Need help tweaking rt-n66u

[kmax86]

Im having some weird problems with my new modem / router combo some website load very quick others like ocuk forums have delay on loading pages. Also certain games are affected as well after I switched routers.

My current setup is tp link td-8817 in bridge mode to the asus. ISP is talktalk broadband.

First I tested the td-8817 using an ethernet cable to my pc set up the username/password required for the talktalk ppoa others settings were unchanged once I knew the modem works I followed this guide from a product review by changing the tplink router to the asus n66u.

Note to anyone considering a similar setup and is a little lost on the networking front.... As supplied both routers have the same default IP address and DHCP switched on. I changed the TD-8817 from the supplied 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.0.1 and switched DHCP off. I left the TL-WR1043ND router with the supplied 192.168.1.1 address and DHCP switched on, but configured the WAN connection as 192.168.0.250 (note this could be anything you like in the 192.168.0.xxx range, e.g. 192.168.0.100), subnet 255.255.255.0, gateway as 192.168.0.1 and DNS as 192.168.0.1 to ensure internet traffic from the TL-WR1043ND passes to and from the TD-8817 modem/router. All was up and running smoothly within 30 mins. This setup has also continued to run without any rebooting for the last couple of months I've had the kit.

On the day I installed the tplink modem and asus router all was perfect. Come day 2 and 3 the problem started. Disconnections / lagging in mmos certain website like facebook and ocuk forums have delays in loading sometimes it will only display half of the page. Other problems include no internet access even though the internet and adsl light on the modem are lit.

Im new to this separate modem/router business as I always use the adsl router supplied by TT or my netgear dg834gt

 

[bremen1874]

It can just the the remote servers taking their time to respond.

I find that OcUK's forums regularly grind to a halt. I've currently got two FTTC connections from different providers available and it's the same on them both. The problems also exist via the 3G connection from my phone.

Looking at the information the developer tools in Chrome provide it's usually wait times on calls such as showthread.php that cause the page load delays

 

[kmax86]

cheers so its safe to say that the main delays / lag (mmos and websites) comes from the isp and not from the new set up ?

if so then phew thought i opened a can of worms

 

[bremen1874]

It depends. I just wanted to point out that problems can exist further upstream.

If you still have the original kit temporarily reinstate it and see if the problems go away or not.

 

[kmax86]

alright. ill swap the old kit back and test it for a few days hopefully its on the isp side

thanks for the suggestion

 

[Rroff]

I've had a few issues with the n66u:

With the out the box firmware people using torrents, refreshing server browsers, etc. would over time result in degraded performance with some websites loading extremely slowly or timing out (wired or wireless).

It seems to have problems with certain wireless devices regardless of firmware (with any current firmware released) over a few hours upto a couple of days the connection between the device and router degrades to the point sites are loading very slowly or its constantly disconnecting depending on the device - in every case both the device and router have to be restarted before it goes back to normal.

Updating to the latest Merlin firmware solved the first issue completely and made the router a lot more stable and better performing over all but the 2nd issue I've had little luck with solving short of forcing the router back to 54Mbit type wireless connectivity. (Fortunatly those devices that are having issues are ones that I can just as easily and now do run using ethernet).

 

[kmax86]

I've had a few issues with the n66u:

With the out the box firmware people using torrents, refreshing server browsers, etc. would over time result in degraded performance with some websites loading extremely slowly or timing out (wired or wireless).

...

Yep thats the same problem im having. First was grand and perfect and now (day3) my sister and even my da is noticing the slow response from websites.

Where do you get this Merling firmware? looks like its worth a shot

 

[Rroff]

http://www.lostrealm.ca/tower/node/79

Make sure you download the n66u version (the other versions will fail on uploading with an error about being the wrong hardware anyhow).

 

[kmax86]

thanks for the link gonna try that tomorrow

 

[kmax86]

just an update 5days later

I flashed the merlin firmware and wired connections improved greatly

however 2.4ghz (both g and n) wireless devices are having drop outs from time to time.
windows will just say it cant connect.
disabling and re-enabling the wireless card seems to solve the problem temporarily

 

[FreeStream]

Running Shibby Tomato firmware here. It is setup as a b/g 2.4 and a 5Ghz N network and everything is ok here with up to 5 laptops, 2 servers, my Mac Pro and numerous iPhones/Androids/iPads connected.

Range is rather disappointing with 5Ghz though, and transmit power seems to do naff all.

Thick walls mind.

 

[kmax86]

is the method for flashing tomato the same as merlin?

hopefully that will work with our setup. everyone in the house is complaining about timeouts during web browsing on 2.4g g/n

EDIT: is the official link for shibby tomato http://tomato.groov.pl/?page_id=164 ?

 

[player]

It seems this router has problems with n mode and the integrated wireless chipset in the xbox 360s. A shame because I'm having to run the router in G mode.

 

[Jamesbcd]

is the method for flashing tomato the same as merlin?

hopefully that will work with our setup. everyone in the house is complaining about timeouts during web browsing on 2.4g g/n

EDIT: is the official link for shibby tomato http://tomato.groov.pl/?page_id=164 ?

Yeh, that's the correct link.

Flashed DDWRT on mine when I first got it. Realised 5GHZ wasn't working at all on that so ended up flashing the Merlin build, been faultless for me.

 

[kmax86]

hi all

I decided last month not to flash tomato since the merlin fw became more stable for some reason on 2.4ghz a week later since my previous post on this thread

It seems this router has problems with n mode and the integrated wireless chipset in the xbox 360s. A shame because I'm having to run the router in G mode.

I dont have an xbox but the n mode is fine here(fingers crossed) specially the 5ghz one