Virgin Media: EPC2425/3925 Modem/Router and Speed Issues - POST HERE ONLY

championc

coylemj wrote: »

I have the Cisco EPC2425 modem with a Revo iBlik Internet Radio, an iMac and a Win7 laptop. Up to a few weeks ago the modem would reset the Wi-Fi 'New Channel' setting to 'Auto' on a restart and on the next restart the 'Current Channel' would get set to '1' even though I want to use Channel 6 as none of my devices will connect on Channel 1.

I have run inSSIDer and my problem has nothing to do with congestion, channel 6 is actually the most congested channel in my estate but none of my devices will use Channel 1 which is the least congested channel.

In the past couple of weeks the modem started to respect my 'New Channel' setting of '6' as a 'stickie' so the device stayed permanently on channel 6 despite multiple manual restarts and power off and on. I assumed this was as a result of a firmware upgrade as it happened out of the blue.

However as of today things have gone back to the previous situation i.e. if the box does two restarts the Wi-Fi channel gets set to '1' at which stage I have to connect the laptop to the modem with an Ethernet cable to change the 'New Channel' back to '6' in order to get my wireless devices connected.

Did anyone else spot this and if so, is there any explanation why they have reversed out this correction to an annoying problem?

Try browsing to 192.168.100.1, username admin, password W2302 and then re-make your changes and see if they get held onto now.


C

TheDoc

Wanted to ask a question about UPC router and figured this might be the best place.

I was giving the Thompson router when I changed to the 50mb line.

What I find it everytime I turn on my computer , the internet, both cabled and wireless in the house goes down for about 20 minutes until it comes back.

To outline my connections in the house

Cable - main pc
Cable - Dad pc
Cable - Laptop
Cable - Server
Wireless laptop
Wireless apple tv
wireless phone x 3

I have tried setting static ips to everything but no joy? I've a feeling it might be too many connections and there might be issues somehwere along the line.

Anyone any ideas? To be fair when I run windows troubleshoot it says that its a DNS issue , I keep getting that little "!" in a yellow triangle

championc

You could start by pinging your router and see how quickly the replies start. Then try to ping 8.8.8.8. Pinging an address rather than a URL will verify whether a DNS problem, a line to the internet problem or a router problem.


C

mark17j

After reading this thread I feel I made an awful mistake going with this rubbish cisco 2425 modem/router.

championc

Why, what does it not do ?


C

mark17j

championc wrote: »

Why, what does it not do ?


C

Heard it's not good for gaming and Skype as connections keep dropping.

just wondering, could I ask UPC to send me out a modem, and just buy my own cable router for it.... ??
I would use bridge mode on 2425, but phone won't work then, so I believe

Onyx_1

So have UPC disabled Bridging on the EPC2425?

I was previously using the EPC2425 bridged to a Linksys WRT54GL for around a year up until the beginning of August.

At the time there was a UPC outage locally (Waterford) affecting both broadband & TV (I don't use them for phone). There was no sign of the services coming back so I went to bed.

The following morning I found that service was restored to my TVbox but I still had no broadband. Following the usual powercycle attempts I noticed that when rebooted the 4th LED on the router (Online) was briefly lighting then going out after about 30 seconds.

Trying to sort out what was happening I rang UPC tech support, who could only suggest powercycling again and then booked me an engineers visit.

I eventually remembered how to access the Bridging section of the EPC2425 and tried disabling Bridge mode - following the next powercycle the (Online) LED came on steady resolving the issue.
So I figure some kind of firmware update was released for the modem disabling the option to use Bridge mode? I wonder does anyone else know for sure what has happened / has anyone else experienced the same symptoms?

While everything is working for me now (via the EPC2425 wireless) I'm disappointed because it is fairly poor config wise and continuously reloads the default settings following powercycles and so on.

Has anyone got their EPC2425 in Bridge Mode at present that has it working fine with another router? If so I'd love to know how this was done, perhaps I've not enabled some of the required settings on the config pages.

Thanks lads for any info

blaz

Onyx_1 wrote: »

So have UPC disabled Bridging on the EPC2425?

They didn't disable it, I think they broke it.

I got a text message that my 12MB service was upgraded for free to 20MB and that I should powercycle my modem, which I did.

That triggered a software upgrade on the modem. The modem comes up (that's why the online light lights up) but then seems to lock up, as not even the admin interface works (on 192.168.100.1) and the "online" light goes off again.. My guess would be it is a bug in the new firmware and UPC doesn't care as they never officially supported bridge mode.

