Internet disconnecting when using WPA
jman1076
Enthusiast - Level 2

About 3 weeks ago my wireless connection started dropping on a regular basis. I would be on the web, and then i would not be able to access any pages. Everytime, I would have to power cycle the router and the wireless would reconnect....then about an hour later, same issue.

I contacted Verizon tech suppot and he could not connect to my router because I was using WPA for security instead of the default WEP.  The tech told me that Verizon was trying to push out some updates or something and that they could not because I was not using THEIR recommended security settings of 64 bit WEP.....he said I would have to revert to WEP or I would continue to have problems.

I reverted back to WEP and have had no problems at all. Everytime I try to put WPA back, I have the same issue.

Anyone else having this issue?

Personally, if this is true, I'm not going to be very happy about this. So either the tech was an idiot or Verizon is being **bleep** by not allowing people to use a different security setting.

Re: Internet disconnecting when using WPA
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Ummmm ... I'll take option #1 for $200, Alex.     Accessing or updating your router from their central office has absolutely nothing to do with the wireless settings.   The recommended settings are WPA2 / AES for any wireless setup.     WEP is really insecure at any bit strength these days.

Check for driver updates for your PC.  It's possible the problem lies there.

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Re: Internet disconnecting when using WPA
jman1076
Enthusiast - Level 2

not a driver issue as it happens on multiple computers/wireless devices.

Re: Internet disconnecting when using WPA
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

OK, so definitely a reason to suspect the router.  Can you try WPA2 instead of WPA?   If it persists on WPA2 as well then I'd say it's time to get a new router.   I use WPA2 on all my devices with the ActionTEC router (version D) without any issues.  Also, on WPA, are you using AES or TKIP?   If AES, try switching to TKIP.   On WPA2, you always want to be using AES.

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Re: Internet disconnecting when using WPA
jman1076
Enthusiast - Level 2

thats what i was thinking too.  I'll have to check the setup for WPA, I have the Westell 9100 router, so I'm not sure it has the same setup as the ActionTec.

Thanks for the info. I'll check tonight/tomorrow and post my findings.

Re: Internet disconnecting when using WPA
Hubrisnxs
Legend

This applies more to the actiontec, rather than the westell so probably ignore below.    doesn't hurt to check firmware, but since you don't have an actiontec, it may not be terribly important

verizon has had some wierd firmware issues lately so try this just in case

http://192.168.1.1

Click Advanced - Click on the ‘Firmware Upgrade’ on the right of the next page  > Click on the blue ‘Check Now’ button located in the ‘Upgrade from the Internet’ section.  Select ‘Force Upgrade’ to download firmware  > Click ‘Apply’ to upgrade the firmware. The Actiontec will reboot with the new firmware loaded.

then try to do the WPA

Re: Internet disconnecting when using WPA
Joe901
Enthusiast - Level 3

I have seen this sort of think on older computers, not enough power for the encryption, etc. I had an old desktop that would not stay connected using WPA but was fine with WEP.

How old/powerful are your computers