Problem with Zyxel Router or connection (Eircom)

Scruff · 07-06-2011 2:20pm

been having cronic problems with my older Zyxel 660HW-61 lately. As soon as more people go online on the evenings and weekends my router basically gives up and cant sync at all. Max SNR i've seen is when its connected is 6db.
Have just got a loan of another router to double check my line but its a Zyxel as well. Slightly newer but so not holding out much hope

Scruff · 07-06-2011 9:17pm

borrowed eircom zyxel 660dw-t1-v3 router seems better so far...at least i can connect to the internet now.

i've tried updating to the latest fimware for it but it wont accept it...
http://www.zyxel.com/web/support_download_list.php?indexflag=20040906164737&ModelIndexflags=0,420041221102511,420041221102520,420050117110858,420050117110916,420050117110934,420050831093216,420050831095441,420060420160946,420060420161739,420060816160116,420080815092146,420090427144843#

IvySlayer · 25-06-2011 11:24pm

Got a new router in the post from zyxel. Was excited

I replaced it with my Netopia one..big mistake. Constant connection interruptions. Switched back my old Netopia, no problems.

P38Man · 08-07-2011 3:12pm

My ancient Netopia router bit the dust and Eircom sent me a Zyxel P-66oHW-T1 v3. Managed to connect to the internet with my devices - desktop PC, MacBookPro; iPOD, iPhone, etc. But then noticed that I can no longer use my Apple TV as it can't see my iTunes libraries on either the PC or the Mac; I can no longer access shared folders on either the PC or the Mac; and I can no longer print wirelessly to my printer from either the PC or the Mac. I cannot even see the other devices on the network!

My initial thought was that I had somehow screwed up the network in the house but I made no changes to anything other than replacing the broken modem with the Zyxel.

Eircom broadband support were as expected: not concerned coz I could access the internet. They suggested I call someone who knows IT and could help me, or talk to someone in a computer shop, or just buy another modem!

Has anyone else had this problem with internal network communications / visibility. It must be down to some settings on the Zyxel but while not a noob when it comes to PCs I cannot figure out the complex settings on the modem.

Help!

thefinalstage · 08-07-2011 3:51pm

P38Man wrote: »

My ancient Netopia router bit the dust and Eircom sent me a Zyxel P-66oHW-T1 v3. Managed to connect to the internet with my devices - desktop PC, MacBookPro; iPOD, iPhone, etc. But then noticed that I can no longer use my Apple TV as it can't see my iTunes libraries on either the PC or the Mac; I can no longer access shared folders on either the PC or the Mac; and I can no longer print wirelessly to my printer from either the PC or the Mac. I cannot even see the other devices on the network!

My initial thought was that I had somehow screwed up the network in the house but I made no changes to anything other than replacing the broken modem with the Zyxel.

Eircom broadband support were as expected: not concerned coz I could access the internet. They suggested I call someone who knows IT and could help me, or talk to someone in a computer shop, or just buy another modem!

Has anyone else had this problem with internal network communications / visibility. It must be down to some settings on the Zyxel but while not a noob when it comes to PCs I cannot figure out the complex settings on the modem.

Help!

There is a patch floating around for just that issue.

P38Man · 08-07-2011 4:54pm

Any idea where the patch might be located?

cork_south · 08-07-2011 5:38pm

P38Man wrote: »

My ancient Netopia router bit the dust and Eircom sent me a Zyxel P-66oHW-T1 v3. Managed to connect to the internet with my devices - desktop PC, MacBookPro; iPOD, iPhone, etc. But then noticed that I can no longer use my Apple TV as it can't see my iTunes libraries on either the PC or the Mac; I can no longer access shared folders on either the PC or the Mac; and I can no longer print wirelessly to my printer from either the PC or the Mac. I cannot even see the other devices on the network!

My initial thought was that I had somehow screwed up the network in the house but I made no changes to anything other than replacing the broken modem with the Zyxel.

Eircom broadband support were as expected: not concerned coz I could access the internet. They suggested I call someone who knows IT and could help me, or talk to someone in a computer shop, or just buy another modem!

Has anyone else had this problem with internal network communications / visibility. It must be down to some settings on the Zyxel but while not a noob when it comes to PCs I cannot figure out the complex settings on the modem.

Help!

Do yourself a favour and buy a netopia off eBay as soon as possible.
Trust me, I went thru 2 zyxels and 6 months of connection drops before I paid 12 yoyos for a 2nd hand netopia on eBay. Havnt looked back since.

