Hi,

I am hoping someone can give me some sensible help that the Orcon overseas call centre was unable to give.

First some background.  My Genius modem/router stopped working yesterday (no phone, wired network, wireless conection, or internet) and I could not even access the routers home page.  After doing a full reset, things are now operational again.  I’ve also just had my house cabled for Ethernet, with three points originating at the Genius location to three rooms in my house.  I also have Ethernet over Power which services other rooms not cabled.  So all in all, I need to plug four Ethernet cables into my Genius to service all rooms.

The Genius router only has three ports on it, so I purchased a 5 port network switch http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=SWHTPL1007&name=TP-LINK-TL-SG1005D-5-PORT-GIG-SWITCH-101001000Mbps (the third port on the Genius doesn’t work so Orcon are couriering a replacement router to me).  It seems though that when I have this switch connected to the Genius, network performance (especially wireless) grinds to an almost halt.

I rang the Orcon call centre to ask if network switches are supported by the Genius (I have three other of the very same network switches in other locations of the house which work just fine) and was told they are supported.  I explained my issue to the Orcon rep, and he tried to tell me that the network switch was consuming most of the bandwidth hence why wifi was very slow.  I tried to explain to him that none of the devices connected to the network switch were on so weren’t consuming network or internet bandwidth, but he kept insisting the switch was consuming the bandwidth regardless and this was normal.

What am I missing here?  This does not seem logical in the slightest.  Has anyone else got a network switch connected directly to their genius without issue?  Granted it could be a faulty network switch, but I am a bit thrown by what Orcon in Malaysia (or wherever the call centre is based) told me.  When I get home tonight I will try one of the other network switches I have, at the Genius end, to see if that makes a different (eliminate a fault).

Also a question to the Orcon guys here on GZ – is there anywhere in Auckland where I can pick up a replacement Genius today?  If I do have a faulty unit, I don’t want it to go down again over the weekend and be left with no internet or network.

 

Cheers.