Wireless Router "lost" when using telephone
 

I recently got a new Netgear Wireless-N Gigabit router. Love it, except when we use our telephone that shares the same phone jack, the router "disappears" from my network. It goes away from the list of available wireless networks, and any computer using that connection is disconnected. It comes back when we hang up.

I work @ home and lose my VPN connection with incoming and outgoing calls on that telephone. Obviously not productive.

Anyone experience the same. Never had this problem with my prior router, also a Netgear RangeMax. Any clues to solve this? TIA.

Silly question, but you do have a DSL filter into which you plug both your router and phone line, right? Shouldn't affect it but you never know.

Also, is your router competing with your dsl modem for the ip address? I had this problem and simply gave the router 192.168.1.1.

HTH Jack

I see a huge spike in my signal when someone in the house gets on the phone. I believe that the wifi frequency and the 5 ghz phones are very close to the same frequency. I assume you have cordless phones. Do you have an old wired phone anywhere that you could plug in to test. Unplug all of the cordless phones in the house and then place a couple of calls to/from a wired phone and see if you get the same thing. If you don't then it's RF interference. If you do then it's likely something with your jack/splitter/dsl.

You can pick up a corded phone for $5 if you don't have one around.

I have a jack with a splitter in it. Into the splitter I have a crappy old cordless phone and my modem connection. Whenever I answer that phone (none of the other phones cause a problem) it kills my modem until I hang up.

Do you have a similar set-up?

What router did you have before and was it plugged into the same jack as the new one?

According to his initial post

I have an older Belkin 54G wireless router that is plugged into my cable modem which has nothing to do with the phone. Sometimes I loose the wireless internet signal with it, and sometimes I don't. My phone is a 5.4mhz (or whatever). It totally pisses me off.

I was thinking about buying a new router, but if yours is new and it still does it, that isn't a good sign for me.

I am interested in hearing what the PPOT says about this.

Bill

I bet you'd have better luck with a 2.4 GHz phone.

That might be true Steve, but one of the handsets went through an entire clothes washing machine cycle, and i dried it out and it still works. Its a Uniden and indestructible...

Bill

You need to determine if it is the act of picking up on the line, or just the frequency of the phone that causes the problem. If it is the frequency then turning the phone on when it is not plugged into the phone circuit should also shut down the wireless access.

I suspect it is a switching issue and not frequency interference.

For me it is a frequency issue....

Is your house large enough to move that particular phone to a part of the house farther from the router? Does it affect the router no matter where the phone is in the house or only certain places/rooms?

What about using 802.11a instead of b or g? Isn't a different freq? Of course that may involve replacing some or all of your wifi equipment.

It's a freq issue. I've heard of this already -- the new n standard uses a set of freqs that sometimes overlaps too closely with wireless telephones. Look up the actual frequencies for both phone and each wireless channel, and try to deconflict.

Isn't RF comms fun?

I also use a Netgear 854T N Gigabit router, along with 5.4gHz Uniden phones throughout the house with no problems.

If you haven't already, I would suggest trying the Netgear Forums, which I found helpful when I had some initial setup questions.


Tim

Thanks for the replies. My router is the WNR854T. The ip address is 192.168.1.1, same as the old router. And I do have a DSL filter at my phone jack into which I plug both the phone and DSL router. Setup is the same as before, except a different Netgear router. The speed is awesome, the lost connections, not so. :(

I lose the connection when my phone connects to another phone (when the person I'm calling picks up, or when I pick up the phone) not when I start dialing.

I'll try a different phone into the DSL filter - maybe a cord phone.

802.11a - 5.15-5.25/5.25-5.35/5.745-5.825 GHz
802.11b - 2.4-2.5 GHz
802.11g - 2.4-2.5 GHz
802.11n - 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz

I Netgear wireless router gets scrambled while the microwave is on. Microwave is a couple of feet away. It was actually worse when my old neighbor was still here. His MW killed my signal.

Make sure all phones attached to the DSL line have filters. My dad was having the same issue, but with a corded phone. He finally found 1 or 2 phones without a filter.

Dave

You should try a different filter--I'm on my 3d one--power surges seem to fry it.

good luck! Must be very frustrating for you. J

I ditched wireless, cause everytime the microwave oven was used the connection dropped completely... just plain annoying...

Hehe :rolleyes: I have caller ID, but this adds a whole other dynamic to deciding whether to pick up the phone while working @ home.

My work ext. forwards to my home phone, and I also IM people @ work, which might go something like: "That's Bill calling, tell him to call my cell or IM me" or "I need to answer Bill's call, we're going to get cut off now"

Hopefully I'll have this fixed this weekend. Other issue is to get my Slingbox to work with my TV's remote control. And also wait in line overnight to get an iPhone...not. Gotta love how technology makes life much easier.

Thanks again for the input. Many good replies. I'll certainly consider each until this thing is fixed.

Your MW is emitting enough 2.4GHz radiation to effectively jam other signals in the house, and you ditched the safe piece of gear? The MW should be FCC certified not to emit RF at all, actually. If the MW interferes with the wireless, the MW should be replaced.

I agree with djmcmath, try changing your wireless channel from the default. There are 11 channels available for B and G networks, 1,6, or 11 have worked best for me in the past. If you have secured your wireless (no broadcast, wep, etc) then I think you will need to configure your wireless cards for the same channel.

How close is your cordless phone to your router? Try moving one of them if they are too close.

Also if you have a fax line that should proabably have a filter as well.

masraum - The only problem with 802.11a is that is has a shorter range signal and can be easily obstructed. Of course if you live in an apartment or small home this may not be an issue.

Or just wait until 2008 when 802.11n is approved (270 Mbit/s) this may not fix your problem but your LAN will be blazing :)

Let us know how it goes.

Re: Wireless Router "lost" when using telephone
 

I have the same problem with Belkin(?) router I have had for a couple of years. The issue just started recently oddly enough. I use the speakerphone function when I need the phone. Keeps the calls shorter :)

I really need to look into the issue.

Well, I tried an old school corded phone, and that worked, no problem. Plugged the cordless phone back in, scanned for another channel, placed a call...problem solved! Thanks again for all the help.

Glad your problem is fixed, this sort of thing drives me nuts. I had exactly the same problem a while back, broadband would drop out when you used the phone, then started dropping out for no reason. Dunno how many times I rang the phone company and eventually they agreed to come out to take a look. Something made me take the cover off the wall socket before they came out just to check those wires were OK, and turned out a critter had manged to sneak up into the tiny little junction box and barbeque itself across the contacts. Removed the cremated remains, replaced the box and was all OK again :rolleyes: