In the context of this article I’m referring to consumer grade home internet routers, as in the type that typically have one WAN or "Internet" port and four LAN ports.

It’s quite difficult to pin down what specifically causes a router to fail. For example, if you have a dead router, hand it to an electrical engineer and asked him or her…

"Can you tell me what caused this thing to die on me?"

…the engineer would not say, "It was x that killed it."

Instead, testing would have to be done to determine the cause, and it would take a while. Maybe it was crappy firmware. Or an electrical short. Or it suffered from some heavy EMI. Or it was tiny bits of condensation. Or it was something as simple as a bad power adapter. Or something else entirely. There are any number of ways to kill a router.

It’s more important to rule out false positives and know how to recognize warning signs, if any, that a router is about to fail.

Ruling out false positives

False positive for a router failure: Google Maps

I know of one real-world example that can be replicated easily, making it appear like your router is having a problem when it in fact isn’t.

Using the web site Google Maps on the Windows operating system with any web browser, if you load up a map then quickly pan the map in combination with some fast zoom in/outs, this will make too many network requests and cause your internet connection to "freeze" for up to 90 seconds.

Google Maps works in such a way where it contacts several different servers at once when panning/zooming around the map, and using it too quickly will time out the connection temporarily in Windows.

You may say, "But my router can handle a ton of connections. What gives?"

Since Windows XP Service Pack 2 up to present with Vista and Windows 7, the Windows OS is purposely engineered to limit network requests whereas previously it wasn’t.

End result: Not a router problem. It’s Windows doing it – by design.

I have only been able to replicate this issue using the Google Maps web site. Google Earth doesn’t have this problem and neither does Yahoo! Maps, Windows Live Maps, MapQuest or any other mapping site. Or any other web site for that matter.

To rule out my own router as the problem, I tested this on another ISP using a router made by another manufacturer. Same result. Time-outs with Google Maps – but only on Google Maps when using it heavily as noted above.

False positive for a router failure: Bad network cable

A new router obviously won’t cure a bad network cable. If troubleshooting a router, always replace the network cable first, both to the PC and to the cablemodem.

Ruling out a bad port

It is not outside the realm of possibility that the port on the router that connects the network cable to your PC’s network card is bad. If you’re plugged into port 1, try port 4.

Why 4 and not 2?

Because it’s the furthest away from the port which may be causing the problem.

To note: Having a bad port is an unlikely situation, but as said above it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Are there warning signs when your router will fail?

In most instances there are no warning signs when a router is about to stop working. You’ll be using the internet normally and then *poof*, dead connection. Modem lights look fine but router lights are either all on, all off or blinking in a "weird" way.

More expensive routers will give at least a little bit of warning (usually 4 to 7 days) before failing altogether, seen in the form of random disconnects. One reason this this may occur is because the crash recovery isn’t working properly any longer, causing the connection(s) to drop at random intervals. And that’s all the warning you need to know that yes, the router will stop working soon.

What can you do to extend router life?

It’s easy to extend the life of your router if you follow these simple steps:

1. Keep it off the floor

Some people simply run out of desk space and "demote" the router to the floor. Bad idea, because that’s where all the dirt is. And even though your router most likely has no fans, that doesn’t mean dirt cannot get into it and end the router’s life early.

2. Avoid cable stress

Network cables that are pulling on their ports is just bad news. If you’ve got a network cable that’s just slightly too short and has tension on the port it’s connected to, do yourself a favor and just buy a longer network cable.

3. Keep it away from the PC

Common occurrence: Seeing a router sitting directly on top of the PC. It shouldn’t be there. The PC is vibrating, even if only slightly. Those vibrations can lead to early router failure later.

Not all PC cases vibrate, but many do – especially when the optical drive is in use.

4. Never shut it off unless you absolutely have to.

I have heard the story more than once where someone shuts a router off, turns it back on, and it dies.

Unless troubleshooting a network connection, there’s really no reason to ever shut a router off.

5. Don’t upgrade the firmware unless it’s required.

Router firmware updates are like BIOS updates in the respect that you should never apply the upgrade unless there’s something specific in it that fixes a legitimate problem. If there is no problem to be fixed, don’t do it.

Read the release notes for router firmware updates first and always.

If from the release notes you learn the update patches a security hole or two, then yes, you should apply it immediately.

If on the other hand you discover the update doesn’t fix any security holes (which most likely means that none exist), add any features you need or the like, don’t do it.

Have you ever had a router die on you? If so, were you given any warning?

Post a comment or two and let us know. Remember to list your router make and model.