P38Man · 09-07-2011 11:03pm

I found a solution - bought myself an Apple Express, disabled wiFi on the Zyxel, connected the Apple Express to the Zyxel & used the Apple Express for the wireless network. All working fine now.

Moral of the story is do not take a Zyxel modem from eircom if you have more than one device on your home network and you need to communicate with them.

Gerb68 · 10-07-2011 12:53am

The Zyxel P-66oHW-T1 v3. Eircoms answer to Sinclair C5 and the Electronic voting machine.

This can be used to test your line speeds:
ADSL and ADSL2+ Line Capability Estimator - http://www2.farina1.com/adsl/

Can anyone tell me any info about these stats:

Speed: 10240 kbps /670 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 38 dB /19 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 6 dB /17 dB

Is my SNR margin 11 dB?

Thanx for any reply.

Wolvie · 25-07-2011 3:55pm

Hi, I just recieved my Zyxel P-66oHW-T1 v3 last thursday and have been getting intermittent dsl reset during use altho my speed seems to be good
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/468185/168349.png
after contacting eircom and feeling like a ball in a pinball machine with all the department switching it seems my NGB 24mb line can now only handle 4mb speeds that as yet they are unaware of should i just try a diffrent router?

deelite · 18-09-2011 4:26pm

Don't know whether this is the right forum to be posting this but any help at all would be appreciated. I have wireless in my house (xbox and laptops are all working working great). My computer upstairs has a built in modem so we were advised by Eircom to get the Zyxel adapter which has been installed. I still can't get connected to the internet. I've been on the phone to eircom (nearly an hour) and they think there might be a problem with the actual adapter. Any ideas? Thanx in advance.

PC upstairs does have a built in modem!!!!

dub45 · 18-09-2011 4:42pm

deelite wrote: »

Don't know whether this is the right forum to be posting this but any help at all would be appreciated. I have wireless in my house (xbox and laptops are all working working great). My computer upstairs doesn't have a built in modem so we were advised by Eircom to get the Zyxel adapter which has been installed. I still can't get connected to the internet. I've been on the phone to eircom (nearly an hour) and they think there might be a problem with the actual adapter. Any ideas? Thanx in advance.

Is the pc picking up the wireless network at all?

deelite · 19-09-2011 6:55am

dub45 wrote: »

Is the pc picking up the wireless network at all?

Yes it is (I posted I didn't have a built in modem ooops). I get to wireless network and it shows 2 or 3 of them - my one is there and it has "full bars" so I double click on it and it says put in your network key (I put in the WPA one) - then it goes back to ask me to chose a network and put in the WPA key all over again.

confuseddotcom · 19-09-2011 12:09pm

Haven't posted around these parts in a while, fortunately no need to at the moment; - still get time-outs but on an irregular basis thankfully and they are manageable, so I won't complain.

Just one thing to crib about lol, if this particular Thread (I stand corrected if I'm wrong!) But if this particular Thread was pretty much designated to situations and circumstances where time-outs and re-connections occur, can we not keep it to that. And open up another Thread for box installation help etc. or hardware type things. (I reckon it'll get flooded with replies looking for installation help and kind of get lost/forgotten/hidden in the pile, and whilst these annoying Time-outs may be random/rare occurrences for some, it's nice to have the Thread to look back on for help/ideas for what to do, but may be hard to find if it gets mixed up with other things.)

craze7 · 20-09-2011 5:05pm

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I'm with Eircom broadband and for more than a year now my internet has been temperamental meaning it keeps disconnecting every 10 minutes. I talked to Eircom about it and they sent a guy out but he didn't even do anything, well as far as I know! They said it might be a switch board problem or something but that was about 3 months ago and the problem is still the same. Its almost impossible to finish a game of Call Of Duty on line anymore.

Anyway i recently started reading some stuff on here about noise and crc errors and such but I have no clue what the mean but I turned my router (Netopia 3347NWG) on this morning at 12 o clock and here are the DSL stats:

Line State Up
Modulation DMT
Data Path Interleave

Downstream Upstream
Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 6144 512
SN Margin (dB) 16.00 11.50
Line Attenuation (dB) 26.00 14.00
CRC Errors 17016 616

That's alot of errors!

Does anybody know what could be causing this?

trev44 · 22-09-2011 9:16am

craze7 wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I'm with Eircom broadband and for more than a year now my internet has been temperamental meaning it keeps disconnecting every 10 minutes. I talked to Eircom about it and they sent a guy out but he didn't even do anything, well as far as I know! They said it might be a switch board problem or something but that was about 3 months ago and the problem is still the same. Its almost impossible to finish a game of Call Of Duty on line anymore.

Anyway i recently started reading some stuff on here about noise and crc errors and such but I have no clue what the mean but I turned my router (Netopia 3347NWG) on this morning at 12 o clock and here are the DSL stats:

Line State Up
Modulation DMT
Data Path Interleave

Downstream Upstream
Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 6144 512
SN Margin (dB) 16.00 11.50
Line Attenuation (dB) 26.00 14.00
CRC Errors 17016 616

That's alot of errors!

Does anybody know what could be causing this?

very likely its the crappy zyxel modem. get an old one from adverts.ie or ebay for 20/30 and most problems are solved.

dub45 · 22-09-2011 10:11am

deelite wrote: »

Yes it is (I posted I didn't have a built in modem ooops). I get to wireless network and it shows 2 or 3 of them - my one is there and it has "full bars" so I double click on it and it says put in your network key (I put in the WPA one) - then it goes back to ask me to chose a network and put in the WPA key all over again.

Try turning off the security (temporarily) and see if you can access the network.

trev44 · 22-09-2011 4:50pm

Eircom called today to ask how i was finding their service... i referred her to this thread..

metalgear2k2 · 05-10-2011 2:27pm

I just changed up to 24mb broadband with Eircom and they said they are sending out a new modem for the higher speed broadband, ( I was on 7mb, and they sent the pice of sh1t Zyxel modem which I changed for a motorola unit and that has been working perfect since)

I was wondering what kind of modem is it that they are sending out, has anyone got one, have they had any issues etc?

thefinalstage · 05-10-2011 5:49pm

metalgear2k2 wrote: »

I just changed up to 24mb broadband with Eircom and they said they are sending out a new modem for the higher speed broadband, ( I was on 7mb, and they sent the pice of sh1t Zyxel modem which I changed for a motorola unit and that has been working perfect since)

I was wondering what kind of modem is it that they are sending out, has anyone got one, have they had any issues etc?

They send the Zyxel out. That's the standard.

metalgear2k2 · 06-10-2011 11:12am

poisonedstream wrote: »

They send the Zyxel out. That's the standard.

Why would they send out the same one again when I already have that one from the 7mb pack I had.

thefinalstage · 07-10-2011 7:10pm

metalgear2k2 wrote: »

Why would they send out the same one again when I already have that one from the 7mb pack I had.

No idea. They may have their records confused.

The Ayatolla · 14-10-2011 12:09pm

I've change encryption to WEP hopefully it works now. So far so good.

patcampbell · 27-10-2011 8:19pm

dub45 wrote: »

With those stats you shouldnt have a problem. Have you tried just having the modem connected everything else unplugged? Have you tried another filter?

Whats your internal wiring like?

I have come across several Zyxel routers on my travels.
(1) They will not allow Bonjour ( ie apple tv to stream over network from hard drive or streaming airplay).

(2) They have an uncanny knack of losing sync irrespective of DNS settings
(3) I have started moving clients over to UPC on the basis that their support line is open and answered when I call Eircom close at 7.00pm.
(4) Out of curiousity I would like to know post codes for all others with sync issues. In last 2 weeks I have 5 service calls for routers dropping 1 of which is ongoing and intermittent. The wiring is fine same wiring that has been there for three years. The filter has been replaced and removed. There was a netgear router on the line but it dropped also, changed it out onto a spare DSL line I ordered 1 year ago just in case and all worked for last 9 days and bingo it dropped sync today.
These calls are all in the D4 stretch. One ongoing 9 months resolved tuesday by going to UPC. Newgrove Avenue commissioned 5 weeks ago dropped Tuesday week Eircom acknowledged issue and resolved but I am keeping an eye. Pembroke Ave. sync dropped ( netgear router not zyxel).
Wellington Road sync dropped client asked to be moved to UPC.
If there is someone within Eircom reading/monitoring this I am keen to keep the accounts with Eircom but I need someone I can deal with in there who will acknowledge issue and assist in resolving. The clients response is move service provider and this is a dangerous void to create and with a view to Eircom trying to pull fibre to home in next year who will benefit the clients are voting with their feet.
As stated this is just the last 2 weeks and I am tired of sending someone to these clients to reset power on their routers, how do I in good faith bill for that knowing the same call will arise within ten days( shrewsbury road 3 call outs to reset router). If some one from Eircom interested in dealing with someone on the receiving end I would love to hear from you either on the board or off the board.
Regards
PC

lucernarian · 28-10-2011 10:26am

Sync and DNS issues have *nothing* do do with each other. It's mainly a function of line quality and to a slight degree the quality of the DSL chipset etc in the modem.

Mc Love · 05-12-2011 1:26am

Used to work for Perlico (contractor) and the zyxel routers were the biggest POS i have ever come across.

I have a netopia 3347nwg since I first got bb and I have never had any problem with it.

billgates · 05-12-2011 1:37am

It'll be a Zyxel, get your own router, dont even bother plugging that thing in, believe me, save yourself a lot of hassle! You'll be lucky to get anything more than 10meg downstream on those pieces of junk if your on 24 meg, believe me I've seen it first hand. Was getting 10 meg max on my connection with just 2dB downstrem attenuation on my line with Zyxel router, and connection dropping several times daily. Even Eircom tech support guy I spoke to said they were a complete pos!

Switched to Cisco router and getting full 24meg now consistently, connection is rock solid.

metalgear2k2 wrote: »

I just changed up to 24mb broadband with Eircom and they said they are sending out a new modem for the higher speed broadband, ( I was on 7mb, and they sent the pice of sh1t Zyxel modem which I changed for a motorola unit and that has been working perfect since)

I was wondering what kind of modem is it that they are sending out, has anyone got one, have they had any issues etc?

Gerb68 · 05-12-2011 2:17am

Mc Love wrote: »

Used to work for Perlico (contractor) and the zyxel routers were the biggest POS i have ever come across.

I have a netopia 3347nwg since I first got bb and I have never had any problem with it.

The 3347nwg does not support Adsl2 though. Or is there a firmware updatethat I'm unaware of?

vodkatime · 06-12-2011 12:22am

Ive had eircom bb for about 2 months now and the connection keeps dropping. lately its gotten worse. Ive had about 6 drops today alone. Its so annoying having to go and plug in and out the modem. Anyone have any ideas.. I think i have an old eircom modem lying around which i might hook up tomorrow and try it but not looking forwad to setting up all my ports again... what a pain.

jay93 · 06-12-2011 2:18am

Gerb68 wrote: »

The 3347nwg does not support Adsl2 though. Or is there a firmware updatethat I'm unaware of?

Don't think the 3347nwg supports ADSL2 at all no firmware updates that i'm aware of.
As far as i know the Netopia 2247 (silver one's) support ADSL2 and are by far the most reliable router that i've ever had off Eircom also other people using the 2247 always had a great experiance with it these ZYXEL modems really shouldn't be supplied by Eircom to it's customers anymore it's giving them a really bad name worse than it already is.!

Gerb68 · 06-12-2011 10:24am

The 2247 does support ADSL2. I'm using it now as I've parked the 3347nwg and that disaster of a router, the Zyxel.

yomamasflavour · 08-12-2011 9:39pm

Upgraded last week, got the zyxel. Figured it couldn't be as bad as people make them out to be.

Nope they are complete crap, ridiculous number of dropouts.

Only problem now is that there's nowhere in Galway that sells decent modem/routers.
So as well as having to shell out for a router, I've a week or two of dodgy internet. Yay!

threein99 · 09-12-2011 12:02am

yomamasflavour wrote: »

Upgraded last week, got the zyxel. Figured it couldn't be as bad as people make them out to be.

Nope they are complete crap, ridiculous number of dropouts.

Only problem now is that there's nowhere in Galway that sells decent modem/routers.
So as well as having to shell out for a router, I've a week or two of dodgy internet. Yay!

I got one of the old silver eircom modems for 9 euro on adverts.ie , works perfectly and no drop outs

dub45 · 09-12-2011 3:57pm

vodkatime wrote: »

Ive had eircom bb for about 2 months now and the connection keeps dropping. lately its gotten worse. Ive had about 6 drops today alone. Its so annoying having to go and plug in and out the modem. Anyone have any ideas.. I think i have an old eircom modem lying around which i might hook up tomorrow and try it but not looking forwad to setting up all my ports again... what a pain.

Apart from the possibilities of problems with the router itself dropouts are often caused by a poor line and low snr.

Have you checked your line stats?

