WGR614v2 just not working

Hi!

I recently bought a NETGEAR WGR614v2 to share an ADSL-internet-connection
via WLAN,
I have an ALCATEL SpeedTouch 510 ADSL-modem using PPTP.
I installed the WGR614 and it just didnt talk to the ADSL-modem. I tried
almost everything.
The NETGEAR hotline sent me a firmware update (WGR614v2_0919_pptp.bin), but
it still didnt
work, I couldnt get an internet-connection. what happened was, the the
WLAN-connection to my
clients didnt work anymore. another firmware-update
(wgr614v2v3_v2_15rc4_1_0_2.bin)
finally brought me internet-access and the WLAN-connection worked again.
the problem now is, that the internet-connection just works after 2 or 3
tries, every other
time the browser cant resolve the name of a site.
AND I cannot access several web.sites (www.one.at, www.chello.at)
the NETGEAR hotline told me to decrease the MTU-size (1472 or lower)
I tried this too, but it didnt work either.

I am more than frustrated, and I would like to know about other
DSL/WLAN-router products which somebody out there has made good and easy
setup experiences.

I installed other NETGEAR routers before with no problems (RP114), I just
dont understand
what is going on with this stuff...

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
thanx in advance!

best regards,
Hans Pesata

------------------------------------------------------

My eMail-address has been changed due to spam.
eMail-replies can be sent to (E-Mail Removed)

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 10:07:13 GMT, "Hans Pesata" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Hi!
>
>I recently bought a NETGEAR WGR614v2 to share an ADSL-internet-connection
>via WLAN,
>I have an ALCATEL SpeedTouch 510 ADSL-modem using PPTP.
>I installed the WGR614 and it just didnt talk to the ADSL-modem. I tried
>almost everything.
>The NETGEAR hotline sent me a firmware update (WGR614v2_0919_pptp.bin), but
>it still didnt
>work, I couldnt get an internet-connection. what happened was, the the
>WLAN-connection to my
>clients didnt work anymore. another firmware-update
>(wgr614v2v3_v2_15rc4_1_0_2.bin)
>finally brought me internet-access and the WLAN-connection worked again.
>the problem now is, that the internet-connection just works after 2 or 3
>tries, every other
>time the browser cant resolve the name of a site.
>AND I cannot access several web.sites (www.one.at, www.chello.at)
>the NETGEAR hotline told me to decrease the MTU-size (1472 or lower)
>I tried this too, but it didnt work either.
>
>I am more than frustrated, and I would like to know about other
>DSL/WLAN-router products which somebody out there has made good and easy
>setup experiences.
>
>I installed other NETGEAR routers before with no problems (RP114), I just
>dont understand
>what is going on with this stuff...
>
>any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
>thanx in advance!
>
>best regards,
>Hans Pesata
>
>------------------------------------------------------
>
>My eMail-address has been changed due to spam.
>eMail-replies can be sent to (E-Mail Removed)
>

Hi Hans,

I don't have a 614 so I'm not certain what configuration options you
have available. However, I have had my share of problems in the past
getting other routers to work with DSL.

If you know all this already, I apologize for reiterating it - but you
sound a bit unsure in your message.


Make sure that "PPTP" is selected and that your logon information is
correct. Also select the "keep alive" option ... many DSL providers
hang up the line when it's idle and reconnecting may take well over a
minute - the delay is guaranteed to drive your software (and you)
crazy.

MTU stands for "Maximum Transmission Unit" - it's the size of the
largest data packet the connection can handle. Any transmission
larger than the MTU must be broken into two or more packets. Most TCP
networks use 1500 bytes as the maximum data size, but PPTP is an
encapsulation protocol designed to send data through foreign, possibly
not TCP, networks. There is additional protocol information included
in each packet which limits the amount of the data that can be sent to
1472 bytes. You should also understand that the WAN MTU setting in
your router only affects outgoing packets - the size of incoming
packets is controlled by your provider.

Name resolution (DNS) and browsing are rarely affected by your
router's MTU setting because the outgoing data (the URL or name to
look up) is typically quite small and fits into a single packet. Only
when you transmit things larger than a single packet (email, files,
web pages etc.) does the MTU setting become an issue - if it is too
large, the transmission will fail.


As for the web sites - it is not uncommon to have problems with PPTP
over DSL. The problem is indeed MTU related, but you can't fix it.
It happens because the computer(s) hosting the site, or one or more of
the Internet relays, is not properly configured for MTU discovery.
The result is that sombody is transmitting packets to you that are too
large to pass down your DSL line.

Unfortunately, you can't do much about it unless you know where the
problem is. Your best bet would be to complain to your provider -
they can easily determine where the fault lies and, theoretically at
least, they have an interest in keeping you a happy customer. Also, a
complaint from your provider to the administrator of the problem site
will carry a lot more weight than yours.

Good luck,
George

==============================================
Send real email to GNEUNER2 at COMCAST dot NET

Hi George!

thanx for your detailled reply

if have entered the valid logon-information and I also selected PPTP.
I am able to access the internet, but every now and then I have to try
several times
to get a connection. I didnt see a "keep alive" option in the WGR614
config-screens.

the problem with the websites that I cant access still remains.
I understand what you explained about the MTU-size.
what I dont understand is, that this should be a common problem independet
of the router.
why does it work with other NETGEAR-routers using the same ADSL-provider ?

the provider I am using here in Austria just gives you the ADSL-modem and
evything works fine
if you just use Windows-Dial-up-network to access the internet from one
single PC.
they allow you to use a DSL-router but they dont give you any kind of
support if something doesnt work.
so I dont know what to ask them.

best regrads,
Hans

Hi George!

another thing that came to my mind:

if everything is working fine with other routers and when I use the
ADSL-modem directly,
maybe some kind of WGR614-firewall-settings prevent the access to the
webesites www.one.at, www.chello.at ?!

do you have any suggestions to this ?

thanx in advance!

best regards,
Hans

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 15:54:25 GMT, "Hans Pesata" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>
>i have entered the valid logon-information and I also selected PPTP.
>I am able to access the internet, but every now and then I have to try
>several times to get a connection. I didnt see a "keep alive" option
>in the WGR614 config-screens.

Do you see an option called "idle timeout" or something similar? If
you find such an option, setting it to zero will achieve the same
thing.

You may not find anything. PPTP is an end-to-end wrapper around an
underlying transport service which is assumed to be reliable. Any
connection "liveness" options would apply to the underlying service
rather than to the PPTP connection itself.

I've never actually seen ADSL use a primary PPTP connection to the
ISP. Here in the US, ADSL is typically PPPoE over a shared voice
line. Secondary PPTP connections can be made over the primary
reliable PPP service, but not directly on the unreliable phone line.


>the problem with the websites that I cant access still remains.
>I understand what you explained about the MTU-size.
>what I dont understand is, that this should be a common problem independet
>of the router. why does it work with other NETGEAR-routers using the
>same ADSL-provider ?

You didn't mention that it works with other routers 8-) You are
correct in concluding that the MTU problem I described would be
independent of the router.

Out of the box, the router firewall provides only NAT, SPI and DoS
protection and blocks all connection attempts from the WAN side. Any
additional filtering (sites, services, keywords, etc.) or enabling
connections from the WAN side must be set up manually.

If you have configured any additional filters, try disabling them all
and reenable them one by one until the you find the problem.


Incidentally, I checked both the sites you mentioned and had no
difficulty with either (apart from my German being poor) using only
the default protection in my WGT624.

George

==============================================
Send real email to GNEUNER2 at COMCAST dot NET