Usually when one has a network connectivity issue, the first reaction is to blame the router. When the router checks out, the next blame is pinned on the internet modem. After that, the blame is pinned on the network card itself.

Wrong.

You should have checked the network cable first. And if that checks out, then you check the other stuff.

Years ago a LAN Administrator told me, "99% of all LAN problems start with cabling." And he was correct. This is advice I still follow to this day.

What makes a network cable fail in the home?

This is divided into two sections: Stuff that is your fault and stuff that is not.

Network cable problems that are not your fault:

Poor build quality

The cable is thin, the shielding is subpar, the connectors aren’t crimped correctly. Not your fault.

Coiled improperly or not at all

The best cable makes a perfect coil (more on that in a moment). And there is no over-the-counter consumer grade network cable you can buy that coils perfectly. What you receive instead is an improperly "figure 8" or oval-wrapped (and twist-tied) cable – and it sucks. This is because those methods of packaging break shielding and damages the cable on the inside  before you even get it. Again, not your fault.

Network cable problems that are your fault:

Stretched

Any tension on a network cable is bad, period.

Pets

When kitty decides to make your cable a teeth-sharpener, that’s obviously not good.

Tension at the connector

Again, tension is bad. If your cable is pulled at its connector on either side, this isn’t good.

Too hot

Is your network cable next to a window an exposed to the sun during the day? If it is, move it.

Who makes the best network cable?

Two types of people make the best cable.

1. A network installer.

At a company where I previously worked, if you wanted some network cable, the guy (who happened to be a Nortel tech) would go to the truck, pull the cable off a spool and crimp it personally.

2. You.

Making your own network cable is relatively easy. You need a pro-grade crimper and decent cable stock. The stock I’m referring to only comes in a box and you have to buy at least 500 feet (roughly 150 meters) of it. Examples and prices of this are here, starting with most expensive.

Boxed network cable comes in a spool. When packaged this way it perfectly coils like it’s supposed to and therefore lasts longer.

What’s the big deal about coiling?

As a test, from a standing position you should be able to use one hand, feed cable to the floor and make a circle (the coil) easily. If the cable does this, it’s good. If not, it’s junk.

A network cable that coils well will last about 10 years assuming it’s laid properly. One that doesn’t will not last nearly as long.

How long can a network cable be?

100 meters (328 feet). And I have personally witnessed a network admin test this limit before – and lost. It was in a production environment on the plant floor. A length of cable needed to go 330 feet. At 325 the signal degraded completely and a network hub had to be installed just to accommodate for the last 5 feet to carry the signal.

For anyone that needs extended length cable like this, I strongly recommend not to exceed 250 feet (just over 76 meters). If you are in the situation where you must go beyond that, buy a low-cost 4-port network switch as a "repeater" of sorts. Then you’ll get the extra length you need. Bear in mind they must be powered (they all come supplied with their own power adapter).

Why bother with a long network cable when there’s wireless?

As any homeowner that has a three-floor and/or vintage house setup will tell you, wireless doesn’t always work. Even with N range (the next level above G) it may still not be able to be received. In that situation you’re forced to go with a traditional wired setup – even if it’s just to snake a wire two floors up to connect a second wireless router.

So I should never buy network cable from the store again?

No. What I am saying is to know what you’re buying. Understand that cable "likes" to naturally coil.

I will say this: If you see network cable in a package in that dreaded oval or figure 8 style wrap, don’t buy it. Purposely seek out cable that is packaged as a circle. It may not be as good as making your own cable, but at least you have relative assurance it will last longer.

Final note: Telephone cable in your house is flat-style wiring. That doesn’t coil because it can’t in the way it’s made. "Round-wound" cable, such as network cable is, will.

Hate Facebook? MySpace seems old hat now? Want something that’s easy to use and gives you instant message capability too?

Here are three you can try out. You’ve most likely never heard of these, but hey, that’s half the fun because being early in sites like these means you’ll probably get more e-popular.

All three of these sites have the ability to connect IM in Meebo, so you can centralize them all in one spot.

You will notice all these sites operate similar to each other, but each have a distinct "personality" of sorts.

Zorpia – www.zorpia.com

A social network that concentrates on more of an international presence compared to just USA-only.

dotblu – www.dotblu.com

The shtick with this site is "social gaming". Games, games and more games. No, not the hardcore MMORPG and FPS style, more like Yahoo! Games used to be back in the day, except this has a social twist to it. You might like this one a lot; it has a very addicting quality to it.

