Zen Internet Support Forum

@ Davros

I've mentioned in a previous posting in this thread that the BT staff member who is contributing to the iPlayer crashing BT Home Hubs thread on the BT forum did say that BT were still talking to the BBC about a fix for Mac users.  As far as I recall, he did not have any theories about what might be going on with the router to cause this type of crash, only that installing the latest version of Flash may work as a fix for non Mac users. 

As far as our own problem is concerned: having downloaded the latest version of Flash this morning, this afternoon my son has streamed several radio programmes for over an hour, with no problems at all.  The router did lose connection at around 6.10pm but this was shortly after he had already closed down his PC; it's not unusual for us to drop connection after six but the router always reboots itself immediately whereas the crashes that were happening yesterday when trying to run iPlayer were causing the router to take much longer to sort itself out.

 

I've picked up this thread through Google. I was looking for information as I have recently encountered this problem with iPlayer rebooting a Billion router. When using Internet Explorer, as soon as the play icon was pressed the router rebooted.

 But here's the interesting thing.  If I used Mozilla Firefox then I had no problems whatsoever.

  So - ditch IE - go with Firefox - its a better browser anyway.

 Hope this helps.

 Cheers

Andy

@ Andy

I mainly use IE, but I downloaded Firefox a little while ago when WordPress introduced a major upgrade which was initially very glitchy in IE but functioned more smoothly in Firefox - otherwise I tend not to use Firefox.  My son uses only IE.  If the lastest version of Flash does not consistently provide a fix then I'll suggest that he downloads Firefox as well (it was his PC that was having the problem with iPlayer, not mine which has been OK).

There is a BBC technology blog thread on BT iPlayer Home Hub issues although a Zen/Speedtouch 585 user with the same iPlayer problem is now contributing.  I understand that the BT Home Hub is also a Thompson product.  I am still waiting to get into the blog but when I'm in, I'll also mention your suggestion of using Firefox, if that is OK with you but with the caveat that your experience has not been with a Speedtouch router.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/05/bt_iplayer_homehub_issues.html

I haven't been able to find anything specific to this problem with BT Home Hubs and Speedtouch routers on the iPlayer site Troubleshooting pages other than the requirement for the lasted version of Flash.  Given that its been a known issue for sometime, I would have expected better acknowledgement of this issue by the BBC.

OK with me, alphafemail. I only hope to provide useful help to others.

Cheers,

Andy

OK, Andy.  Some users of the "BeBox" router are also reporting the same problems streaming iPlayer. The "BeBox" router is, I believe, a rebranded Speedtouch.

Today was the final straw.

I switched on my computer and there is no sign of the router. Probably been swamped by other devices as a new network has appeared in the AirPort prefs pane while mine has disappeared.

The Speedtouch 585v7 obviously can't deal with the structure of my house if there is too much competition.

Having found Zen's service  and recommendations good in the past I am very disappointed that I was directed toward this heap of garbage as a better router than my old Netgear DG834. Suffice it to say I doubt I'll persisting with this router. It's been poor since day 1.

Not a happy puppy. 

I wonder if you have a faulty one?

My 585 supports

Three desktop PC's (wired network)

A seperate AP besides the built in wireless

A print server

A  Laptop on wi-fi

A EeePC on wi-fi

A network storage device

It as never given any problem at all and I find it much more stable on the broadband connection than my vigor 2600 although much less expensive.

I also use the DMT software to limit the DSL sync speed making the 585 very stable over night when the snr drops due to line noise. The vigor fell over every night causing the BRASS to be a mbps lower than the line could really support.

 

 

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Ken

Zen Active 8000

Middle age is when your classmates are so grey, bald and wrinkled that they don't recognize you.
-Bennet Cerf

I don't think it's faulty I think it's a heap of garbage.

I can't fault the actual internet connection side of things, this has been very stable. However, it's also been much slower than my old Netgear DG834 despite being connected directly to the BT masterplate coming into the house.

Having used both the Thomson and Netgear web interfaces I think the Netgear one is vastly superior and also has more features. Add to the fact that Thomson seem to do everything in their power to stop people getting help (need to register as a business to download firmware, 0906 support number) I can't say that I'm very impressed with their product.

The iPlayer issue and now the loss of the wireless signal is the last straw as far as I'm concerned.

Must admit I like Netgear stuff. The AP and print server I use are both Netgear and if I needed to change my router I would most probably also go for Netgear.

At least nowdays it does not cost an arm and a leg to replace an ADSL router. Hope you get all your problems sorted soon.

 

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Ken

Zen Active 8000

Middle age is when your classmates are so grey, bald and wrinkled that they don't recognize you.
-Bennet Cerf

A wee update.

I've taken the plunge into the world of Homeplug networking so I can put my trust netgear next to the phone master socket.

I have watched Mock the Week on iPlayer without issue while doing a few other things at the same time on the internet. Early days but I will post back once it's been up and running for a bit.

I have been looking at "Home Plug" networking and wonder if you can comment

1/ Is there an encryption used to stop any leakage to next door making it possable for them to log into your network?

2/ Have you noticed the home plug system causing any interference to another device either pluged into the mains or RF induced?

 

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Ken

Zen Active 8000

Middle age is when your classmates are so grey, bald and wrinkled that they don't recognize you.
-Bennet Cerf

I got the Devolo dLAN 200 AVeasy.

The adapters have a security button that, when pressed on each adapter in turn, encrypts the network using AES encryption. If the adapter is connected directly to your computer there is a utility supplied that lets you assign your own password rather than the random one the adapter generate themselves.

The only interference I have noticed is a very slight buzzing on my phone. However I suspect that is because the home-plug adapter and the Netgear router are using the same two socket wall outlet.

 

It's only been running for a day though so there may be more to report later. 

The BBC are claiming that the problems have been resolved by tweaking a setting in flash player.  Link to the Register.