Possible Router Problem

[genocidal]

Background: I have not been happy with my router in the least. I have a Linksys WRT160N. It works fine, but sometimes it will redirect certain websites to other ones (for instance facebook.com rerdirects to myspace.com, or facebook.com redirects to yahoo.com). I thought it was a virus at first and did the usual spyware/malware/virus scans with a variety of products. After some google research, I found out that it is a quirk of my router. Basically here is what I found, in case anyone experiences this issue out there:

I figured out what the problem is, at least with my router (a Linksys WRT160N). My browsing seems to be normal now, but I'll post again if something happens. Here's the issue:

The router references itself as the primary DNS server, to act as sort of a DNS proxy. The problem is, this specific router has some issues. I guess there is a vulnerability that allows this to happen.

The solution is to go in the router's settings and removing the router's IP address from the DNS, instead replacing it with your internet company's DNS settings, or OpenDNS.

Link, scroll down to the comments. Essentially I have to ipconfig/flushdns to fix the problem when it happens (which isn't terribly often). So basically that's one annoying thing I have discovered so far.

Problem: After lagging Saturday in subspace and on the internet I realized that my internet was only operating at 1.0 mbps (very annoying). When I unplug the router for 10 seconds (reset) it works at normal speeds again (60-75 mbps). But, it will occasionally disconnect and when I reconnect it's back down to 1.0 mbps. It's obviously very annoying. Can anyone help me?

[Xog]

login to your router and do a firmware upgrade, that's the first thing I would look for. Usually for linksys routers there's a button on the top right after you login.

first you need to go to: http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/support/WRT160N and click on GET DOWNLOADS, select your model version and on the bottom left of the page will pop up the setup wizard (useless), firmware upgrade, and support for mac users.

click on the newest firmware build, and save it to your computer somewhere.

After you login to your router, this is the file it will need to upgrade its firmware.

Another possibility could be that you are connecting through G instead of N (which is what your router mainly supports). Make sure you're using N from your computer, it's faster.

Something else you can try is to enable the channel to "11" when you're logged in to the router and changing settings. This could speed things up a bit.

Yet another variable, is when you're logged in to the router, click on the subtab "Advanced Wireless Settings" and change the Beacon Interval to 50, Fragmentation Threshold to 2304 & RTS Threshold to 2304 and save.

Also, it's a long shot but do you have a password set to access the router's connection? (WPA, WEP, etc.)
if you don't, it's possible people are leeching from you. I've noticed iPhones connect to routers automatically if they have wifi turned on, among other phones.

[genocidal]

Thanks, Xog. I do have WPA encryption on, so it shouldn't be that. That other stuff sounds complicated and I'll look into it when I have time. I haven't had much problem the last couple days with it being slow, but sometimes in the morning the router refuses to let me connect. Unplugging the wire from the modem to the router (but not the power this time) fixes it. I wish the internet would just work.

[genocidal]

One thing, how do I "enable my router to connect through G instead of N"? What tab is that under?

[paradise!]

WPA is still crackable.

depends on password strength though, if its over like 6 chars you're fine

[Nycle]

You can circumvent your router's DNS by telling Windows to do so.

Depending on your version of Windows, go to something roughly called control panel > network center > manage network connections, then right-click your network card and click properties. Then do this (sorry it's not in English):



At the fields, fill in your ISP's DNS servers (Google them) or, if you cannot find them, use Google's public DNS service:

8.8.8.8 and
8.8.4.4

That should solve the problem of the wrong redirects. Good luck.

[genocidal]

Thanks Nycle, that will solve that problem and prevent further annoyance.