03-28-2011, 09:42 AM

Hi,

I have a Mac book, an iMac, Apple TV and an iPhone.

Over the last week, each one of my devices has struggled to maintain a connection to my wifi (Neatgear).

The Mac book offers me the message "another computer is using this IP address", while the iMac offers a different error message (can't remember what it says but will update next time it says it).

The iPhone simply reverts to 3G, and the Apple TV offers an entirely different error message.

After waiting for a few minutes, the connection comes back again! I've done diagnostic stuff, but it hasn't helped nor offered a decent reason as to why this is happening.

I am not very technically clever with this stuff, so have absolutely no idea what to do! I work from home a lot using a VPN connection, which obviously keeps dropping out making life very difficult.

It's very odd. Any help would be massively appreciated!


R

03-28-2011, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by phip900

Hi,

I have a Mac book, an iMac, Apple TV and an iPhone.

Over the last week, each one of my devices has struggled to maintain a connection to my wifi (Neatgear).

The Mac book offers me the message "another computer is using this IP address", while the iMac offers a different error message (can't remember what it says but will update next time it says it).

The iPhone simply reverts to 3G, and the Apple TV offers an entirely different error message.

After waiting for a few minutes, the connection comes back again! I've done diagnostic stuff, but it hasn't helped nor offered a decent reason as to why this is happening.

I am not very technically clever with this stuff, so have absolutely no idea what to do! I work from home a lot using a VPN connection, which obviously keeps dropping out making life very difficult.

It's very odd. Any help would be massively appreciated!


R

I am not an expert, but I can tell you that wireless router reliability is a major issue. I used to go through Linksys routers about every 18 month like clock work. Finally switched to Airport Extreme almost 4 years ago and no problems since.

Having said all that (and giving you the benefit of my limited network skills) the first thing I would do is look at placement of your router and especially with regards to competing devices (microwave ovens, cordless phones etc). Your router needs to be as high and centrally located as reasonable. Also, if you have other electronic devices need to look at potentially switching frequency to cut down on interference.

Something else you should do (not sure if this will have any impact on your problem, but important nonetheless) is make sure you are using WPA or WPA2 instead of WEP (far more secure and reliable) and that you broadcast your network ID.

That is my 2 cents worth. We have a number of heavy-duty experts in networking and one or more of them will probably weigh with advice fairly soon. HTH

03-28-2011, 09:27 PM

Are you using static addressing for any of your devices? Are they all assigned via DHCP?

Is it safe to assume that you have enabled either WPA or WPA2 on your network - so there's no chance of someone else connecting to your router with a static IP?

03-28-2011, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by BrianLachoreVPI

Are you using static addressing for any of your devices? Are they all assigned via DHCP?

Is it safe to assume that you have enabled either WPA or WPA2 on your network - so there's no chance of someone else connecting to your router with a static IP?

All good points - I would add that I've seen this sort of thing with MAC filtering too. Especially if someone is trying to crack it.

Also, make sure you're running the latest firmware, especially if it's just that the router is crashing.

I'm not particularly keen on Netgear products, which are made by Nortel (i.e. garbage). As cheap as they are these days, you might not even want to fuss with it (particularly if you do have it properly secured with WPA/WPA2 and are not doing anything silly like MAC filtering).