Wireless router losing internet connectivity

[mreber]

I've recently had some issues with my router, at least I think it's my router. Not sure how old the router is, because it was given to me free by a friend. It has worked with no issues for the past year, and a few days ago I've been losing my internet. According to my available wireless networks on my computer, I'm connected to my router, but I have no internet access. The status says "no internet access" for IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity. My phone also connects to my router...but again, no internet access. The router is a Netgear WPNT834. As far as I can tell, I have the most up to date firmware installed (V1.0_51 NA). The only way I can get internet is to reset the router by pressing the little reset button. After I get it setup through the routerlogin.com page, I'll get internet for maybe a day. Usually by the following morning or evening, it'll be back to no internet access. I've now done this three days in a row. Any thoughts? I'm fairly stupid when it comes to this kind of stuff, so the simpler, the better. Thanks.

 

[Lexluethar]

Do you have separate devices for your router and modem - or is it an all in one deal?

Easiest way to see where the issue is would be to plug directly into your modem when the router stops giving access to the internet. When you plug directly into the modem, if you get internet then the issue may be the router.

Another test would be to hard wire into the router when it stops giving internet, to see if it's a device configuration issue. 1 day is about the default for IP leases when it comes to home routers, it could be releasing your IP address and just not properly giving you a new one. Something that can be tested by plugging directly into the router when wifi doesn't work.

If hard wired into the router works, go into the configuration page and change the lease time on IP addresses. You could change it to a shorter period of time to test if that is the issue. Or you could just enter in an indefinite amount of time and see if that resolves it.

 

[mreber]

Modem is separate. Just plugged directly into the modem...so far so good. I'll leave it connected tonight and check again in the morning.

I'm assuming the router is the issue. Should I still hard wire to the router and try to change the IP lease time?

 

[Lexluethar]

I wouldn't plug directly into the modem until you lose your wifi internet connection. Because right at that moment in time you know that the router is on, leasing out addresses but isn't connecting to the internet.

So... if you at that moment plug directly into the modem and you get internet, then you know it's a router issue. At that moment i would then test wifi again (don't reboot anything), if it still doesn't work hard wire into the router it could be an ip leasing issue, at which point i would mess with the lease times on the router.

 

[mreber]

I reconnected the router and went through the setup process again a couple of days ago. So far so good. Not sure what the problem was, but this is the longest it has been working in the past 2 weeks. I hate technology.

 

[Lexluethar]

LOL, lower model routers / modems will generally require a restart every few weeks, otherwise your wifi may drop from time to time.

I have an old D-Link router (probably 7 years old) that I have to restart every two weeks or so - otherwise wifi will drop randomly.

You get what you pay for - in your case you have nothing to complain about b/c it was free