Cisco EPC2425

tallaghtoutlaws

Hey Guys,

I know there have been a lot of threads on this Cable/wireless modem. Have the 20mb with UPC but when I use the wireless it drops so often.

Upgraded all the drivers for the network adapters on all of the laptops in the house and it still drops. When you plug them into the modem it works fine. The Wireless is just inconsistent.

Has anyone experienced this before? And have you figured out a solution or changed modems.

I was think of buying a seperate wireless router and bridging it to the current one if this is actually a problem with the modem itself.

Any help would be appreciated. I searched the other threads but didn't find the answer I was looking for.

Tea_Bag

getting a new router will solve most of the problems. getting a new router and a new modem will solve all your problems. thats what i've done, and havent looked back since.

tallaghtoutlaws

Tea_Bag wrote: »

getting a new router will solve most of the problems. getting a new router and a new modem will solve all your problems. thats what i've done, and havent looked back since.

Thats what I was thinking on doing. Can you recommend the best modem and router to purchase?

Thanks for your quick response Tea_Bag

Fat_Fingers

Before you go spending your cash check that you dont have interference coming from your old cordless phone , or next door has wireless on the same channel as you do. By default UPC will have you on channel 11. Change it to 12 or whatever is not used around you (run scan and see what channels are used by others). Test this before you spend your money.

tallaghtoutlaws

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

Before you go spending your cash check that you dont have interference coming from your old cordless phone , or next door has wireless on the same channel as you do. By default UPC will have you on channel 11. Change it to 12 or whatever is not used around you (run scan and see what channels are used by others). Test this before you spend your money.

Don't have an old cordless phone and I have already set the channel to 12 based on previous advice and monitor the other Wireless in the area to make sure our channel isn't the same but it stills drops consistently.

tallaghtoutlaws

Just to add from reading up it seems im not the only one with problems with this modem when it comes to Wireless. But I have never found a solid solution. As we speak I had it connected to the wireless and now it disconnected and now can't even find the wireless.

Fat_Fingers

Do you get good signal? Router is not in metal cage?
Try turning off router , remove and then connect antenna back to the router and have it in upright position. Wait 1 minute and turn the router back on.

EDIT: you might have a faulty router. Call support and explain your problem. They might first re-flash the router and if that doesn’t fix it then they should send you replacement. I have the same router and its excellent IMO.

bealtine

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

I have the same router and its excellent IMO.

I had the same router and it's full of bugs, the firmware looks like it was written by some 10 year olds, the bugs were in almost every section of the firmware. Really it's a piece of crap. Finally went back to the Scientific Atlanta modem and a proper firewall/router combo and have been happy ever since.

I strongly advise the op to try the same route.

tallaghtoutlaws

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

Do you get good signal? Router is not in metal cage?
Try turning off router , remove and then connect antenna back to the router and have it in upright position. Wait 1 minute and turn the router back on.

EDIT: you might have a faulty router. Call support and explain your problem. They might first re-flash the router and if that doesn’t fix it then they should send you replacement. I have the same router and its excellent IMO.

Router out in the open. Tried all the turning on and off and nothing.

As for the faulty router all you have to do is google and it seems to be a common trend with these routers. UPC have told me there is no issue with them.

Oh and the signal bar is always up full.

tallaghtoutlaws

bealtine wrote: »

I had the same router and it's full of bugs, the firmware looks like it was written by some 10 year olds, the bugs were in almost every section of the firmware. Really it's a piece of crap. Finally went back to the Scientific Atlanta modem and a proper firewall/router combo and have been happy ever since.

I strongly advise the op to try the same route.

This is the first modem we got from UPC. What model is the Scientific Atlanta you have?

What I really need is model numbers of quality modems and routers at this point to be honest. I have lost faith in this Cisco one and feel even if UPC replace with the same model it will never work properly either.

bealtine

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

TWhat model is the Scientific Atlanta you have?

What I really need is model numbers of quality modems

EPC 2203 and any decent broadband router (not dsl router).

blaz

bealtine wrote: »

I had the same router and it's full of bugs, the firmware looks like it was written by some 10 year olds, the bugs were in almost every section of the firmware. Really it's a piece of crap. Finally went back to the Scientific Atlanta modem and a proper firewall/router combo and have been happy ever since.

I strongly advise the op to try the same route.

You do realize that the Scientific Atlanta modem has exactly the same firmware as the Cisco modem, as the Cisco bought Scientific Atlanta some time ago and this Cisco modem is just a rebranded Scientific Atlanta modem.

I do agree that the firmware is rather pathetic and hope they improve it...

tallaghtoutlaws

Where would be the best place to look for a new cable modem?

NTMK

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

Where would be the best place to look for a new cable modem?

Try and pester UPC in to giving you a new modem say you want to set up a network and that the Cisco cant do that they will hopefully replace it with a SA modem. it worked for Tea_bag

dub45

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

Where would be the best place to look for a new cable modem?

You cannot buy a cable modem you have to use the one supplied by UPC.

Fat_Fingers

bealtine wrote: »

I had the same router and it's full of bugs, the firmware looks like it was written by some 10 year olds, the bugs were in almost every section of the firmware. Really it's a piece of crap. Finally went back to the Scientific Atlanta modem and a proper firewall/router combo and have been happy ever since.

I strongly advise the op to try the same route.

I dont get it. if you are looking at the firmware it's UPC specific one for their network. If you get another wireless router all you can do is bridging but your point of entry is still UPC router so you still have to use their router with their firmware.

bealtine

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

I dont get it. if you are looking at the firmware it's UPC specific one for their network. If you get another wireless router all you can do is bridging but your point of entry is still UPC router so you still have to use their router with their firmware.

We are discussing the Cisco router NOT the EPC2203.
The SA (EPC2203) modem is mostly a pass-through modem e.g a bridge so therefore you need a separate router/firewall combo.

The Cisco router tries to be very clever and do everything but ends up doing most things incorrectly.

Fat_Fingers

Ah, my bad, thanks for the correction.

I had the same issue as you are having. It took a while and a few calls to UPC but they eventually agreed to provision a new standalone cable modem for us so I could use my own router.

Captain Halibut

[15 mbit/phone/valuepack telly]

So far, that standard Cisco 'wireless' router craps out at every available opportunity.
I believe it's perfectly good if you're wired, but it seems as if that antenna is little more
than window dressing. Had to kill off the firewall (from advice given here) to stop getting
packet loss of up to 88%.

Before I go troubling the customer support people, can I retain it for TV/phone purposes,
but daisy-chain my unused Belkin wireless G+ MIMO router? I'll live with any latency as the
speeds (when the cisco isn't actually comatose) are otherwise terrific.

Already changed the channel to 1; neighbour is on 6. This is written from my as yet,
un-cancelled eircom 7 mbit account.

Captain Halibut

So far (touchwood), updating usb adapters on the 3 PCs accessing the Cisco are now rock solid and the WiFI seems to be retaining authorisation. This after a UPC customer service recommendation (Ta folks for getting back so soon) and a thread on here that I clearly missed.

Riesen_Meal

Hey guys,

Im having the same issue on this aswell, UPC just randomly disconnects the signal for no reason at all.....

I wonder is it an area problem?

My friend who lives 10 mins away is having the same issue as me.....

I live in D9 area.....

tallaghtoutlaws

Update on my issue:

NTL/UPC sent out an Engineer. When he saw the Cisco modem he laughed and he was here less than 5 mins and he gave me a Netgear Router and set it up so my wireless runs off the Netgear router. He disabled the Wireless on the Cisco modem/router.

Call them get an engineer and the engineer will most likely solve the problem for you. Wireless is working with no hassles now.

Riesen_Meal

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

Update on my issue:

NTL/UPC sent out an Engineer. When he saw the Cisco modem he laughed and he was here less than 5 mins and he gave me a Netgear Router and set it up so my wireless runs off the Netgear router. He disabled the Wireless on the Cisco modem/router.

Call them get an engineer and the engineer will most likely solve the problem for you. Wireless is working with no hassles now.

Hmm, ill see how I go a while before calling out an engineer....

Thanks though!

bricks

I don't see the option in it. Also it seems to loose its settings and default from time to time which is a pain.

I'd like it to just do the modem job so I can hook up a linux firewall to it.

Sounds like maybe the engineer has access to a menu in it that we don't that can enable bridging mode.

the_law

Bricks, as far as I know there isn't a way of bridging it, but if you complain enough you should get given a Scientific Atlanta modem and that'll sort you out.

If you search for EPC2425 on boards you should find out about people who've had similar issues, there is a definite ICMP issue that manifests in tracerouting somehow, so if you grab on that you can make them give you the modem.

I asked for the modem at install time and was given it no questions asked, install guy was very understanding.

tallaghtoutlaws

the_law wrote: »

Bricks, as far as I know there isn't a way of bridging it, but if you complain enough you should get given a Scientific Atlanta modem and that'll sort you out.

If you search for EPC2425 on boards you should find out about people who've had similar issues, there is a definite ICMP issue that manifests in tracerouting somehow, so if you grab on that you can make them give you the modem.

I asked for the modem at install time and was given it no questions asked, install guy was very understanding.

If there is no way to bridge them how do you explain what I have then? I have the EPC2425 and now after the Engineer came I have Netgear Wireless G router connected to it. I can no longer connect to the wireless on the EPC2425 but can through the Netgear one. Works perfectly.

