Router Forgets Your Info?

[Simon]

I believe (hope) this is solved. Read on and draw your own conclusion.

Last week my wifi router took a dump, and since it was under lease to my ISP, the company brought me a brand new Sagemcom Fast 5260. The man hooked it up and left. I went to 192.168.1.1 and changed my SSID and Password. Friday night I could access my wifi as it reverted. I called the company support but they were closed and sent me to some "kid" with the same user manual as me. I fixed my settings and Saturday afternoon they had reverted again!

I downloaded a more intense version of the manual and studied but no clue emerged as to what was going on. That evening something POPPED out. WMM and WMM-PS were set to on... what is WMM?? I consulted the wiki;

Wireless Multimedia Extensions also known as Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), provides basic Quality of service (QoS) features to IEEE 802.11 networks. WMM prioritizes traffic according to four Access Categories: voice, video, best effort, and background. However, it does not provide guaranteed throughput. (what?)

WMM-PS is the "power saving" feature. Just to be safe I turned both off and haven't had an issue since then.

Who puts a power down feature on a wifi device that reverts to default settings when powered down?? I guess the smart people who make the Sagemcom router does! If I lose it again I will throw it back at my ISP and buy my own router.

[GreyGeek]

Simon, WHEN you throw it back to your ISP be sure to get a wifi that is a) compatible with IPv6 and b) allows you to install DD-WRT so you can have complete control over your wifi. For the last year wifi makers have blocked attempts to replace firmware in order to "comply" with the FCC requirement that users must not be able to jack up the transmit power beyond 250 mw. The wifi mfgrs took the easy way and locked the firmware down. DD-WRT gives a list of wifi devices that still work.

[Simon]

Thanks for the info, I will look into this, Sagemcom is a French based company <insert Quebec joke here> I never even heard of before. My ISP carries Linksys routers so I won't understand them not giving me an exchange for this one should I want it. As for now, they do have a list on their site of "compatible" equipment, should I replace this one I am leasing. It hasn't given me any grief since I turned off that power saver. This is on a tiny AC brick and I know enough about simple wattage that my laptop is drawing more than it could ever pull. The whole power saving is something of a joke when I am the idiot who forgets to dial my AC down before going off to work in the morning. This is what they say about the option of using my own wifi router;

We recommend the router be a draft 802.11N router with a built-in gigabit switch. Most 802.11GB and some draft 802.11N routers have a built-in full-duplex 10/100 Ethernet switch, which can inhibit the system from achieving appropriate speeds. For heavy internet and multiple wireless device usage (e.g. watching live video on multiple devices), we suggest using a router that provides concurrent dual-band wireless-AC connections.

[GreyGeek]

Linksys was sold to Cisco several years ago, which is why my Linksys router is called an E2500. Linksys was recently sold to Belkin. DD-WRT gives access to every feature a wireless has, including the ones mfgrs don't include in their HTML pages.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oshunluvr]

If you're searching for a new wifi router, I love my Asus RTAC66U - there are newer models with more to offer in the way of band width and features. "Merlin" makes a specific version of DD-WRT just for Asus routers - AsusWRT.

I currently use an external hard drive for FTP access, an external thumb drive to hold adblocker software (but I've not enabled it yet), it has VPN client and server settings, lease time features, and more. I'm not paid by Asus, but it has been a great product. I also donate to Merlin for his services.

[Simon]

I guess I will leave this one alone for now. Turning off the Wireless Multimedia Extensions solved my biggest issue.
I am getting uninterrupted service and SpeedNet says 68/7 Mbps. So my speeds are good.

[GreyGeek]

I guess I will leave this one alone for now. Turning off the Wireless Multimedia Extensions solved my biggest issue.
I am getting uninterrupted service and SpeedNet says 68/7 Mbps. So my speeds are good.

Your d/u speeds remind my of my soon to be booted ISP, Spectrum. Here is what a $65 60Mbps connection gives me:
http://speedof.me/show.php?img=170804155617-241.png



My connection starts out at about 20-30Mbps for the first 15-20 seconds, when most web pages finish loading, builds to a max of 73Mbps for a short period of time, then declines to a much lower 30Mpbs sustained average speed. Most speed testing websites report the max speed as your actual speed, but as you can see, that is not a true indication of actual average speed. My download speed of 6Mbps is close to actual. So, over all, while I am paying $65 for a "60" Mbps connection, I am really getting a 30 Mbps connection. That's why this Friday I am switching to a 100Mbps fiber optic connection that gives 100Mbps down AND up, with no initial 15-20 throttling. And, that price is not a "promotion" that will jump to $120 in 6 months or a year, like TWC/Spectrum.

[wizard10000]

If you're searching for a new wifi router, I love my Asus RTAC66U - there are newer models with more to offer in the way of band width and features. "Merlin" makes a specific version of DD-WRT just for Asus routers - AsusWRT.

I have an RT-N66U and Merlin's firmware. Very happy with both as I was able to go from two AP in my house to one

[GreyGeek]

I have an RT-N66U and Merlin's firmware. Very happy with both as I was able to go from two AP in my house to one

What is your transmit power setting? In the US the maximum allowed is 250 mw. But, at that power most US modems would die within a year or two. I set mine to 70 mw and I can reach out to only 100', which is twice the distance across my apartment.

[wizard10000]

What is your transmit power setting? In the US the maximum allowed is 250 mw. But, at that power most US modems would die within a year or two. I set mine to 70 mw and I can reach out to only 100', which is twice the distance across my apartment.

AsusWRT doesn't give you a number, it gives you a slider but I'm fairly certain it's 250mw. I had two walls and a floor between the upstairs AP and the downstairs devices; what enabled me to get rid of the upstairs AP was moving to a 5GHz connection, I think.

[GreyGeek]

All things being equal 5Ghz won't travel as far as 2..4Ghz.

http://pocketnow.com/2014/01/23/5ghz-wifi

[wizard10000]

All things being equal 5Ghz won't travel as far as 2..4Ghz.

http://pocketnow.com/2014/01/23/5ghz-wifi

I think my biggest problem was interference; guess I could have said that earlier. 5GHz band has a lot less traffic on it

[GreyGeek]

I think my biggest problem was interference; guess I could have said that earlier. 5GHz band has a lot less traffic on it

Indeed!