Flixster – www.flixster.com

This is exactly what you think it is, a social network for movie buffs of all types. Rate and share movie reviews, get social with it, etc. You get the picture (bad pun intended).

Why bother with any of these?

A problem that presents itself with social networking as a whole is that it’s too generalized. Yes, there is the ability to create groups in these networks, but most of them have hidden agendas (i.e. spammy).

Social networks with a specific purpose do hold value. If you’re overwhelmed by the "too much stuff" factor of the bigger sites, these smaller sites might be what you were looking for.

What do you think?

Are any of these networks good or are they total crap?

Let us know in the comments.

Spyware, by its nature, tends to ‘phone home’. That is, it gathers information about you and then transmits it secretly to another location. The traditional way to combat this is to have a bunch of monitoring utilities or scanners to detect this, but a more advanced way is to simply gather the data yourself and track it down. A tool to help do this is Port Reporter.

Port Reporter logs TCP and UDP port activity on a local Windows system. Port Reporter is a small application that runs as a service on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 this service is able to log which ports are used, which process is using the port, if the process is a service, which modules the process has loaded and which user account is running the process.

This can be an incredibly useful tool, not only for tracking down spyware, but for system admins to keep tabs of everything running on their system which receives or transmits data. To help with diagnosis or analysis, you can use the Port Reporter Parser tool to make sense of the data.

While this tool is not going to be for everyone, it allows power users to get extremely detailed information on all network activity on your system.

The question of how many literal connections a wireless router can handle is anywhere between 50 and 253 depending on manufacturer. (Quick question answered: It’s not 255 because the router has to assign itself a few IPs.)

The question of how many usable simultaneous connections is a different story altogether because that number is drastically smaller. Continued

It’s most likely true that your computer at home runs circles around the computer in the office or in the classroom. You sit at the computer assigned to you and reel in agony due to the slowness. Doing things as simple as loading google.com take up to 20 seconds whereas at home the page is loaded less than a second after you press the enter key.

The box itself you use is old. Really old. In some cases, as old as a Dell Optiplex running a 1.6GHz Pentium 4 processor with only 256MB RAM on board. In addition, the network crawls whenever you try (keyword there) to do some work.

Questions enter the mind such as: "Do people here purposely want me to do my work slower? Why does everyone have to use these crappy boxes? Why is the network so frickin’ SLOW? What’s the deal here?"

Here’s the 101 on how computers are deployed in the office, and why the network is so unbelievably slow:

The purchasing process

The way in which computers are purchased on an enterprise level is, said honestly, stupid.

Corporations and educational institutions by nature are cheap. As such they will only purchase computers for their employees that are "adequate". Not good and certainly not great. What this means is that any brand new computer that is placed in the office environment is already slow on delivery.

That brand new computer is part of a lot. Could be 50 PCs or 100 or more. Each PC in that lot is configured the exact same way, meaning all of them equally crappy.

Your company/institution made a deal (most likely with Dell) on purchase to have extended warranty service on all these boxes for five years.

On paper this looks lovely. The company just saved a ton of money by getting extended service and doesn’t have to purchase a new set of boxes for five years. Three cheers, right?

Wrong.

All those boxes are woefully obsolete after the 2nd year. If the company had purchased good machines they would have at least stayed somewhat current until the fourth year. But no, the bottom line is all that matters. So you’re stuck with an ancient piece of crap that the company absolutely will not upgrade or replace "until the refresh". And yes this means three years of using an agonizingly slow PC until that "refresh" happens.

Remember: That crappy box you use is crappy because the company who bought it configured it as such. If that same box had a better processor and double the RAM it would actually be tolerable to use.

The network

Corporate networks are slow for three primary reasons:

1. Security
2. Filtering
3. Lack of network resources

Concerning security:

Security on a corporate network is required but the way in which it’s deployed is usually bungled beyond belief. What normally happens is that a network security system was purchased by the company several years ago that absolutely cannot be removed from the system because it’s tethered to something "important". But then something else is introduced into the network that isn’t compatible with the old system. So now you have two logins that you have to remember. Do you have to connect to a mainframe also? Make that 3.

All these different systems have to somehow work with each other but rarely do and do nothing but slow down the network.

You’ve probably thought "Why doesn’t the company just get one system that works with everything?" Easier said than done. You’ve got the Exchange server that doesn’t "talk" to the AS/400. The AS/400 doesn’t "talk" to the SAP system. And then there’s that idiot who no longer works for the company that has a Microsoft Access database that no one’s been able to figure out how to migrate somewhere else, HAS to exist and resides on a network share.

