Greetings,
This is a long story, however, I will try to include only the pertinent parts. We have had a home network for 5 years. The original ISP was Time Warner. The service came by cable and they supplied the modem. I purchased a SMC 2804 WBR combination router and wireless router and the matching SMC adapter for my laptop. The desktop computer is a Dell Optiplex running XP sp2 (wired to the router) and the Laptop is a Dell Lattitude also running XP sp2 (wireless). The router wireless connection is using WEP security. Things worked very well until recently. Time Warner sold our area to Comcast. Two weeks ago, the transition started. Our signal was growing weaker and we lost internet access several times. Last week, the desktop and laptop were very slow loading any pages. A service call replaced the line coming into the house from the main line and a comment that we should trade in our existing modem for a new one that would work better with the Comcast system and give us higher speed. Yesterday, I traded out the modem. When I plugged the desktop into the modem I could get to the internet and all was good.When I connected the router,I couldn't access the internet from either computer. I finally figured out that I had to clone the MAC address, and everything was fine. But, two hours later, neither computer could access the internet. I solved this by unplugging the router from the modem and thenunplugging the desktop from the router and connecting it directly to the router and then opening IE. Then I reversed the wiring and all was happy again. This happened again in about 2 hours. At this point I called SMC to ask for help. They reviewed my router setup and said everything was OK. The problem was with the ISP dropping my signal. I called Comcast and told them the story. They claim it is the router since I can connect to the internet witht eh desktop wired directly to the modem. The loss of signal has happened three times today. In all cases, the computers seem to stay connected to the router.
With the finger pointing going both ways I am caught in the middle. Does anyone have ideas to help me get out of this dilema?
Thanks in advance for your help!
This is a long story, however, I will try to include only the pertinent parts. We have had a home network for 5 years. The original ISP was Time Warner. The service came by cable and they supplied the modem. I purchased a SMC 2804 WBR combination router and wireless router and the matching SMC adapter for my laptop. The desktop computer is a Dell Optiplex running XP sp2 (wired to the router) and the Laptop is a Dell Lattitude also running XP sp2 (wireless). The router wireless connection is using WEP security. Things worked very well until recently. Time Warner sold our area to Comcast. Two weeks ago, the transition started. Our signal was growing weaker and we lost internet access several times. Last week, the desktop and laptop were very slow loading any pages. A service call replaced the line coming into the house from the main line and a comment that we should trade in our existing modem for a new one that would work better with the Comcast system and give us higher speed. Yesterday, I traded out the modem. When I plugged the desktop into the modem I could get to the internet and all was good.When I connected the router,I couldn't access the internet from either computer. I finally figured out that I had to clone the MAC address, and everything was fine. But, two hours later, neither computer could access the internet. I solved this by unplugging the router from the modem and thenunplugging the desktop from the router and connecting it directly to the router and then opening IE. Then I reversed the wiring and all was happy again. This happened again in about 2 hours. At this point I called SMC to ask for help. They reviewed my router setup and said everything was OK. The problem was with the ISP dropping my signal. I called Comcast and told them the story. They claim it is the router since I can connect to the internet witht eh desktop wired directly to the modem. The loss of signal has happened three times today. In all cases, the computers seem to stay connected to the router.
With the finger pointing going both ways I am caught in the middle. Does anyone have ideas to help me get out of this dilema?
Thanks in advance for your help!