I booked a technician visit as I was hoping he would replace the damn Cisco EPC2425 with a Scientific Atlanta. But the technician never came and I didn't have time to bug UPC again. For now I have turned off everything related to the firewall and configured my router's IP as the DMZ host, which seems to work remarkably well.

Still, I want my bridge mode back :-(

championc

For those of you talking about Bridging, I assume you are talking about the Bridging option at the bottom of the Wireless Menu ?

I have been trying to get it working too because I have my router downstairs and want to get an Ethernet Lan port upstairs and so, want to make a wireless bridge between the two routers. Is this too what you guys are trying to do because when I search the internet, people seem to simply be connecting additional Wireless routers to their main one using Cat5 which is certainly not what I want to do - that's just pointless.

Anyway, to start off, can someone please confirm whether the boxes for Remote Bridges should be filled with the Mac Address or the SSID of the remote router ? I've tried bridging to a Comtrend CT-5361 running OpenWRT without success after putting it's Mac address in the Remote Bridges box. The Linksys WRT54G is a brilliant router to load up with OpenWRT.


C

blaz

championc wrote: »

For those of you talking about Bridging, I assume you are talking about the Bridging option at the bottom of the Wireless Menu ?

No, we are talking about disabling the router on the EPC2425 and use it as a pure modem. The Bridging option on the Wireless Menu has nothing to do with it.

connecting additional Wireless routers to their main one using Cat5 which is certainly not what I want to do - that's just pointless.

No, it is not pointless. The builtin firewall functionality, quality of NAT and features in general of the EPC2425 simply can't match OpenWRT. We want to replace the routing functionality of the EPC2425 with OpenWRT and the only proper way to do that is to turn off the router built into the EPC2425 and attach another router to it. That's what bridge mode is.

I have to agree with Blaz.

The EPC2425 contains poorly written firmware.

I just use it as a gateway and have a DD-WRT router handle all of the heavy stuff.

championc

blaz wrote: »

No, it is not pointless. The builtin firewall functionality, quality of NAT and features in general of the EPC2425 simply can't match OpenWRT.

I absolutely agree with you on this point. If only they had a simple option to turn it into a modem.


C

blaz

championc wrote: »

I absolutely agree with you on this point. If only they had a simple option to turn it into a modem.

They had it. An older firmware had it in the main menu (option was called "Gateway Mode"). A later firmware removed it because enabling it broke their phone service (which I don't use and never will). It was still available at http://192.168.1.1/GatewayMode.asp though and working fine. The latest firmware still has that page, but if you switch to bridge mode there the modem will lock up as soon as it acquires the cable signal. The only way to revert is to catch it the couple of seconds while it still works and reconfigure it for router mode.

ArthurG

championc wrote: »

I absolutely agree with you on this point. If only they had a simple option to turn it into a modem.


C

Isn't that what the DMZ in effect allows you to do?. I had exactly the same issues with bridge mode (discussed in great detail a few pages back), just set up my new router in the Cisco's DMZ, and I haven't looked back since. It's easy.

blaz

ArthurG wrote: »

Isn't that what the DMZ in effect allows you to do?. I had exactly the same issues with bridge mode (discussed in great detail a few pages back), just set up my new router in the Cisco's DMZ, and I haven't looked back since. It's easy.

It is not the same thing. If you define your router as the DMZ host, the Cisco will still work as a router and will still perform NAT. Then your own router will perform NAT again, thus all packets will be double NATed.

ArthurG

Well fair enough, I don't know enough to argue with that, however I've had zero issues since setting up my own router, so my point was really there is an option, irrespective of the presence of the bridge mode or otherwise.

blaz

ArthurG wrote: »

Well fair enough, I don't know enough to argue with that, however I've had zero issues since setting up my own router, so my point was really there is an option, irrespective of the presence of the bridge mode or otherwise.

Agree with that, it is a workaround and it is the workaround I currently use, too.

mark17j

anybody else getting slow upc speeds this evening ???
just getting 3 -4mb down

thewing

Had the aul Cisco set up in bridging mode - arrived back from hols last Sunday to see that modem was dead. Got the tech out (wed was earliest) and he gave me the last Scientific Atlanta he had - thank fook....

djh

ArthurG wrote: »

Isn't that what the DMZ in effect allows you to do?. I had exactly the same issues with bridge mode (discussed in great detail a few pages back), just set up my new router in the Cisco's DMZ, and I haven't looked back since. It's easy.