If you are on wireless have you tried changing channels?

The Ayatolla · 16-01-2012 2:11pm

Fed up of this useless thing. Can anyone recommend a good router, not too pricey?

Something basic enough, with Wifi obviously and at least 4 ethernet ports.

I'm on 24MB with eircom.

poxon · 17-02-2012 9:40pm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TD-W8960N-300MBPS-Wireless-connections/dp/B0031SUB4S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329510636&sr=8-2
or
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR1043ND-Ultimate-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B002YETVTQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1329510636&sr=8-4

poxon · 17-02-2012 9:40pm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TD-W8960N-300MBPS-Wireless-connections/dp/B0031SUB4S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329510636&sr=8-2
or
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR1043ND-Ultimate-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B002YETVTQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1329510636&sr=8-4

leptonite · 21-02-2012 3:03pm

Here is the link for eircoms Zyxel P-660HW-T1 v3 router firmware BOE.4 23 Aug 2010
http://broadbandsupport.eircom.net/download/zyxel/

trev44 · 22-02-2012 9:35am

Can anyone recommend a good way to set this router as a repeater?

Have a few lying round and as im never going to use them as routers i thought i might put them to good use.

meenmore · 23-02-2012 8:04pm

Is there a general consensus as to what the best Zyxel replacement router is? That is, with the same features (e.g. good Wi-Fi signal).

Thanks in advance.

ainiseoir · 25-02-2012 12:49am

I run a mac.
I did much the same thing with a Netopia, wireless off, use just as a modem, Airport Extreme (in a Time Capsule) the router, worked perfectly.
I'm being upgraded with NGB, netopia no longer fit for purpose they say, and I am being sent one of there Zyxels!! Why am I not thrilled?
I note what you have done and feel happier about things, I think. Thank you.

ainiseoir · 25-02-2012 1:03am

I've been wading through 20 pages of horror stories about this modem/router.
I am due to get one shortly, upgrade.
I can't say I'm looking forward to it.
No setup instructions for Mac included, I understand, not that people on Windows seem to have fared too well.
Moderators seem to be avoiding this topic.

lucernarian · 25-02-2012 10:58am

The netopia will work fine with NGB if it's working fine already. Don't mind eircom.

ainiseoir · 25-02-2012 12:08pm

I always thought that a modem was a modem was a modem!
It would appear that when the great migration day for NGB comes I could get a speed of 12 to 15 Mb, mouth watering, at least in theory.
They say my Netopia won't handle that.
At the minute I'm just using my Netopia as a modem for an Apple Extreme router and I was hoping to do the same with the Zyxel if i can get into its config and switch off wireless.
Interesting times ahead, luckily for me, it's mainly a hobby. I wouldn't like to be one of those poor sods whose "broadband" is essential.
Thanks for the reassurance

MichealKenny · 25-02-2012 12:43pm

It seems like I'm the minority here, but I am going to vouch for this router, it has an insane amount of features (wds, ddns, telnet, etc) that even some top end routers don't have, the router itself never gave me problems and worked a charm the 2 years I used it. Zyxel is a great company that does something a lot of hardware companies can't, they produce extremely good firmware for their products. Even though I have moved on to a new router, this one is the one I always recommend to people who are on a budget, and I might even come back to Zyxel in the future.

lucernarian · 25-02-2012 12:50pm

MichealKenny wrote: »

It seems like I'm the minority here, but I am going to vouch for this router, it has an insane amount of features (wds, ddns, telnet, etc) that even some top end routers don't have, the router itself never gave me problems and worked a charm the 2 years I used it. Zyxel is a great company that does something a lot of hardware companies can't, they produce extremely good firmware for their products. Even though I have moved on to a new router, this one is the one I always recommend to people who are on a budget, and I might even come back to Zyxel in the future.

What makes you say it uses better firmware than anyone else? Only with the current Zyxel have I had to turn off and turn back on my computer's wifi connection every hour as the reauthentication step every 60 minutes didn't work properly. And this happened with multiple wifi cards and computers used with the Zyxel. More recent firmware released may have solved this issue however.

There are also stability problems with higher levels of connections from my own observations, and the NAT only allows a max of 4096 connections. The features listed above are common on almost all other routers I've used too, even the WRT54G from back in 2007.

