Faulty Router or Faulty Fibre?

[#1]

I'm not sure whether this should go here or in the Router category. I'm sure someone will fix it if its wrong

My 500Mb fibre was installed Thursday 2 days ago. No issues, the installer said that the optical signal was strong and the router connected up straightaway with a bit over 500 Mb speed on wired connections and around 250Mb on wifi at the other end of the house, so far so good.

First problem - I can''t connect the Sky box to the router - joins OK but drops out after a minute or so and in and out repeatedly.

Second problem - browsing the web there seems to be frequent hang-ups with no activity between bursts of good speed. Also downloading large Gb files (from Thinkbroadband.com's speed test site) there are frequent stoppages of several and sometimes even 10s of seconds.

Third problem - networking between computers and to/from the NAS have the same intermittent stoppages when connected via the router but OK if  just via the switch. Streaming from the NAS stutters and eventually craps out.

So it seems as though the router (new Plusnet-supplied one) intermittently suspends all networking? However I notice that if I unplug the cat6 from the ONT then the router also stops all networking until the fibre syncs up again so does this mean that intermittency on the fibre can result in intermittency in the networking?

So at the moment not a lot is working well. I don't have another router to try. Should I try to get a replacement from Plusnet or are there other diagnostics I could try to pin things down? Thanks for any help!

[#2]

Do any of the lights change on the ONT when you get the problem ?

Does the Hub 2 light stay blue ?

Post the Event log from the Hub 2 

[#3]

@quelquod 

After posting the event log, try a factory reset of the Hub.

Push a paperclip or similar in the reset hole, keep the switch closed until you get a green light.

[#4]

Thanks  @MisterW , @Baldrick1 , how do I get (and post here) a router log?

Since posting earlier I can say that the ONT lights all stay unchanged during periods of no connectivity and the router shows a blue light all the time.

I’ve also found that if I unplug my NASs and main switch from the router ports (ie no hardwired connections) the wireless networking and broadband seem pretty well solid with no obvious hesitations so somehow the router seems to be getting overloaded. Nothing else has changed on my network and the previous FTTC router worked fine so maybe this router is faulty after all?

[#5 · Accepted solution]

I’ve also found that if I unplug my NASs and main switch from the router ports (ie no hardwired connections) the wireless networking and broadband seem pretty well solid with no obvious hesitations so somehow the router seems to be getting overloaded.

@quelquod I doubt its an overloaded situation, that sounds more like an IP address clash. Are you NAS's and/or switches using static IPs ?

[#6]

Hi @MisterW oops i didnt think of that. Yes the NASs and a few other boxes are on fixed IPs due to them not reliably broadcasting their names. Sounds like 1 to check. It’s a bit annoying that the router can’t tell the difference between a device which is live and 1 which is now disconnected.

[#7]

@quelquod 

The Hub Two can list Connected and Disconnected devices, see 

Using the Filter you should be able to display connected and disconnected devices.

[#8]

@Dan_the_Van 

Hi, yes I understand that but what I meant is that it's not very accurate sometimes or has lots of latency. For instance I've been playing music from 1 of my NASs all afternoon but it still shows as disconnected and my wife's Kindle shows as connected even though she last used it at lunchtime. So it's not always too handy when you're trying to identify an unknown device.

Anyway all sorted now thanks to all..

[#9]

The Hub two has some quirks and can show a device connected or disconnected when in either state. An "Unknown device" could be one with a 'randomised MAC address'.

My Hub two has finally been assigned to my unused tech draw, but it can come out for testing when required.