brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Westell Connection Problems
I'm having the Westell Versalink connection issues discussed here (»westell versalink 327w disconnect issues.).
I have the Rev E made in China which this thread says is junk.
I don't want to deal with Verizon. I'd rather spend some money and buy another DSL router/modem. I need multiple ethernet ports and wireless support. What is a good replacement that will work with Verizon DSL's PPoE?
I see several of these GT704WG on eBay.
(»cgi.ebay.com/Verizon-Wireless-DS···ViewItem) |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ | Those work fine. BTW, that link is dead. |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| Thanks. They're cheap on eBay so maybe I'll pick one up.
The correct link to the other thread is
»[Split] westell versalink 327w disconnect problems with Verizon |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ | You do realize the problem in that case was not the modem but a problem with the line, right? |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
October 29th, @10:08PM
| I thought my numbers looked good compared to his. My problem is intermittent and I figured I have a bum modem like others said they had.
My connection looks like this:
Transceiver Revision: 4.2.0.11
Vendor ID Code: 4
Line Mode: G.DMT Mode
Data Path: Interleaved
Transceiver Information Down Stream Path Up Stream Path
DSL Speed (Kbits/Sec) 3360 864
Margin (dB) 22.5 12.0
Line Attenuation (dB) 16.5 13.0
Transmit Power (dBm) 7.6 11.8
My problems pretty much revolve around my Son's usage. When he is on, whether it be on an ethernet connection or one of the 2 wireless laptops we have, I see problems. Others use those computers with no problems. When I say problems I'm talking about the modem disconnecting, all users losing their network connection for a moment, then everything starts working again. So I figure its something he is doing that is wacking out the modem. I have seen it happen when I'm the only one on, but not very much. |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ | If he's using a P2P app, like Bit Torrent, that can kill a connection. Stand alone routers do tend to cope a little bit better, but both the 327W's and the Actiontecs are affected the same. |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| He's not that involved with computers to be using P2P. He's lock down so he can't install anything and as far as I know we don't have any P2P in the house.
He uses AOL IM, MSN IM, surfs MySpace and listens to Napster. I think thats about all he does.
I have an old Westell (without the wireless) on the shelf. Maybe I'll install it in bridge mode. Then buy a $45 Linksys Wireless Router and install it to do the PPPoE and everything.
Just looking for an inexpensive solution. eBay is my friend. 
Thanks. |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| Certainly give it a shot. It could be the modem. It doesn't look to be your line, but it didn't look to be bronosfan's either towards the end. But if it's a small nick in the line somewhere, it may not take much to cause a quick short that dumps your connection. |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| I'm about 2,500 feet from the CO. Its right down the street. And I had a new line installed from the pole to the house a couple years ago for ISDN service (before DSL was available). It could still be a line problem though. Come to think of it my wife has complained about a noise on the line mainly in the evening. Maybe I'll have Verizon check it out tonight? |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ | Noise on the line is best handled by makeing a call to voice repair. More often than not, that clears up and DSL issues. |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
October 30th, @08:37AM
| Yeah, I figured I'd call voice repair. I'll take a phone out to the NID to make sure its not an inside line problem, then call voice repair.
I'm glad I ran this by you here on the forum. Made me think it through a little more. We've had these dropping problems on and off for a while but the last couple days it has been really bad, causing me to lose my head and not think rationally.
I was looking at the manual for the GT704WG and I'm not exactly impressed by its features. For example, I currently use a custom firewall configuration on the Westell but don't see that option on the GT704WG. I think if I make a hardware change I'll go back to the old Westell and buy a new Linksys router to do all the real work on the connection, using the old Westell only as a bridge.
Brand new Linksys wireless routers are in the $49 range at Best Buy. Is there any advantage to getting one of the SRX200 models (here) as apposed to the WRT54G (here)? Maybe I'll read the manuals on these to see what kind of features they offer. I'm specifically interested in firewall configuration, content filtering, DMZ settings, etc.
Thanks again. I'll be sure to update this post when I get a resolution to my problem. |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ | I really don't know. I only use the 327W, and haven't really done much looking at other routers. Maybe someone else can comment on the Actiontecs firewall, or lack thereof. |
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pmiguel2
join:2005-12-13
Lafayette, IN
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to brawney
Yes, it has a customizable firewall, either fairly simple "off", "low, "medium" and "high" settings (with check boxes to customize) or more rule based configurations on the "Applications" tab of "Security". Looks fairly easy to configure and can have different settings for different computers that route through it. Also does "DMZ hosting" and something called TR-069 PortMapping. And, it does NAT, of course.