I would give it praise for its layout and features etc but for how unstable aspects of it are. The netopia maintains a rock solid connection whenever I use it.

ainiseoir · 25-02-2012 12:55pm

MichealKenny wrote: »

It seems like I'm the minority here, but I am going to vouch for this router, it has an insane amount of features (wds, ddns, telnet, etc) that even some top end routers don't have, the router itself never gave me problems and worked a charm the 2 years I used it. Zyxel is a great company that does something a lot of hardware companies can't, they produce extremely good firmware for their products. Even though I have moved on to a new router, this one is the one I always recommend to people who are on a budget, and I might even come back to Zyxel in the future.

I wonder if "the insane amount of features" is part of the problem, especially for the average client like me who expects that when a thing is hooked up and plugged in, it'll work, leaving the tweaking for the nerds to do later?
Glad to hear a positive vibe at last!

cork_south · 25-02-2012 1:04pm

I bought a netopia about a year go on ebay as the zxyel (my 2nd) was unusable, but it broke last week so I had to get down my zxyel back down from the attic.

I noticed there was new firware so I updated and since doing that my windows 7 machine and my wifes Galaxy S both have no problems.

However my iphone 3gs has constant timeouts and the wireless symbol disappears for about 10 seconds every couple of minutes.
From reading this thread it seems there are compatability issues between the zxyel and Apple products.

When the wireless drops on the iphone, a popup is displayed that you must accept, its fairly annoying but to get around this i installed pop up blocker from Cydia.

MichealKenny · 25-02-2012 1:07pm

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

What makes you say it uses better firmware than anyone else? Only with the current Zyxel have I had to turn off and turn back on my computer's wifi connection every hour as the reauthentication step every 60 minutes didn't work properly. And this happened with multiple wifi cards and computers used with the Zyxel. More recent firmware released may have solved this issue however.

There are also stability problems with higher levels of connections from my own observations, and the NAT only allows a max of 4096 connections. The features listed above are common on almost all other routers I've used too, even the WRT54G from back in 2007.

I would give it praise for its layout and features etc but for how unstable aspects of it are. The netopia maintains a rock solid connection whenever I use it.

-I have experience with dlink and linksys routers, both of which lacked wds and telnet, I will say the linksys has great port forwarding though, but features wise, i still prefer the zyxel.

-I was using ethernet most of the time with the zyxel, but i had never seen a problem with wireless on the laptop or ipod.

-nat is limited, i will give you that, but personally, it worked a lot better than the netopia nat which is just an absolute mess if you ask me.

-the wrt only gains those features (apart from ddns) if you hack it with ddwrt if i recall correctly.

-3 of my friends use the netopia, they do nothing but complain about it and when they ask me to setup nat for their games consoles, I get extremely frustrated with it, i just wish i could get rid of that stupid, out-of-date list of games it has.

ainiseoir wrote: »

I wonder if "the insane amount of features" is part of the problem, especially for the average client like me who expects that when a thing is hooked up and plugged in, it'll work, leaving the tweaking for the nerds to do later?
Glad to hear a positive vibe at last!

for those that just use the router for wireless browsing of the web, i'm sure the netopia is a better option, even though i find the range on the zyxel is better.

lucernarian · 25-02-2012 1:28pm

You're pretty much right on those points in fairness, that's your experience with the features you wanted. The WRT54G didn't have WDS without installing ddwrt, assuming you had a version of WRT54G that supported its installation.

Regarding the NAT, while it's difficult to set up some port forwarding etc with the netopia (I remember the problems various people had with the likes of Call of Duty and NAT types) but I never experienced the Netopia crashing from heavier usage, like from torrenting or running/hosting online games, once it was set up properly.

Unfortunately the wifi issue definitely exists and the number of posts by other people on the eircom forum about this would show it's a widespread issue and more a case of whether customers put up with it or not, or perhaps firmware version.

In comparative tests between the netopia and Zyxel, I found the netopia's range to be about 30% better than the Zyxel in an urban street-level house and surroundings. I haven't had a chance to test it in the countryside which wouldn't have so many fluctuating sources of interference. Btw the range of the WRT54G i had, the version 7 one, was extremely poor. I estimate transmit power was down 10dB on the Netopia and I probably should have brought it back for a refund in hindsight. Probably most other linksys stuff would work better than that.

If someone wants reliable Wifi operation without detailed modifiability or can get away with awkward port forward settings for torrents while enjoying more reliable performance, I would still go with the netopia 2247 (and with latest firmware for ADSL2 operation)

Problem with Zyxel Router or connection (Eircom)

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