Router Question

[dogmush]

Recently I've begun to worry my Router is giving up the ghost.  It's a NetGear WGR614 that's about 6 years old and everything was cool up till about two weeks ago.  Then my internet speeds started to drop pretty bad.  My "high speed" cable internet is testing at about .6MPS downlad speed and has been for a week and a half.  Then it started dropping my wireless.  Laptop and printer would fail to connect, and I'd have to power cycle the router to get the network to come up.  Then today it dropped my desktop (wired connection).  I came home and the computer thought it was on an "Unkown Network" with no internet access.  Power cycled the router and everything came back up.  I've logged into the router and made sure there's no unathourized devices using the network.  Just my stuff on there. I also updated the firmware from Netgear's site.  No joy. 

So I have a multiple part question:
a.) Is this indeed signiling the impending death of my router?  Is there anything else I should do to trouble shoot?(I don't have a spare router to test with)  My cable modem is also 6-8 years old, so should I call Brighthouse and complain?

b.) If the router is dead or dying, should I go to 802.11n or stick with g?  I currentlly have the router, a wired desktop, a wired media player, a wireless printer and a laptop (wireless).  If I'm upgrading my network hardware, I'd kinda like to go wireless on everything. (the Cat 5 cable across my livingroom annoys me).  So if I need new gear, can anyone recomend a good router, and PCI wireless card.  (I don't want to sacrifice a USB port on my desktop to a wireless adapter)  I'd like both pieces of hardware (if needed) to be in the $80-$100 range.  If it matters the media player is also a Netgear, and requires a Netgear wireless adapter.

[never_retreat]

Its most likely the router on the way out.
If it was the modem your devices would still connect to the router and be able see each other, just no internet.

[sanglant]

hows your wired speed?
have you changed any settings?
have you checked to see if any of your neighbors has set up a network on the same channel? you can check from a computer with a wireless adapter.
have your antennas gotten turned flat?
have you picked up some spyware, adware, or virus?




n is nice,(the range is amazing) but if your using(transmitting not just sitting there) g devices it drops to g speed, if your using b came thing. i think if you get the dual band it will keep the n network at full speed, but i don't have a dual band adapter to test it out.

this is the router i have been looking at, ban news though someone just posted a terrible review. good luck, and have fun.

[RocketMan]

It could be that your router has some failing capacitors.  The symptoms you list match the problem.   Some routers from that era suffered from the "Bad Caps" problem like many motherboards and various consumer electronic devices did.
I've fixed a few wired gigabit routers in the last year, brought them back to life by changing out the failing capacitors.

[dogmush]

hows your wired speed?

Roughly twice as fast as wireless (if I take the router out of the equation compleatly and just plug my modem into my laptop)

have you changed any settings?

Recentlly went to WPA2 from WPA and turned SSID broadcast off, but My laptop still connects automaticlly after a router reboot.  The lap top doesn't see the network, then you unplug the router, plug it back in, and the laptop connects.

have you checked to see if any of your neighbors has set up a network on the same channel? you can check from a computer with a wireless adapter.

How? I dont' see anything in network and sharing center to check channels. Could be this, a bunch of networks have popped up around here lately.   

have your antennas gotten turned flat?

Nope, checked that.

have you picked up some spyware, adware, or virus?

Don't think so , I'm running Norton, Spybot S&D and MalwareBytes every other day or so and they all say both comps are clean.

[Gewehr98]

If the router is dead or dying, should I go to 802.11n or stick with g?

It depends.  Most of your existing wireless stuff is probably 802.11g already, so an 802.11n router won't do much for you unless you upgrade the peripheral devices to that standard, too.

I have a sneaking hunch that 802.11g will be around for a long time.  Hell, even 802.11b is amazingly persistent as of February 2010.

Maybe your router took a power spike/bump/sag, causing it to lose it's settings?  I've kept my routers and those of my family in their various locations on small UPS units to prevent that from happening.  My mom's router was doing something similar until I added an UPS to her computer setup. 

[sanglant]

Roughly twice as fast as wireless (if I take the router out of the equation compleatly and just plug my modem into my laptop)

hmm 1.2mbps seems slow, i bet it's dieing(unless of coarse you have a 2mb modem)

Recentlly went to WPA2 from WPA and turned SSID broadcast off, but My laptop still connects automaticlly after a router reboot.  The lap top doesn't see the network, then you unplug the router, plug it back in, and the laptop connects.

sounds bad, that's what my last router started doing, before it went. got to where it would lockup after about 30 minutes every time

How? I dont' see anything in network and sharing center to check channels. Could be this, a bunch of networks have popped up around here lately.

on your laptop, look for a scan for networks, option. or this

Nope, checked that.

had that happen to me twice now.

Don't think so , I'm running Norton, Spybot S&D and MalwareBytes every other day or so and they all say both comps are clean.

had that happen to me. dangit, i've lost count.

[Stevie-Ray]

My first router was a Belkin. Worked fine for a couple years and then steadily went downhill. Got to where I was resetting it every hour. Replaced it with a Linksys that was perfect for several years and just recently started to need resetting only about once a month or so. It's probably starting it's final spiral as well. But it's been a hundred times better than the Belkin.