Anyone else have issues with AT&T 2wire wireless route/modem?

Well, we had the same AT&T modem for like 7 years then it started dropping the connection to the belkin wifi router i had it hooked up to like 5 times a day.

AT&T upgraded us to their 2wire modem/wireless router for free and it's been problem after problem with it. Constantly dropping the connection to the internet, intermittent wifi connectivity, etc. Sometimes unplugging and plugging back in works, sometimes it doesn't. AT&T's solution every time is to credit our bill and send out another 2wire router.

More recently I disabled the wifi on the 2wire and hooked up a Linksys E1000 I got for cheap so I could use the N card in my wifi. Setting it up was TERRIBLE, but eventually I got it up and running. after about a week or so the wifi started becoming intermittent again. I worked with it for 2 days and after calling in to their automated support thing it started working after they "ran a check" on my line.

Now, I'm away at school and my family calls me twice a week to fix the internet lol. There's not a while lot I can tell them to do other then power cycle the devices. AT&T is sending them another router..

Anyone else have these problems or know of a reason we might be having these issues.

It's not heat, they're on top of a short bookcase, well ventilated.. It's not interference, they're the only two things in that room except for the desktop computer which is on the other side of the room (no home phone, all other appliances are downstairs). Both are using surge protectors. All CAT cables are new. I'm out of ideas lol..

should I try an aftermarket modem? I'm planning to grab up an Airport Extreme soon. They seem to be really simple and very reliable so hopefully it'll help cut issues down after I get the AT&T part resolved..

 

no one else has this 2wire router from AT&T?

 

Can you take a photo of it? I am fairly sure I was issued with exactly the same 2wire router by BigPond in Australia. In short, the modem was absolute crap and I ended up replacing it with a wireless N Billion router which has not dropped a connection since installed well over 3 months ago(the 2wire dropped the connection approximately once every 10-50 minutes)

 

its this router/modem combo

2Wire DSL Gateway Model 2701HG-B No DSL filters included - Equipment at AT&T

 

I have a 2wire also, worst thing that ever happened to me. We had a techy come out and he told us putting more than one iPod/iPhone will mess it up, and gave us a new router to put under the 2wire which fixed the problem.

 

How do we get them to go e us something else though? At this point is prefer just a modem since I've got an N router.. All they want to do is send the same model.

 

Yep, the same model that i had to suffer through. Why not go out and purchase your own modem? It's well worth the small investment.

 

that's what I was thinking, but I dont know what models I should be looking at.

Then how to set it up to work with the AT&T network..

any suggestions?

 

A friend of mine with ATT recently had that exact same modem go down. He got his own DSL modem and Router. Because ATT was trying to push a new one on him for 150 or something.. was cheaper to do it that way. I don't like all in one modems/routers anyways. Twice the chance to fail, more expensive, and I just think you have more control over components.

As far as selection for the router... get whatever you want. As for the modem, he got a D-Link 2540B. It has a 4 port switch built in, but no wireless router. If you DO want an all in one unit, I think the 2640 is a modem + switch/router. I'm sure there are many other options and brands available though.

 

I beg to differ. Combos use modem chip for modem & routing and a separate switch while routers use main chip for routing and have a separate switch too.

So actually not only is a combo cheaper (one switch, one RAM chip, one SoC chip, one chassis) than a combined prices of a separate modem & router but chances of a combo failing are exactly the same as any of your devices.

That said I agree that a separate modem and router offer more options and better flexibility however combos aren't actually dreadful either and there are quite a few reasons why average users like them better.