Forum Discussion
The Main Router Discussion Topic
Non-techies, please bear with me on this. I'm starting a discussion about router technology here which may quickly get hard to follow in places. We have a lot of Techies on these forums, and their knowledge is extremely valuable in solving problems. I'm hoping we can concentrate some of that knowledge here on the key role that wireless routers play in overall system performance and maybe provide some useful information that could help you troubleshoot your own connectivity problems.
I know there's a lot of information and discussions spread all across these Forums about routers. And dwelling on routers frequently gets dissed as just some ruse to ignore the "real" problem. But the router is the piece of gear that is the first and only "point of contact" for most customers' iPhones, tablets, laptops, and you name it. Connect a bad $40 router to a good $600 system and you have a bad $600 system.
I was reminded of this today when I visited a customer's home to figure out why they were having problems with their 1-month-old Gen4 system. Ready to have the whole system ripped out, they were.
Frequent disconnects, buffering, slow page loads, you name it, we've read these same symptoms described in these community forums over and over again.
Plugged a LAN cable into the router, a new, Linksys E1200-NP N300 we installed with the system. Took 30 seconds for a page to load. Bypassed the modem and plugged my laptop directly into the modem, and everything came up immediately.
Traded out the Linksys with a Netgear N300 WNR2000100NAS and that did it. Ran three speed tests and came up with consistent 20 Mbps downloads on a 10 Mbps plan. BTW, this is on Beam 19, one of the most crowded beams on HughesNet's Jupiter platform. Everything normal. Customer reassured.
This isn't the first time we've seen this problem, and I can't stress it enough. Here are a couple of cheap $40 routers, one good - one bad, serving up the business end of several hundred dollars of HughesNet gear. This has to be frustrating to HN Tech Support staff and out of their control, so it's no surprise it would be one of the first things they try to eliminate while troubleshooting and so should you.
I should point out the E1200 is on HughesNet's list of approved routers. But that list can't anticipate some approved routers being bad. Just because a router is listed doesn't mean it's working.
So, let's open this up to some more observations and "Best Practices." I'd be interested in hearing from anyone about their experiences with routers, good and bad, and perhaps we can come up with some ways to help others quickly diagnose router problems, instead of simply "blaming the system." Certainly OK to point to other topics and use this one as a central "jumping off" point.
I know there's a lot of information and discussions spread all across these Forums about routers. And dwelling on routers frequently gets dissed as just some ruse to ignore the "real" problem. But the router is the piece of gear that is the first and only "point of contact" for most customers' iPhones, tablets, laptops, and you name it. Connect a bad $40 router to a good $600 system and you have a bad $600 system.
I was reminded of this today when I visited a customer's home to figure out why they were having problems with their 1-month-old Gen4 system. Ready to have the whole system ripped out, they were.
Frequent disconnects, buffering, slow page loads, you name it, we've read these same symptoms described in these community forums over and over again.
Plugged a LAN cable into the router, a new, Linksys E1200-NP N300 we installed with the system. Took 30 seconds for a page to load. Bypassed the modem and plugged my laptop directly into the modem, and everything came up immediately.
Traded out the Linksys with a Netgear N300 WNR2000100NAS and that did it. Ran three speed tests and came up with consistent 20 Mbps downloads on a 10 Mbps plan. BTW, this is on Beam 19, one of the most crowded beams on HughesNet's Jupiter platform. Everything normal. Customer reassured.
This isn't the first time we've seen this problem, and I can't stress it enough. Here are a couple of cheap $40 routers, one good - one bad, serving up the business end of several hundred dollars of HughesNet gear. This has to be frustrating to HN Tech Support staff and out of their control, so it's no surprise it would be one of the first things they try to eliminate while troubleshooting and so should you.
I should point out the E1200 is on HughesNet's list of approved routers. But that list can't anticipate some approved routers being bad. Just because a router is listed doesn't mean it's working.
So, let's open this up to some more observations and "Best Practices." I'd be interested in hearing from anyone about their experiences with routers, good and bad, and perhaps we can come up with some ways to help others quickly diagnose router problems, instead of simply "blaming the system." Certainly OK to point to other topics and use this one as a central "jumping off" point.
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- Personally Im using an ASUS RT-AC68R it is a little expensive but I have had no issues with the DHCP lease not renewing and only reboot when either the power goes out or updating firmware
- That I could live with. :)
- I think it would benefit Hughesnet a lot to build a wireless unit into the modem or at the very least select 1 really good compatible router and sell it as a add on for those who want one and limit the installers to only selling that brand and model router and at a fair market price, not allow them to sell a $20 piece of junk from walmart for $100 to the customer then not support it afterwards
- This reminded me. When I installed the Netgear router yesterday, I went ahead and used the setup wizard. I usually bypass those wizards, thinking they just get in the way, but I let it run.
The wizard analyzed the connection, then came back and reported it detected another router (the HughesNet modem). It then prompted me to choose either "Router" mode or "Access Point" mode, with Access Point recommended. I almost chose Router mode out of habit, but let it continue with Access Point mode.
This seemed to work really well and made me think about some of the questions we've seen here about double NATs. Since the HN modem really does have it's own router built in, that will just serve up five IPs, I would think that AP mode would be a better choice since it eliminates having a double NAT.
For most users, the five IPs available in the HN modem are more than enough. - Alan
A great topic. For the end user knowing what router will work is a challenge. Most of us will rely on recommendations from Hughes or the installer. As stated the recommended router could be problematic. Presently I am faced with that issue. Recently replacing a failed router with a Linksys WRT1900AC. While working great for a period of time it now disconnects and reconnects at random. The Hughes modem is working great, can run directly from it with out issue. Have posted on the Linksys Community site and have received suggestions but not solutions. If a solution is found will share here - Good point Alan, I just checked the setup in my Asus and when the setup wizard set mine up it automatically AP mode
- I have had mine in AP mode as well. I think this is one of those "little" settings that can make a big difference.
Alan,
Funny you should mention the Netgear WNR2000.
That is what I have been using for several years. It has always been rock solid except for some wireless interference issues from my cordless phone until lately.
It now requires a power off reset about twice per week.
My next one will be a Asus.
The ability to track usage by device will be a real plus.
As far as Hughes building in a wireless capability, thanks but no thanks .... the "integrity" of my routers hardware firewall is very important to me and the 1st level of my network security,
- I have HN1100 with an Readi Net WRT 300 N DD it was part of the deal for the install so I don't know much about it. It seems to be working fine I get 12 to 20 Downloads constantly depending on time of day. I gave my Shop CP to my Brother so I had to build another so I put together an old Dell 2300 1.7 XP home with only 64 mb SDRAM. I figured it would run pretty slow but got surprised it cooked along pretty good and streams audio very well. (The basic use for my shop PC is a radio) It is connected to my router with a 70 foot Cat5 cable. I don't know much about this thing but seem great to me.
Before I got the router I used a Cat5 Cross cable connected to my main PC and don't see any difference in connection speed. My new main PC uses wireless and shows only 70 to 85 percent signal. I am thinking after reading this of making a Cat5 cable and hooking it direct to see if it makes a difference. The only thing is I do believe in, "if it isn't broke don't fix it".