As for the other modem I complained a lot in the last 3 weeks and their solution was to send the engineer and low and behold he actually solved the problem. Nice guy to boot.

the_law

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

If there is no way to bridge them how do you explain what I have then? I have the EPC2425 and now after the Engineer came I have Netgear Wireless G router connected to it. I can no longer connect to the wireless on the EPC2425 but can through the Netgear one. Works perfectly.

This is explained by the Netgear acting as an access point, and the EPC2425 acting as a router and DHCP server.

There are other possibilities, but plug a laptop into another ethernet port of the EPC2425. If it's a bridge, you should get a public IP DHCP'd to you on your laptop. However, I suspect you'll get a private IP and be routed by the Cisco.

Your problem seems to have been with the Cisco's wireless, which was resolved by the disabling of the Cisco wireless and the use of the Netgear as access point. The Cisco routing and DHCP must be fine.

Riesen_Meal

This is after happening me twice in a row now, luckily I havent been playing any online games and this happening!

Think a call out and looking for a scientific atlanta modem is the only way to go....

gurramok

I've been having problems too trying to bridge that router. I've had people more network techie than me trying to bridge it for me but the router won't bridge. Its retaining all the internet management stuff despite the DHCP server switched off and the firewall switched off.

Also IRC is either blocked or hampered some way by the router. I use IRC alot so i need it working Explanation of what happens here http://trout.snt.utwente.nl/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=4&Number=217020&Searchpage=1&Main=40334&Words=cisco+2425&topic=0&Search=true&PHPSESSID=af#Post217020

IRC can't find my public IP/DNS and it cannot function properly because of it. Post #18 in this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=62796755 is too circumstantial so it has to be the router and as the_law says here, it must be blocking ICMP packets.
Nothing was changed on the PC end in the changeover to the Cisco router from the working Scientific/Netgear combo. Even webchat from Undernet.org doesnt work on the Cisco!!

Anyway, i rang UPC up to complain about the lack of the bridge capability and they confirmed to me on the phone that the router is indeed unbridgeable. They are 'investigating' the IRC issue

AlmightyCushion

gurramok wrote: »

Anyway, i rang UPC up to complain about the lack of the bridge capability and they confirmed to me on the phone that the router is indeed unbridgeable. They are 'investigating' the IRC issue

Bugger. I have a great linksys router that I'd love to have handle my routing. Is the original SA much better? If so I might ask them to give me one of those instead.

gurramok

SA seemed fine to me but I never really messed around with it to comment on its performance. Stick with a cable modem on its own, not the all in one piece like the Cisco.
I had the SA since day 1 with no problems whatsoever though. They had unexpectedly changed it when i ordered a landline.

Hint hint: don't order new stuff from them like I did or you will have to barricade your gaff to stop them changing your setup to the Cisco!

Also they did say on the phone that they are rolling out the Cisco's to everyone, 'thats their goal' but a work colleague did say that must be BS because these modems can't handle high speeds like 60MB which UPC are supposed to be planning for later on in the year

vibe666

your work colleague sounds like a very wise individual indeed!

seriously tho, from what i have read, the 60-120mbps upgrades that are due in august this year will be using the newer euroDOCSIS3.0 standard which neither the current cisco or scientific atlanta will be compatible with even if they got a big firmware upgrade, so come August the engineers dishing out new modems once again.

All i can say is, fingers crossed the UPC R&D dept. do a better job of picking deccent hardware when the time comes or it'll be a non-runner from the word go!

Jonathan

Got the EPC2425 installed over the weekend.

I've had nothing but problems with it. Wireless dropout, random rebooting, not storing configuration settings, the list goes on.

I've made a complaint, and an technician will be out during the week.

jetpack101

Hope someone can help with this.

I called NTL today to ask them to swap out my EPC2425 for a bog standard cable modem as I am connecting a new Linksys WRT120N Router.

We have 3 Xbox in the house and only one can get open NAT at any given time so this is the reason for the change.

The girl on the phone told me there is no need to swap out the router as she can disable everything from her end and turn the box into a basic cable modem.

I told here I need EVERYTHING turned off and she said that's what they will do and my new Router will handle all the security, porting and the like.

Will it work, connecting my new router to there EPC2425 router!!

gurramok

jetpack101 wrote: »

The girl on the phone told me there is no need to swap out the router as she can disable everything from her end and turn the box into a basic cable modem.

I told here I need EVERYTHING turned off and she said that's what they will do and my new Router will handle all the security, porting and the like.

Will it work, connecting my new router to there EPC2425 router!!

