the fault as being 24 hours old i.e thats' when enable were informed and that was only down to actrix bypassing the 'correct' route. He was dumstruck when I told him it was 7 days. I'm not really sure how long 2 degrees take to action issues but a week of calling and hearing nothing back isn't great. They should flick em as soon as possible.

ASUS router has been very good. Only a few drops / errors in all that time. I was seeing 7 a day with the free kit.

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