slow router

I just got broadband in my house, and its really fast (at least a lot faster than what I used to have). The problem is that if I connect my computer via the router, the internet is incredibly slow (isdn slow), but if I connect it directly to the broadband modem its fast. I need the router because we have 3 computers in the house, and a switch doesn't work (my friend used a switch and it only allowed one person to use the net at a time). I have upgraded the firmware and unplugged it for 2 minnutes at least 3 times, but it doesn't help. Does anyone know what the problem might be?

im definitely no expert on this and i could be making a total newbie mistake in understanding routers. but, i think that they can actually get 'worn out'. so, maybe a new one would do the trick?

Are you using a bit torrent client? Mine was also slowing down, but to the point where i couldn't view web pages. I searched around a bit and found that the firewall on my router might think it's being DoS attacked when a large amount of peers are connecting to you through the torrent client.

hmm, I hope I don't need a new one. When I use a bittorrent client it is slow, obviously, but would this affect the speed after the client has been turned off?

It shouldn't do if the client is closed

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

hmm, I hope I don't need a new one. When I use a bittorrent client it is slow, obviously, but would this affect the speed after the client has been turned off?

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I've been having the same problem for months now. I dont think it's the router, but i wouldn't be suprised if it is a torrent client even when it's closed. I don't know why, but it seems my connection gets worse after running a torrent.

My torrent client was very slow... then one of my friends fixed and opened some port in the router, so now it's normal speed.

I have normal home dsl with 6 machines on it.

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

hmm, I hope I don't need a new one...

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I've gone through 3 or 4 myself. Always seems to do the trick. Also, aside from upgrading firmware...try using the "restore factory defaults" function on the router. It could be that you set up some sort of errant rule in the firewall portion.

RH

magnus, I have had that same problem, but this is with surfing the net. It takes ages opening a page here on flashkit.

Well, I found out that only one computer can use the net at a time, which is the same thing that happened to my friends when they used a switch instead. Does anyone know why this may be?

What brand and model is the router?

smc barricade, this one:
http://www.smc.com/images/products/96/SMC7004VBR_EU.jpg

Try setting static IP addresses for each computer and see if it helps.

Is the DHCP server enabled in the router? Are the computers set up to obtain an IP address automatically?

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Originally Posted by ihoss.com

Well, I found out that only one computer can use the net at a time, which is the same thing that happened to my friends when they used a switch instead. Does anyone know why this may be?

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Ok... i had problems with normal internet for a while too... Maybe you should contact your isp? I did, and they fixed the speed in no time!

A few things that keep me from replacing my router every few years like so many of my friends - I have had the same router now for almost 4 years, it's an old Netgear MR314 with a modified firmware - added WPA, and a few other more modern things.

Now, with that said, auto-clear your logs. Have it where the router either doesn't log, or logs only so much and refreshes. Most firmware allow this. Also, if you can, use a public domain DNS server... the ones that most ISP's use suck for resolution. In the US, I tend to tell friends to use Verizon's/Sprints (somebody's dammit, I forget now) DNS servers and they notice speed increases from the beginning.

Now, for BitTorrent clients, you should Google search how to streamline that via preference settings as well as computer settings - local firewall and TCP settings and some registry settings for you Windows users - will help in making sure that the TCP stack doesn't pay the BitTorrent client too much attention, which is where a lot of slow down tends to happen at machine level.

I'd not go too far into other things - for instance like making sure you have one machine that establishes itself as the master browser within a Domain if you have one set up, not too much an issue within a Workgroup, but that can lead to a lot of unseen delegation to "who's" (which machine) is the master browser and can create a bit of packet collision if you're not careful.

Finally, connect all of your machines using static IP's... DHCP has a "keep-alive" that can sometimes slow down things if it's refreshing the DHCP lease while you're surfing. That's sorta the same as asking your mother can you use the restroom while you're standing in front of the toilet and have to wait for her permission. It may take longer than you'd rather wait for sometimes despite it being "instant"... or supposed to.

BitTorrent is a new headache for networks, but a controllable one like any other TCP/IP using client/program.

But keep that router's log file clear/clean, disallow the router to send you e-mails - if you're that paranoid about stuff, you'll be watching the logs personally anyway - and disallow any other MAC addresses from joining your network. You might want to set up a filter to make sure you're not being bombarded from external requests to your local LAN too. The moment I relocated, there was a zombie on the neighborhood junction box (cable modem) and it kept hitting a port that my router would actually long echo (meaning it would stall) response to and it'd create a slow down sometimes.

Hope this helps a little.

The computers get their ip automatically, and the router has found them, each with a unique ip. I have enabled HDCP.

What would be the ip of a public dns server?

I have configured the router to open one port for bitTorrent, but I have closed it now and I haven't used bitTorrent for two days.

I'm not sure how to configure the master browser, but I noticed that my connection has disabled QoS, could this have something to do with it?

My router is configured to keep them alive for a week.

I can't find where to disable the logs, but I can clear them manually.

Thanks for all the help guys :)

public DNS? 4.2.2.1 Primary, 4.2.2.2 Secondary. Google for one closer to you.

You can set your IP addresses at each machine - I don't think you quite followed what gesteves or I meant. QoS... that's up to you. It saps bandwidth turned on or off... I'm not a fan.

Master browser... again, are you in a workgroup, OU, or domain?

workgroup, simply using the normal winxp home network.

Im not sure the ip or dns has anything to do with it because its all on my network. Just now I plugged in my brother compute and I couldn't load this page. It still said I was connected and we had different IP's. The moment I disconnected him my internet is fine again.

Im not sure what you mean when you say I should use another DNS. I thought there was a discussion about this a few months ago, and I gathered that they are all in the us.