[blackophatake]

Hi, i recently went and bought a Belkin Wireless G Router (F5D7230-4). Setup went really smoothly and pretty quickly.
I currently have a desktop running Windows XP Home Ed. w/SP 2 and a laptop running Vista Home Basic. I can connect to the internet just fine, but after about 11 minutes the connection is no longer there. My laptop will just disconnect and my desktop will say that there is still a connection.
The internet light on the router turns off and the internet no longer works. When it does this i can't even access the router's advanced programming from IP 192.168.2.1. The router has to be unplugged and then in another few minutes it does the same thing. I have ran out of things to try and fix it and am getting extremely irritated that this keeps happening.
Could somebody please help me, i can give you more information if you tell me exactly what you need. Thanks a lot.

[JohnWill]

Sounds like a bad router. Before you blast it with the 12ga shotgun, consider this.

Some things you can try here.

1. For wireless connections, change the channel on the router, I like channels 1, 6, and 11 in the US.
2. Update the firmware to the latest version available on the manufacturer's site.
3. Reset the router to factory defaults and reconfigure.

Many times these measures will resolve a lot of intermittent issues. If not, I'd return it for a better brand.

[TerryNet]

If not, I'd return it for a better brand.

Or at least a different unit. I have one of those and it worked fine for 3+ years until I semi-retired it in favor of an 'N' version.

[JohnWill]

I've had enough issues with Belkin stuff that I'm not all that high on it.

[TerryNet]

Ironically my recent purchase of the Belkin N1 Vision actually supports your view--I got it at 50% off the list price because Belkin lost a class action lawsuit that said, in effect, some models are a piece of crap (don't deliver on the claimed distance and bandwidth)!

[blackophatake]

well thanks for the responses i tried all the above mentioned but still nothing works. right now i am locating my receipt and will be returning it. do you guys have an opinion on a better brand of router?

[Rev Darkwing]

I don't know if this helps or confuses the issue but I just removed my Belkin wireless router due to intermittent problems with internet connections. I was told by my ISP, Charter (the absolute worst ISP of any I have encountered in all my years) that my connectivity problems were due to my router. I removed the router and connected my computer directly to the modem and I am still having problems although I have found that the connection on the modem was not holding.

The confusion comes when I decide to try another network. I am now logged on to my neighbor/friend's (with permission) wireless network and have no connectivity issue at all. Despite the fact that Charter insists the problem is now with my computer (new), I am convinced it is somewhere between their modem and the digital universe. I am thinking maybe the signal to my modem is so degraded or poor, the belkin router can't hang on to it. This is a noob's diagnosis but I, for one, am not tossing my router in the recycle bin until I pursue this issue further.
The Belkin is the F5D6231 v2

PS.. Through this process I just discovered that Charter now has its support run out of phone rooms in the Philippines. Being an American, that really riles me and I will be changing out ISP's even if it costs a few bucks more... so long as I can get support provided by Americans.

[blackophatake]

i was thinking something like that too. my service comes from DMCI BB. their base of operations is only a half mile away from my house and when connected straight to the computer there are no problems at all.

[TerryNet]

do you guys have an opinion on a better brand of router?

Of course we do. We each have a different opinion based on our own experience.

I think Belkin, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, ZyXel and probably Airport101 and others are pretty similar. Most of my actual experience is with the Belkin F5D7230-4 and it worked fine for me. But that was just dumb good luck because that particular model has had more than its share of problems. And you saw John's comment about his overall Belkin product experience.

[JohnWill]

I stick to Linksys, SMC, D-Link, etc. I will hasten to point out that all of these manufacturers have doubtless produced a few bad apples, the D-Link DI-524 comes to mind as the absolute worst router I've ever tangled with! OTOH, my D-Link DI-615 is working very well here. I have an ancient SMC wireless router that I take on trips to add wireless to wired-only broadband when I get to the destination.