Engineer visit

[Karen]

Hi

Long story but I have had horrendous drop outs with my broadband connection and after 2 conversations with Sky Customer services it has resulted in an engineer booked for Saturday afternoon.

If it turns out to be a router problem will the engineer supply/provide/change the existing one or will I have to start ringing Sky again?

All answers gratefully received.

Karen

[Scubbie]

It would help us to know which router you have and also which firmware in installed on it currently please.

[Karen]

It's a Netgear router but I don't know about which firmware is installed - and I wouldn't know how to check - even if I was at home. Sorry for being a ludite! If it helps, I have had the router for 5-6 year ish!

[Scubbie]

Don't panic.

Sky have only ever had two Netgear routers to date. The first was the white Netgear DG834GT. The 2nd is the grey router with pimples like a golf ball. This is the DG934G.

If you log into the router by typing the router's IP Address into your browser (i.e. 192.168.0.1), sign in and click the 'Maintenance' tab, you should get the router's firmware information.

There is an issue with another model (Sagem 2504N) which had a recent firmware update. This is a different issue to what you have.

If you have the DG834GT, it is likely that if no fault can be found, that the router is failing and will need to be replaced. If you can get a replacement FOC do try. The Sky Hub SR101 is Sky's latest router, but they will try and charge you £69 for it. Try to wrangle one for free if you can.

[Karen]

From your description I have the Netgear DG834GT router - and I suspect that after all these years it will be failing. I take it that if the engineer finds no fault that I will need to contact Sky for a replacement? I will indeed be attempting to get one FOC - as this is the first time I have had any issues with Sky and have been a customer since the first year of broadcasting!

If I do need a replacement router how long will it take AND is it easy to setup/change? I have a wireless printer would I also need to uninstall and reinstall that too?

Sorry for the questions but I am absolutely a hopeless case when it comes to technology.

Thanks for all your help

[Scubbie]

No problems with the questions, after all that is what the forum is for.

One thing which has occurred to me is that you may wish to contact Gigabit as he started a thread today and is giving away a Sagem 2504N for a small sum. This is a good model and not too old.

A replacement router will normally be sent via Parcel Post and take around 3 to 5 days to deliver.

Setting one up is relatively easy. Sky routers just need plugging in and connecting to the ADSL port in your microfilter in order to work.

Provided that you haven't made any alterations to your old router, then the settings are easy to change. Essentially your printer will need to told to connect to the new router and nothing else should need to be changed, provided that you haven't changed the IP Address to something other than 192.168.0.??. All Sky routers use the default IP Address range of 192.168.0.nnn. The WiFi connection details do differ between them all though.

Also the actual security details will have changed too. Check that your printer has the latest firmware installed. If it is an old printer it may not work on WPA2 which is the current standard. The Netgear DG834GT didn't support WPA2 at first. It may be set to WEP, WPA or WPA2, depending on the firmware version it has.

If you don't know what the IP Address of your router is, please take a look at the instructions 5 or 6 in the guide in the link below:

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/askin...-together.html

It tells you how to run IPConfig and gain this information.

As for updating your printer, please check the manufacturer's website and see if there are any updates available there.

Any other WiFi devices will also need to be checked too. Essentially Win XP and Win Vista computers with all the current updates should be fine. Win 7 or later I believe all support the current WPA2 standards from new.

The actual WiFi details will be printed on a card supplied with the router and also printed on the underside (Sagem 2504N) or rear panel (Sky Hub SR101).

Essentially, don't panic. Just check that you have the latest updates installed.

[Karen]

Hi Scubbie

I am using Win 7 and the printer is fairly new and had updates in the last couple of weeks. I certainly haven't made any alterations to the router and am sure the IP address is as you stated. So, based on the instructions/guidelines you have supplied I should be OK - famous last words.

Will see what the engineer finds on Saturday and take it from there.

Thanks very much for the help and support - hopefully you won't hear any more from me - for a while at least!!!

Karen

[Scubbie]

All should be fine based on what you have said there.

Apologies for the longer reply before, but I know that there have been some issues with some devices in the past. The majority of the time everything is fine.