Concerning filtering:

Your company/institution hates internet. They hate everything about it and deem it an evil thing that should be banned like asbestos. The only reason they use it at all is because it is in fact one of the most cost effective ways to conduct business. Were it not for that fact, internet wouldn’t even exist in the office.

What your office does is put a "nanny" filter on the network like this one. Every time you want to go to anywhere on the internet from work, the filter kicks in and slows everything down. Combine that with the fact your Internet Explorer is "secured" so much that you’re lucky you can even type in a web address and you’ve got a bottleneck both locally and on the network each time you use it.

Concerning lack of network resources:

The network room at your company/institution is set up the same way PC boxes are deployed – only to be "adequate" at best. The routers are old and ancient. The wiring looks like spaghetti-tangled multi-colored mess. When something goes down it takes at least a half-hour to fix it.

Where networks fail the most is in the lack of space. Do you have an Exchange account that’s only limited to 80MB? I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. You might think "Since hard drives are so cheap.. why is it such a bother to upgrade?" Good question. The answer is that it’s not in the budget. Yes, it’s true – the IT Manager is fully aware he could pop in a few server-grade hard drives for less than $500 that would relieve just about all of the space issues, but the CIO says "No can do – not in the budget."

What will happen in the future? Will these dopey issues ever be resolved?

Yes. The future resides in cloud-based computing. Some larger corporations have already taken to this but small-to-medium sized ones have a few years before they realize that the cloud is the way to go.

The cloud will allow for a near-infinite scalable network architecture. What does this mean to you, the guy or girl who works in the office? It means that the brunt of the speed issues will be handled by the cloud itself rather than from your crappy box or a "boxed" network.

Until then, wait for your "refresh" and hope your company or school puts some actual cash into decent PCs for a change.

There are two facts which are pretty much indisputable:

1. Most of us are working with not only more files, but much larger files, than we were only a few years ago.
2. Most of us have an old PC which we don’t really have a use for.

Solution: You can use that old PC as network storage. It is easy to do.

Continued

This simple checklist of tasks should get you started on using your router to its best ability, enhancing your LAN security. These are generic features that should be on most routers out there; consult your router’s user manual if you have doubts about where to find these settings. If you are still in the market looking to buy a router, a good idea is to go through the online manual to see if these settings are available on the router in your budget. Some of these security settings are to be used in conjunction with others; some provide an additional layer of security to what another setting already provides.

1. Administrative password

Establish an administrative password, there are far too many users out there running their routers on the factory default password. Make sure you choose a strong password, remember if your router password gets compromised, your entire LAN could be compromised. On the plus side, even if you forget your admin password, resetting the router will default your password to factory settings (and will remove all your other configurations). If you are administering a LAN that is frequented by people whom you do not entirely trust (or it is your job not to trust them); make sure that you set your browser not to save your username and password to the router’s configuration page. In addition, it is good practice to clear the history and cache of the browser you use to configure the router – using this in conjunction with a router IP address that isn’t the factory default 192.168.0.1 (see 3. Router IP address) will add an additional layer of security.

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Having a secure home network is your best defense against unwanted intrusions from the internet. Two methods (with multiple options) can be used to secure your home network. The first is hardware and the second is software.

Note before continuing: All the hardware and software in the world you use to protect your home network will not protect you against ignorance. You need to use common sense when using the internet. If there’s an e-mail you think looks suspicious, don’t open it. If there is a web site you think is suspicious, don’t browse that web site, and so on.

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Some routers have special means of handling Virtual Private Networks (VPN). Other routers may require putting the client computer for the VPN in the DMZ, which has reduced security. VPN features vary widely from router to router, and many routers do not have any VPN-specific features at all.

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These features let you control what you let connect to your wireless network and what can pass through from the Internet to the local networks. By default, anyone and anything can connect to your wireless network, and there is no traffic from the Internet allowed to pass through to any computer on the local network.

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Sharing a printer on your network is another very useful feature of a network. Allow all of your computers to use the same printer.

There are three ways to accomplish this:

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Q: (Wired/Wireless) All my router’s lights are on and will not go off. When I try to connect to the router, no network connectivity is present. What should I do?

A: On all routers there is a “reset” option. It is a button physically on the router. If after a reset this does not work – power off the router, wait ten seconds and then turn it back on.

Q: (Wired) My router can’t seem to establish a connection to the internet or to my home network. All the lights are on but the data does not seem to be transferring. What can I do?

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This chapter is a video presentation.

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This chapter is a video presentation.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

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