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[kmf]

Hi. Like several others here, I have recently bought a DIR-810L and am having trouble with it randomly dropping Wi-Fi connections (and LAN too sometimes). My household has several laptops and android phones, and a couple of cabled PCs. I am finding that the router has become more and more unstable over the couple of weeks that I've been using it, to the point where none of us could enjoy meaningful internet connectivity and so I've swapped it out.

I will answer the standard list of questions shortly, but it seems obvious to me that there is an issue with some of these units and I want to know if I should go for:
* another 810L, or
* a different model from DLink, or perhaps even
* a different brand router altogether.

I chose the 810L because it has the access control by schedule feature I wanted and everything else a good home router should have, at a very good price. Perhaps I only got what I paid for and I should spend more money to get something that is more reliable?

Please answer: Is there a solution for those of us with unstable Wi-Fi, or should I take it back?

[kmf]

More details...

Hardware: A1, f/w 1.02. Region is New Zealand (somewhere near Australia). We do Internet here the same as the 'States.
Haven't done a factory reset, but then I just bought it so what help would that do?

Internet / WAN:
We have DSL. I tried a simple DSL modem and also a very reliable old Dynalink modem/router/wifi. In both cases I set up the 810L as a simple DHCP client and also as a DMZ device, and was able to configure it to nicely do what I wanted. MTU is 1500, worked fine most of the time.

Router and Wired cfg:
Qos off, Advanced DNS off, DNS relaying ON. Some devices static IPs with higher numbers (printer, NAS), phones and laptops DHCP. Set the DHCP range to not overlap with the statics.
Firewall and intrusion OFF for now. uPnP On, Multicast On.
Locked WAN port to 100Mbps which seemed to help slightly.

Wireless:
Set up my own SSIDs (slightly different) for the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands. Left device modes, security, other settings default. Tried lowering power levels.
We have an old cordless phone - problems happen when phone inactive or in use.
Our house is in the countryside and the next nearest Wi-Fi network barely gets 1 bar onb our devices. Not an interference issue.
Modem is placed center of house. This location worked fine for old Dynalink. The 810L reported stronger signals also (except when it did it's drop-connection thing). Have moved it around a bit at this location, but no change in behaviour.

[kmf]

More on the problem:
Devices will sometimes get a break in open connections (IP socket connections reset), but remain online. This results in failed downloads or web page retreval, but a retry usually succeeds. Often this will affect only one device at a time (maybe a phone, maybe a laptop..)
Devices will sometimes drop off the Wi-Fi and need reconnecting. Usually a Windows 'repair' or adapter disable / enable fixes the connection, but not always.
Sometimes the router seems to go away completely for a minute or 2, as if it is rebooting. During this time no devices will be able to see the SSID, let alone connect. All devices will be affected, including cabled (Ethernet) PCs.

Today it seems to have gotten worse, to the point where it was unusable, and so I have swapped out the router and gone back to my 12-year-old Dynalink. That is as solid as a rock, even with multiple cabled and Wi-Fi clients all going at once. So please, what's up with the DLink?

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• Has a Factory Reset been performed?
• Was a Factory Reset performed before and after any firmware updates then set up from scratch?

  Link> >FW Update Process  You might reload FW using this process.


Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations

• What ISP Modem Mfr. and model # do you have?
• What ISP Modem service link speeds UP and Down do you have? Link> Speed Testing Sites
• Check cable between Modem and Router, swap out to be sure. Link> Cat6 is recommended.
• Check ISP MTU requirements, Cable is usually 1500, DSL is around 1492 down to 1472. Call the ISP and ask. Link>Checking MTU Values
• For DSL/PPPoE connections on the router, ensure that "Always ON" option is enabled.
• If the ISP modem has a built in router, it's best to bridge the modem. Having 2 routers on the same line can cause connection problems: Link>Double NAT and How NAT Works. Call the ISP and ask to see if the ISP modem can be bridged. To tell if the modem is bridged or not, look at the routers web page, Status/Device Info/Wan Section, if there is a 192.168.0.# address in the WAN IP address field, then the modem is not bridged. If the modem can't be bridged then see if the modem has a DMZ option and input the IP address the router gets from the modem and put that into the modems DMZ. Also check the routers DHCP IP address maybe conflicting with the ISP modems IP address of 192.168.0.1. Check to see if this is the same on the ISP modem, and if modem can't be bridged, change the DIR router to 192.168.1.1 or .0.254.
  Example of a D-Link router configured for PPPoE with ISP Modem bridged: PPPoE Configuration on a Router

[kmf]

Hi - thanks for the suggestions.

I don't think the problem is between the router and the internet (ethernet WAN link, DSL modem, etc), but I've made a couple of checks and am pretty sure it's all ok. I'm yet to try it, but one test I will do is see if the router is misbehaving when it's not connected to the internet at all (i.e. just running my home network, sharing disk resources and printer, etc).

Settings for the DSL are as per https://www.spark.co.nz/help/internet-email/getstarted/broadband-settings-for-third-party-modems/. MTU 1500, etc. DSL modem is an old D-Link DSL-302G, have also tried a Dynalink RTA300W. DSL link: Up:640kbps Dn:7616kbps mode:G.dmt

When using the D-Link, which connects in PPPoA mode, I cannot set bridging because the modem says bridging is not supported on PPPoA, only Ethernet-over-ATM. I set the modem to allocate 10.1.1.3 to the router and the router allocates in the 192.168.1.X range to my household, so although there's double-NAT going on, the addresses on different interfaces are all unique.

I will try a few tweaks to the WI-Fi settings, such as 20/40MHz, disabling some modes, etc.

Haven't tried factory-reset or firmware reload yet.

More details to come...