No

She told you differently to what I was told! (and not a single forum poster here has detailed a successful bridge of the router so far)

Unbridgeable is the word

jetpack101

OK, just got on to UPC and got no where with them. They then told me to contact Linksys as they could help me out.

I did this and they where fantastic.
Not sure what she did but its working now.

She got me to do something like clone my PC's Mac Address
SETUP> MAC Address Clone

She then told me to set the router address as follows:
Local IP Address: 192.168.2.1

Then I reset both routers for 30 seconds and it all came back up working.

The (NTL)EPC2425 only has one wire going from that to the Internet port on the router. The WRT120N has all the other connections.

Also checked my Xbox and it is connecting no problem.
Hope the information above works for others.

dub45

gurramok wrote: »

No

She told you differently to what I was told! (and not a single forum poster here has detailed a successful bridge of the router so far)

Unbridgeable is the word

For the gap between UPC and their customers?:)

jetpack101

Just an update to my previous post

As I said before, I got all 3 xbox to connect with open NAT. I figured this was great until I tried to find a game.

I can't find a single game in any lobby. If I leave it, it will eventually find a game after about 10 minutes or so.

I then discovered that while all 3 xbox are on the PC's won't connect to the internet.

After a bit of digging I think the problem could be to do with the fact I am using 2 routers, EPC2425 and WRT120N.

I have said this to UPC but they keep telling me the EPC2425 is set up as a Modem and not a router. I'm not buying that at all. I think it has a modem in it but its a router at hart. So its always going to want to do something like a router.

gurramok

Thats what i found jetpack101. Its an all-in-one job of router & cable modem & phone. It just has a habit of not letting another router take over its router functionality so I doubt you're Cisco is actually in bridge mode.

jetpack101

So is the only solution to remove the Cisco EPC2425 and get a standard cable modem. Would this fix things.

NTL are reluctant to swap it out. Don't know why.

gurramok

Yes it should be. Well, you have to be insistent to get your old modem back as the present router is unsuitable.
It will take a few phone calls being on hold for at least 30min but you have to be persistent to get the right result. (i'm in same boat)

Jonathan

This POS is driving me mad.

The wireless dropouts are bad enough, but then every once in a while, the wireless turns fully off, and the router admin becomes inaccessible at 192.168.1.1 on LAN.
Solution? Power cycle the router.

Not ideal when someone else is using the phone. :mad:


The installers are taking their time getting back to me as well.

MickeyD

The wifi on the router is dodgy alright, i've noticed some clients not even being able to connect. If you have a spare wireless router / AP you can stick this in to the cisco via ethernet and connect to that one instead.

Currently I'm connecting to the cisco via a wrt54g acting as an wireless ethernet bridge as I don't have a wireless pc card and it's pretty solid. Turning off the firewall improved the performance loads.

gurramok

In Wireless Bridging, it says 'This page allows configuration of WDS features'

Then there is something called Remote Bridges

What setting do you put in here? I've tried IP and MAC addresses but anytime after I click apply it doesn't remember them.

Anytime, I ask UPC about this they do not know what numbers to put in.

Jonathan

Technician called out today and I kindly asked him to swap out the EPC2425 for a Scientific Atlanta, which he did.

All is well again.

Captain Halibut

Don't know how long my Cisco device is going to survive the continuous
power-cycling - at least 4 times every day. 6 times today. [Disregard my last
status update on the previous page - it only stayed up for 3/4 days before falling
over at random times. All connections over wifi btw. Haven't tried ethernet
connections yet]. I've had a ticket in for over 2 weeks now.

Jonathan

Just to add that I haven't had an ounce of trouble since I got the Scientific Atlanta last Saturday. The connection is fast and reliable, and there seems to be no bandwidth issues in my area at any time.

I have it paired with a Linksys 54G running DD-WRT and I cannot recommend it highly enough. SSH tunneling is far handier, and far more secure than having to log into the router to set up temporary port forwarding when I need to access internal hosts from WAN.

Captain Halibut

^ Jonathan ya big boaster ;-).

Just one small piece of (dodgy) evidence. On two occasions recently
- when the computer was trying to reacquire the address - the phone
rang, and it re-acquired immediately. (3in1 service).

I'll move one PC over to ethernet tomorrow, and give it another week
before giving out yards.

P.S. I'm rubbish at networks, but when I saw the single antenna on the
EPC2425, I did get a bit anxious.

P.S. P.S. Seems the XP WiFi manager is better at handling the connection
than the Belkin.
Early days of course.

Captain Halibut

This modem doesn't seem to like/retain OpenDNS settings -
is this just me or another 'feature' of the Cisco?

gurramok

Captain Halibut wrote: »

This modem doesn't seem to like/retain OpenDNS settings -
is this just me or another 'feature' of the Cisco?

Same here. It won't retain OpenDNS settings for example.