Internet Connection problem!

[anglefire]

I have a intermittant problem with my internet connection.

Ok. I'll describe what I have.

Virgin Broadband through a cable modem.
Cable modem connected at 100M to my Netgear WGR614 wireless router.
Wireless router connected to a Gigabyte switch. (Also Netgear)
PC, NAS drive connected to the Gb switch.

Its now happened twice that the internet has gone down.
Internal network to the NAS drive etc down. Reset router and all was well on the internal network. No internet.
Rebooted router/switch no change.
Check the WAN IP and its status and it seems to be ok. Data going back and forth. Still no internet.
Rewired the cable modem into the PC and turned off the switch/router. Internet fine.
Rewired back into the router, still nothing.
Messed about for ages, reset the router everything. Added security to the router (Was all secured by MAC access list). Reset the switch.
Added the password string to my iPhone and Laptop. And was getting internet. Checked the PC and that is working.

Any ideas?

Its doing my head in!

[picsfor]

The problem is with Virgin.

In simple terms - the system is being overloaded at node point with the other data networks - BT & what ever Energis is now called for example.

We've been suffering it all day and it happens probably once a month in the Brighton area.

I have highly frustrated family member wishing to engage in an iChat family member in the States later on and you can imagone how this is cheering her up!

[anglefire]

But why does it work when I connect the PC directly into the cable Modem?

[picsfor]

A router, or switch is at the end of the day nothing more than a simple computer tasked with routing data.
Computer goes wrong - how do you fix it nine times out of ten? Switch it off and on again.

Modem on the other hand is just a converter - data to sound and sound back to data again. In Virgins case, data to light and light back to data again.
It is just a cog in the  network stack.

My Virgin Modem has shown active all day - but i have had to reset the router on 3 occasions and it has managed to restore itself without help on 3 or 4 more occasions.
The most reliable connection has been my wife's PC running Windows Vista. Both the iMac and Macbook have suffered the most and been most prone to needing a restart.

Windows handles internet and data access differently to Mac's - and anything Apple. In many ways it is a curse - but sadly, today it seems to be a blessing.
It seems to fall over my end on the security set up - keep being asked for network password.

Through all of the issues, the router has shown itself to be working normally and the modem has not given any hint of a problem.

Actually, now i think of it, Eileen has been staying at a friends whose internet access is not working (hence Mick picked IOTW) - i forgot to ask if that is Virgin as well...

Your router takes it's IP address off the modem and then issues its own IP addresses for your network. They are linked.
Lose the IP address off the modem - and the router is screwed. Remember, to the modem this may only be a milisecond for which it can recover - but your router may not.

I'm still going with flakey Virgin Internet which is bringing down your home network.
Always the same - you have to unplug router and modem (and switch) and leave them off for about 30 - 60 sec. Switch on and sync modem. Then connect, switch on and sync router - and then the switch.
Has to be done in that order. Go out of sync - and you've lost it.

I'm now having issues here because the wife has swapped out the sim card on the Blackberry...
Not a good Virgin day!!!!

I accept it is frustrating - even bloody annoying - but i'm sure from what you've said - that's where it is going wrong.

[picsfor]

If you get this - i note from the Virgin service status they are having problems in the Midlands area with all services inc Broadband Internet.

[oRGie]

What Andrew is saying sounds exactly what happens here now and again with my isp SAPO, also I get days when only certain ranges of ip's work, so some sites I want to visit are ok, others just get a 404.  Sometimes just 1 reboot of the router gets me a good connection, other times its most of the day, so I tend to give up and do something else

[anglefire]

Thanks all, I did ring up Virgin the first time and all I got was that the router I have is not supported by Virgin and got me to wire the pc into the modem directly. Which worked - once I'd disconnected, turned around and reconnected the cable from the PC to the Modem (Yes really - sad thing is it worked!)

Picsfor, the outage noted on the Virgin website is not for my post code - but who knows.

I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens.

[picsfor]

Mark,

glad you're all working again. A tip about the service status on Virgin web site - the postcode is (i think) a point at which the first call is registered.
I've often had issues when Virgin say the problem is in BN1 (some 4-5 miles away).
I think the nature of redundancy built into the internet is great if you have sufficient back nodes to support it - if you don't then you can end up with a cascade failure.
It is my view that Virgin does not have sufficient redundancy built into their system to cope with a major node loss in some areas - certainly not the Brighton area because it always strikes me when they have a problem with one part of the BN postcode - the rest seem to start collapsing. Service slowing at first - then intermittent loss through to TV being affected and finally a complete loss of system.
Of course the beauty of Virgin is - when the system collapses - you can't even ring them to tell them cos you lose your phone as well

My mobile internet dongle has more than repaid its fiver a month to find out what is going wrong with the system.
I will be so glad hen the whole country is on fibre optic and the good old twisted pair copper wire system has been removed. Then we will have bucket loads of redundancy.

Oh yes - the wife is now getting really antsy because her attempts at swapping sims on the Blackberry have resulted in her not having any phone to use.
I'm going to try and get out before she gets up so i can put off the misery that will befall me over why it isn't working