[kmf]

I've switched the router+modem back in, with Wi-Fi considerably restrained (20MHz bandwidth only, 5GHz completely off, medium power, channel locked to #2) and it seems to be holding up ok for now. I'll give it a day or two then turn something on to a higher setting and see what runs and what fails.

Watch this space :-)

[FurryNutz]

Recommended manual Channels to use are 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear. 13 for EU/WW regions. Try channel 48 or 149 on 5Ghz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

A factory reset is recommened at some point.

If the modem can't be bridged then see if the modem has a DMZ option and input the IP address the router gets from the modem and put that into the modems DMZ. Then turn off all filters and wifi on the ISP modem.

Keep us posted.

[kmf]

Hi. I can try the different channels as suggested, but I don't think interference is the issue - next nearest Wi-Fi is 200m (600ft) away and barely detectable. Locking the channel was more about turning off auto scan.

The DSL modem is set to forward everything (DMZ) to the 810L at 10.1.1.3. The 810L is set to 10.1.1.3 ("static IP") and everything is currently working ok. The DSL modem has no Wi-Fi and I don't think it has any filtering enabled. I have a web-enabled GPS receiver set up on a virtual server / static local address behind the 810L, and I can see that from 'outside' (work) so I know the inbound routing is going ok.

Next thing to try (if it doesn't remain stable) is Factory Reset then reload the current configuration file, although I doubt that's much different from just power-cycling it. Then of course there's Factory Reset + setup manually from scratch.

Anyway, it's up at the moment, and the weekend is coming (lots of teenager gaming, so lots of comments if it's misbehaving). Will keep you posted. Many thanks.

[FurryNutz]

let us know how it goes. Doing a factory reset is not the same as doing a power cycle.

[devstaff]

I'm having the same problem @OP with absolutely no luck, and I've tried anything there is really. I don't think this is an isolated case, as by the looks of the reviews on Amazon for an example many people complain. And to make things even better; the only stable firmware that exists is full of security holes.

[kmf]

"Doing a factory reset is not the same as doing a power cycle." Obviously, but is doing a factory reset then uploading a saved configuration file any better than a power cycle?

[FurryNutz]

Yes however i would not re-load the saved configuration file rather setup from scratch to see if the problem still occurs...

[kmf]

Update: I've had it running with the bandwidth locked down to 20MHz, and it's been really good. I set it to 20/40-Auto and the trouble started again, but now that I have put it back to 20MHz-only, it seems to have come right again.

Perhaps some of the other followers of this thread might like to try that and see if they get similar results. It will drop your connection speeds (my netbook used to say 150Mbps but now says 65), but right now 65 reliable is a whole lot better than 150 that isn't there at all.

I set the Wi-Fi Channel to 1 as per suggestions / standards compliance. Don't think this affected anything but I guess I'm being a better citizen :-)

More info as I figure it out....

[FurryNutz]

Do you have any devices that does not support 40Mhz channel width?

Seems like if 20Mhz is working and 20/40Mhz is not then there could be an issue in your environment, device or possible problem in FW.

What devices do you have connected?

I recommend that you phone contact your regional D-Link support office and ask for help and information regarding this. We find that phone contact has better immediate results over using email.
Let us know how it goes please.

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• What Hardware version is your router? Look at sticker under the router case.
• Link>What Firmware version is currently loaded? Found on the routers web page under status.
• What region are you located?

Internet Service Provider and Modem Configurations

• What ISP Service do you have? Cable or DSL?
• What ISP Modem Mfr. and model # do you have?

Wireless Configurations
Links>Wireless Installation Considerations and Managing Signal Congestion and Good Neighbour Policy

• Ensure the default (dlink) SSID name is changed. Ensure that different SSID names are used between each WiFi 2.4/5Ghz radios. Can be anything and not something that's already in use by any neighbouring WiFi routers. Under Setup/Wireless/Manual.
• What wireless modes are you using?
• 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz routers: Try single mode G or N or mixed G and N on 2.4Ghz and single mode N or AC on 5Ghz?
• Channel Width set for Auto 20/40Mhz or try 20Mhz only.
• Try setting a manual Channel to a open or unused channel. 1, 6 or 11. 11 for single mode N if the channel is clear. 13 for EU regions. Try channel 48 or 149 on 5Ghz.
• What security mode are you using? Preferred security is WPA-Personal. WPA2/AES Only. Some WiFi adapters don't support AES, so you might want to try TPIK only or Auto TPIK and AES.
• What wireless devices do you have connected?
• Ensure any devices with WiFi adapter drivers are updated.
• Any 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz cordless house phones or WiFi APs near by that maybe causing interferences?
• Any other WiFi routers in the area that maybe causing interferences? Link> Use InSSIDer to find out. How many? Use v3, its free.
• If you have any of these options, Try turning OFF or ON Short GI, WLAN Partition, Extra Wireless Protection and HT 20/40 Co-existence if you have it. Also testing with HT20/40Mhz Co-existence enabled will impact results as well. I prefer to use this option OFF. Recommended settings are default. Under Advanced/Advanced Wireless.

Router Placement
Forum User - "Well I feel really dumb. After moving the router away from other electronic devices my speeds are back to normal. Just a heads up for anyone experiencing slow speeds, you might want to move it away from other electronics and see if that helps."
3-6' feet minimum safe distance between devices.
Placement on main level floor and central in the building and WELL ventilated is preferred. Not in basements or closets as building materials, or near by electronics devices could interfere or hinder good signal propagation.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/31083-smallnetbuilders-wireless-faq-the-essentials

I'm having the same problem @OP with absolutely no luck, and I've tried anything there is really. I don't think this is an isolated case, as by the looks of the reviews on Amazon for an example many people complain. And to make things even better; the only stable firmware that exists is full of security holes.