I've used a router with a Westell 6100 before. That also works fine. The 6100 seem a little fragile to me. I've had one fried (possibly by a line surge) and another nearly fried.
But what makes the GT704WG stand head and shoulders above any Westell router (sorry Jodo) is that you can telnet into a Busybox linux shell, should you care to. That can provide hours of low-grade entertainment, should you happen to be unix-inclined.
--
Phillip |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ | You'll never let me live it down, will you, lol? |
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pmiguel2
join:2005-12-13
Lafayette, IN
·Verizon Online DSL
| Not at all. Thought you showed admirable restraint.
By the way, started using my Actiontec as a wireless router as well. Sometimes when I reboot the modem, it seems unable to do DNS. You cursed my Actiontec, man!
But it isn't that bad, I just reboot it again and it is fine.
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Phillp |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to brawney
I just wanted to update the thread. I started looking into my line noise last night. At the NID outside the line was totally quiet. So I had an inside problem. I have a whole house DSL filter where the line comes into the house and a separate cable running to my DSL modem aside from the cables going out to the rest of the house for voice. But the voice line had noise on it. A static noise with low level hum.
TO make a long story short, I fixed it by grounding the unused pairs of wires in the telephone cabling throughout the house. Now the voice line inside is quiet.
My DSL transceiver stats look the same as my previous post.
I don't know if this was the cause of my disconnects or not. I'm going to wait and see what happens the rest of the week. I'll update the thread again when I know more.
If I continue to have disconnect problems I'm going to make a change to the DSL modem. |
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The Truth
@umass.edu
| reply to brawney
Versalink Model 327W by westell. I spent over a year with this problem. And yes, every time I called them I would talk to a foreigner, who would start at step one. 9 Tech's came to my house replaced everything in my house at no charge, and all existing lines from my house to Myacka City, 18 miles away. Sorry, I will avoid going off on tangents from here on out and give you the results you need. After you call Verizon and get a ticket you have to be persistent and don't let them off the hook. The problem for me wasn't resolved until my ticket reached an outside Subcontractor. You really have to stay on top of this. The 27 tickets they gave me were referred to as intermittent signal. The Subcontractor came to my house gave me a new 327w by westell and downloaded the new drivers, and that was that. It was the worst experience I ever had to deal with and I don't have to pay for DSL for the next 8 months. I am a big gamer on-line and have not had a problem since. Get a new modem and download new drivers. For me it was a 9 month ordeal. |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
November 1st, @06:11AM
| Modems don't use drivers. Not that it's never the case, but there are far more times where replacing the modem doesn't have any effect at all with disconnects. Hell, that's almost always the first thing the do once they're done blaming your computer, yet it almost always doesn't fix anything. |
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brawney
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Frederick, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to brawney
Update: Well, although I have a nice quiet voice line now I am still getting the disconnects. It happened again last night. By the way, when the disconnect is in process you can't even connect to the DSL modem.
I have one of the old white Westell modems on the shelf. I think I 'upgraded' to the Versalink somewhere along the line and I do recall that is when my problems started. They got worse when I added in the wireless usage.
If I can get my hands on a wireless router today I'm going to try going back to the old white Westell tonight. Not sure yet whether I'll put the old white Westell in bridge mode and let the wireless router do the PPPoE and everything or use the wireless router more as an access point. Guess that will depend on the capabilities, firewall, etc of the wireless router I scrounge up today.
A friend has a Belkin I can borrow so I hope I can get my hands on it today. It not, I'll drop $45 at Best Buy this weekend for a Linksys. |
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Jodokast96
R.I.P Bassman442
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Erial, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| For testing, I wouldn't try adding a router just yet. Do a straight connection with the old modem and see how it holds. Another thought, too. Are you 100% sure all of the machines are clean? I know you said your son isn't using any P2P, but an infected machine could be hammering the connection hard enough to cause similar problems. Not so much a lot of bandwidth, but too many connections, like with P2P. Since you can't access the modem, it sounds like it may be rebooting. |
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