This is not a lie: the last two times I thought I had it working, it crapped out on me as I was on my way over here to celebrate the success at the hands of teamwork! So now, I'm not going to say that its working, BUT.... Plugged new router into new modem - - works for 2 minutes at a time and keeps dropping connection (both in bridged mode and in PPPoE DHCP mode). Went back to original set-up using the modem/router combo as a bridge and set the new router to PPPoE - that seems to be working!! I'm even updating steam server list and getting far more servers than before and they're not timing out! This is the same setup I was using with the router I exchanged today, so there was definitley a problem with the new modem (my suspicion: can't clone the MAC address, even though it let me connect, maybe it was throwing me off.); it also seems that the first router that I bought didn't play well with the combo thingie whereas this new-new one seems to.

TLM: I had to go with netgear. got to the store and they had netgear, dlink and the same brand I had been using before, no linksys.

Paladin - I thought I remembered that being there but I was using the modem in PPPoE + DHCP mode but hooking up the computer directly and getting the same connection drop problem. If the problem resurfaces, I'll be darn sure to remember to use that because that'll be useful.

crap hardware is a pain in the wallet, watch and ass.

Thanks for all of the advice and help guys!!

Best,

Eis

you can eliminate the router from the question if you'd like...

WinXP allows you to set up a PPPoE conenction using the connection wizard.... you might try putting your PC straight onto yoru modem...

unless I'm missing something from the equasion it should work, or it could tell you if the router is the problem :)

I would personally stick to linksys if possible (only cause there the home version of cisco products now) but netgear iv heard both good and bad, but think the bad came from people that did not know what the heck they were doing and kept screwing up there PC.

Cool, yeah, I've got a seperate modem and router now but the problem persists. I tried the modem in bridged mode and in PPPoE mode and changed the router settings appropriatley. I also am starting to think its the router, it also has some issue where it takes forever to renew its IP address from the DHCP server (in this case, either the other router, the modem's DHCP or the ISP relayed through the modem). I'm starting to think that a new router might fix it. I bought this one just last week so I'm gonna try to return it and buy a different one.

The one I've got Is a Sitecom wireless router with 4 port switch.

My previous two were linksys and belkin, neither of those were troublesome but they aren't available at the store i'm going to.

The one i'm eye-ing is a netgear. Its the same as all of the three above in that its wireless with 4 port ethernet switch. I've never had these netgear products before, any good?

thanks for all the help so far,

best,

eis

Yeah I originally ran into the same problem on my DSL connection back in asheville.  Its due to the modem/router not being able to handle that many NAT translations.  So what you need to look into is a better router and getting that modem into a bridged state.

well, its working just fine now, but not the way I was hoping. There is a connection drop whey i try to contact too many ips at the same time (say, when refreshing a CS:S server list on 2 comps at once). The connection itself doesn't seem slouchy. I'm paying for the 16000kbps and I can speed test up to about 13000kbps, so it seems ok there.

I was hoping that getting a better modem and a separate router would help, but not really. The modem itself has some DHCP feature that allows you to go the the 192.168...blah blah to set it up, then when it gets the IP and the DNS from the ISP it will then relay that over to the router, so the router will go from having the 192.168.0.1 address to having the address given by the ISP.

That all works fine and good, but it takes about 4 minutes for all of this auto configuring to take place after a power cycle. That's the problem right there; once I get one of these connection drops - it can't jump right back on because of the modem - router DHCP -> Not DHCP -> DHCP again communication. It takes too long so it makes the connection drop out fully and you have to Power cycle again. So right now, i'm back to using this combo router/modem device given to me and just plugging the other router into one ethernet port because I don't trust the switch on the integrated device.

I think if i can get it to work in 'bridged' mode, that might solve my problem, eliminating the DHCP service from the modem entirely, but all of the configs I tried weren't working. It didn't help that my wife was (patiently) waiting to play as soon as I got it all up, but she's at school right now so I might try to fool with it.

It gets frustrating, but after so many months without internet, now that its working, I just gotta remind myself that tweaking it is better than not having it. ;)

thanks for the help so far,

best,

eis

Actually when I did was working for BS FA DSL Teir 1, I had a customer, not need them, it killed there dsl somehow, and the phone line was clean on both ends with out them.  Yes I made sure they were using them properly too, don't ask me why, but it worked to leave them off.  Yes I had them use filters never used too, so really boggled minds.  :)

Another fav was connection dying due to a light pole coming on around 7pm going back off around 6am, there internet was down for those hours too.  Funny thing, they could not put 1 and 1 together, turned out the phone line was ran horribly close to the transformer for the light.

And if your still with BS FA DSL pally, I dunno if the back door numbers work still that I have.  :)

I love my DSL :)

ohh and also remember your phone filters...  people always forget the phone filters...

Hehe, amazing what someone remembers from troubleshooting ADSL over here in the states for a while.  Granted I was one of the better phone reps cause I understood much more than anyone else.

As for kinds, I was just referencing its method of syncing up, usually the modems can do 2-5 standards (Pulling #'s out of the ass due to to lazy to look any of this up, and got alcohol in system), and most have a sticker on the bottom stating what they can do.

The small list, just for ADSL,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adsl#ADSL_standards

But you should be fairly ok due to as most modems sold are sold in the areas they should work in, might need to tweak a few settings called VPI/VCI to get the modem to sync.  Usually those numbers can be given by the ISP phone monkeys.

Yeah, DHCP from cable is nice but DSL is better, due to it is more secure in the way its setup, now I know people will want to argue that statment, not talking from gaming stance here.

Ok, cool, thanks TLM, that's what I needed to know about the PPPoE thingie...yes, that is exactly what i'm asking. Thanks! prolly gonna get the wife to go grab a quality modem on Sat.

as far as the type of router, the one I got has an option in the config to choose different options like static IP, DHCP, PPPoA and the PPPoE. When I choose PPPoE, it asks for username (which i know) and password, which i think can be anything (based on what i experimented with on the original device).

Other than that, on the box for the router, it says it can be used for ADSL, which i'm pretty sure is what I got from this O2 company, although I can't find any add'l info... it has this picture on the box where it shows basically this:

                            ADSL/CABLE
                                  |
                                  |
                            ADSL Splitter + pic of phone (DSL phone common here)
                                  |
                                  |
                            Router
                                  |
                                  |
                        ______|_______
                        |                    |
                    sucker1PC        sucker2PC

wich is similar to a cable setup, only i've never dealt with the phone thing before - this 02 company included like 4 phone lines with the package but i'm not using the phone feature.

As far as the modem type is concerned though,
I suppose I just am so unfamiliar with DSL, I have no idea what standard this company is using. Is there any way to tell? if there are only like 3, i might just buy three modems and return the two that don't work, hehehe. I wonder, if all of the ones at the store are the same standard, then i'm prolly on that one as well. I do think it is ADSL, but i thought that almost all DSL was "ADSL."

Geesh, living on a cable connection with DHCP has made me a softie, i feel so lost......

*blink*

If I understand you right, your asking if you really need the maunal DNS settings in the router if choosing PPPoE.  Answer is no, those are to override what the ISP gives.  Unless you have some really funky router, standard thing as of late with routers that support PPPoE would just pass the ISP DNS info on through to the clients inside your home network.

Now as for new modem, make sure you get the right type, there are several standards of DSL, cant think of the technical names, but it has to deal with how the DSL modem syncs up.