Router / Gateway Issues?

[Jotaru]

So I've been having this problem recently where, whenever I log in to WoW in a major city (or do something else with high 'traffic', such as join LFG channel), not only does my WoW crash, but it also crashes/restarts my router - all internet traffic is halted for 2-3 minutes until it finishes a reset. It doesn't happen ALL the time (off-peak times it doesn't happen, and on-peak it'll go through maybe 10% of the time) but definitely enough to get aggravating.. for instance, I had three hours off today before going back to work a twelve hour shift, and two of them were spent logging in to WoW to immediately disconnect from the internet, and wait to rinse/repeat. I got in a few times, but it kicked me off shortly thereafter. Due to the times it happens, and how it only happens when I do something in WoW (I don't typically have internet-related issues otherwise), its led me to believe it has something to do with the high volume of information coming in at once or... something. I'm no network wizard.

So my question to you all is, what can I do to fix this? At first I thought I'd try another router, see if that fixed the issue.. but it seems we don't have a router at all. Internet is DSL through ATT, and we have a 2wire 2701HG 'gateway'... as stated, I'm no network wizard, but I'm used to having the net routed first through a modem, then to a router- in this case, the line goes right from the wall to the gateway, which acts as a router as well. I don't want to pick up a linksys router or some such to find that its not the same thing and doesn't work at all.

So... any information? I've really no clue how to fix this issue, and its to the point where I can't just 'live with it', as spending 2-3 hours trying to get online to do something simply isn't working, especially in a house where other people use the net too - I'm sure its a huge inconvenience for them, and I'd be pretty pissed if someone kept kicking me off the net every 5-10 minutes.

Anyone have any experience or can shed some light on the situation? Any help greatly appreciated.

[Cephius]

I can only guess that your router can't handle all the connections that are being made when you join a WoW server, and its crashing the firmware on the router and forcing a reboot. Try upgrading the router firmware if possible (go to the manufacturers website to see if one's available) and see if that resolves the problem. Otherwise, you may just have to get a new router.

[Jotaru]

Can't update the firmware, its the latest version, and as far as I can tell, there's no previous versions to retrograde...

That being said, yes, I could just get a new router... if that'll actually work. As I said, I don't know a whole lot about networking, but what I have is a 'gateway', not sure if that's just a term they use, or if they serve the same function, but there's no separate modem- its straight from wall to the router/gateway/thinger, and from that to the computers on the network. Regularly I'd have no qualms with going out and buying new router, but in this case, I'm not sure how that'd even work.

[Norellicus]

2wire as a whole makes crap slightly worse than the infamous WRT54G. Go for a Netgear router, much better product and pretty cost effective for what you get for it.

[Jotaru]

I guess where I'll go from here; any suggestions as to which? I'm by far the heaviest user, with WoW and some limewire now and then, some torrents, but not many... other users are casual (email, weather, news) as well as a pair of iphones in the house that pick up the wifi.

[Cephius]

You might want to contact your ISP and see if they can do anything for you. Tell them what's happening and that your service is constantly getting interrupted. They may not be able to solve your problem, but they can at least assure you that it isn't anything on their side.

[Voltorb]

Did you have problems when you first got the service?

When I use to have DSL my download speeds would drop significantly whenever I upload anything. For example 120KB/sec down to 10KB/sec. You mentioned there were multiple users, at times, running torrents and limewire. That may contribute to it if you are trying to connect to WoW.

If you can configure your router/modem/gateway maybe you can do some QoS (Quality of Service) settings to control how the bandwidth is distributed. Torrents in low priority while WoW in high priority. Need to set the ports, etc.

If things doesn't work on the software related side of things, it can be hardware defect as well.

[Osede]

Have you tried to forward the port?

If not go to here PortForward.com - Free Help Setting up Your Router or Firewall , pick the router model you have, and then the WoW application to go thru the tutorial. See if it does help or not

[Jotaru]

Router is crashing / resetting, not an issue of port forwarding, far as I can tell.

TBH, only had the problem once TBC came out, and a lot of people are having the same sort of issue, but no real answers are popping up. I'm trying to go around it via getting new hardware rather than solve the issue with what I have, as, looking at the other responses, its not possible. Just need to know if a router can be used in place of a gateway, or if its going to give me issues, and I need to get a specific one.

Voltorb - are you the one off Quez server? If so, what's up?

Nobody else is a heavy user - I'm the one that does the gaming / limewire, etc, so its nobody else crashing the router. 90% of the time, nobody else is even connected. Its gotta be hardware related - perhaps not a defect, but a lot of people seem to have trouble with the 2wire gateways and WoW, so maybe incompatibility issues.

[Norellicus]

Most commercial "routers" are gateways, so you'll be fine.