Suffering from same issue of Bridging mode suddenly not working.

Quick question on this work around; Do I need to input my routers MAC address into the IP Address Pass-through section of the Cisco modem as well (as mentioned a few pages back)?

skipdeedy

As I mentioned before, I had three Cisco routers die in bridge mode in the last month. I was previously using bridge mode successfully for months. Had three call outs without the technician realising the real problem just kept replacing the 'faulty' modems.

Called UPC and had a high level techie call me back. He confirmed that yes indeed a recent update from Cisco pushed to the modem has meant that bridge mode is no longer an option because of a new bug.

He said quite bluntly that Cisco have given UPC no indication of when they intend or not, to push a new update to fix the issue. Instead he assured me that using DMZ (or whatever it's called, not very familiar with these settings) was actually better than bridging as it meant the UPC phone would also still work. (I don't have the UPC phone so didn't care)

There you go. Cisco FAIL.

Now can someone point me in the direction of these DMZ instructions? The techie was supposed to email me but never did.

Rodí

hmmm

djh wrote: »

Quick question on this work around; Do I need to input my routers MAC address into the IP Address Pass-through section of the Cisco modem as well (as mentioned a few pages back)?

I did this, but shortly after the option/setting for IP pass-through disappeared?! Using the DMZ now.

rares81

Good evening. I've the UPC 20 Mbps for about a year and a half (Cisco EPC2425). I've only used it for browsing and online gaming, but recently I got an invitation to a torrent site and decided to give it a go. Before going into further details I want to point out I'm using wireless because there is no physical way for me to use a 10 meter cable running from downstairs to the second floor. The download speed is fine for me, 1 Mbps, but it's the upload speed that brought me to this forums. It's around 0.1 kB/s. I find this value very low and concluded something is wrong. After a Speedtest, I got the following results: 9.22 Mbps download and 2.71 Mbps upload speed. The download speed is no where near the promised 20 Mbps but the upload speed is actually pretty close to the 3 Mbps promised. What I was wondering is why can't I reach the 20 Mbps download speed promised on Speedtest and how can i fix the extremely slow upload speed in uTorrent. Thank you very much for your patience and have a nice day!

cardol

I'm on the 25MB package, also wireless, and Speedtest is:


Magnet speedtest is:
Download Speed: 19449 kbps (2431.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1994 kbps (249.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

And UPC speedtest is:
Download Speed: 14.42MB
Upload Speed: 2.03MB

I have no idea which one is accurate, if any!

rez

They are both valid measurements of the available bandwidth between your computer and the system hosting the speedtester site at the time you carried them out.

Testing to UPC relies only on their network and therefore is more accurate, but there are still many issues that may affect it on both sides that mean these kind of testers are only a rough guide at best.



But back to topic -- we need bridge mode -- seriously why have they disabled this? Should be available by a firmware update for people who know what they're doing (with a warning about the phone service, can understand the phone won't just work if you bridge it to another device.)

dmcg90

Having an odd problem, my internet seems fast, but given a speed test its finding it hard to sustain a download, it becomes evident when trying to watch video. In Galway UPC 25MB, I just find it very odd that this is happening.

dmcg90

dmcg90 wrote: »

Having an odd problem, my internet seems fast, but given a speed test its finding it hard to sustain a download, it becomes evident when trying to watch video. In Galway UPC 25MB, I just find it very odd that this is happening.

Are you connected wired or via wireless?

dmcg90

Wireless

Pov06

rez wrote: »

But back to topic -- we need bridge mode -- seriously why have they disabled this? Should be available by a firmware update for people who know what they're doing (with a warning about the phone service, can understand the phone won't just work if you bridge it to another device.)

Just request a Scientific Atlanta. They will say "We don't supply them anymore" but it's utter BS...

Say you need one - you may have to call in a few times, until they actually bother to get you one, and your problem will be solved.

the_wabbitt

HI All,

This may not be relevant here , but i would appreciate some help??

Hi All,

I hope that someone here can help me as UPC / APPLE tech support cannot.

I have a mobile me IMAP account and since stitching to UPC my sending speeds are pitifully slow.

My eircom (with the upc smtp address) , GMAIL (IMAP) and HOTMAIL all work lightening fast, but as I want my mobile me mail synced across my 3 apple devices i would prefer to keep using this.

I am on the 100mb connection from UPC.

When i take my MAC BOOK to a hotspot / public wifi area, the speed is not an issue.

Any Ideas on what I should be looking out for ?

Rory