Router Woes.

[Pferox]

I know this is going to be long, sorry.

Since living in the apartment and having Comcast cable, we are limited to where the modem can be located.  We have a lot of equipment running, and of course, where we have the desktops located is in a dead zone for Wifi.  That meant running around 200 feet of cat6 cable from the wireless router to the back bedroom, then using a dumb switch to build a lan there.  Connections back there vary from 2 to 4 at any given time.

I know that all "smart" (home wireless router set ups) switches differentiate their signal strength (output power) based on usage and wire length (resistance), the green ones don't even power up unused sockets.  So I am sure that the router is using a lot of energy and generating a lot of heat to send signal to our network in back of the house. 

We also have a pretty large wifi client list that fluctuates also dependant on who is home, visiting, etc.

As is historically common here, the number of disconnects is on the rise, and I can directly correlate that to two variables, lightening storms, and heat build up. It seems that the life expectancy of a router around here is about two "monsoon" seasons.  Although never a hard failure, and the units are protected from surges, it seems that number of catastrophic disconnects dramatically increase after a few years of storms.  I suspect that the amount of static in the air at those times is enough to effect the radio, which usually starts to fail first.

Then after a couple of years the disconnects continue to increase to the point of intermittent failure.  The temperature of the case is noticeably warmer than when it was first installed, and replacement becomes mandatory.

Since it is that time again, I was thinking about another solution, the only one I could come up looks to be pretty expensive, and maybe not doable anyways.

I thought about getting a small industrial switch rack and installing it near the modem, then running the long cable from it.  Then plugging a wifi router into the rack and using it just for wifi connections.  Since most are fan cooled and more designed for long runs of cable, I thought that might increase the longevity.  The only concern I have is that there would be no firewall, and that would mess up auto assignment of internal IP addresses.

I could go with a controller, but that is getting into more than I want to for this small of a network.  I wonder if you could use the home wireless / wired router as the controller, if that was the case, then the other concerns would be remedied, but not sure if it will actually be a fix.

I am looking into suggestions to help this along here.

[MCS]

We have to switch to comcast with our move. The rooms wired are not the office, we are running with the wireless built into the computer but gets slow then dropped. I keep thinking to try to hard wire it but that means running a giant long cable....Anyway, I learned alot from reading your post. Sorry I can't help, you already know a ton more than I do. 

[TNDiver]

I am wondering if keeping it cooler would be most effective and to make sure the vents on it are free of lint, etc, which I am guessing you do.  It may help to store it near a vent in summer and maybe keep a fan on it?  I know friends of mine add fans to their computer equipment to keep them running cooler so you may be able to find small enough fans to keep them running cooler and be much cheaper.  Here is an example and cheap too: http://www.moddiy.com/products/Modem-%7B47%7D-Router-Cooling-System-with-Dual-12cm-Fan-(Extended).html?gclid=CLXFyOiW7sICFSwV7AodOXgAUw  I just Googled "modem fan" and a number of options popped up

You can also go into the modem online here: http://10.0.0.1, Username = admin

Password = password and change user settings, limit uses, etc.  You might also clear some unused users to make it run more efficiently

[Pferox]

I'm pretty sure it is heat buildup, these "for home" routers are pretty much sealed up.  When I get the house I plan on wiring it with internet and using some rack switches, they can handle the longer cable runs better, and can be super cooled if needed.

Right now it is just a PIA replacing a decent modem every couple of years.

MCS, Get a dumb switch and use that to run your long cables, you can get them relatively inexpensively through places like Tiger Direct.  Use Cat6 cable, because it handles the signal on longer runs better. 

I always get just the highest grade modem that my service provider gives for free, then connect that to a WiFi router, with 10/100/1000 ports also, usually 4.  That way if the modem takes a dump from an electrical surge, the service provider has to replace it, not me.
I went cheap and ran only one long line into our office and then put in the dumb switch.  If I had the money and room to run them I would have put the dumb switch next to the router and ran 4 separate lines to the office.  Then I would be replacing cheap dumb switches instead.  Or would have talked the wife into running a switch rack in the apartment.

[BassMan83]

Have you looked into EoP? Ethernet over power. Uses your homes existing power/electrical lines to create a wired network.

http://www.newegg.com/Powerline-Networking/SubCategory/ID-294

[Pferox]

I had looked at that one time a long time ago, and wasn't too sure how secure a network it would be in an apartment.  I would also be concerned about the power surges that plague this town frequently.

[BassMan83]

I had looked at that one time a long time ago, and wasn't too sure how secure a network it would be in an apartment.  I would also be concerned about the power surges that plague this town frequently.

An apartment would be iffy.  Not sure.

[Trigger3lite]

Did you fix your problem Pferox?

[Pferox]

Did you fix your problem Pferox?

Yea, replaced the router, and all is well.  For now.

[Trigger3lite]

The router I use is the asus rt-n66u, it can get hot here and it's holding up very well. It's also very easy to mod and you can even overclock it significantly if you have an extra fan.

[aaronis]

After reading the 1st post, the first thing that came to my mind was replace the router.