Do modems that are both a modem and a router exist?

[twbg4cq]

Hi, to make a really long story short, my aunt is having a trouble with her wireless home network. We go back and forth wondering if the modem is the problem, if the router is the problem, or if it's both. Bellsouth is the ISP and Linksys WRT150N is the router. Bellsouth and Linksys haven't been much help. Internet access disappears and reappears several times in a 10 minute period.

So i'm thinkin, why keep questioning whether it's the router or the modem at fault, and instead get a DSL modem that can also do the tasks of a wireless router. My thinking is that if there's just one piece of hardware and something goes wrong we only have to call one company for support instead of calling every 1-800 number on the planet.

I think i've seen a wireless Cable modem router but not one for DSL

Hopefully this isn't a case of PEBKAC.

Thanks guys.

 

[Guest]

2Wire makes one. Put the DSL modem in Bridge mode and make the Internet connection on the Linksys.

 

[Emerald]

look for an ADSL Router

 

[elel]

When I was looking for one of these, the DSL warehouse was recommended to me as a site which sells that sort of stuff. I eventually got a zoom unit from newegg though. I don't think I saw anything with newer tech than wireless g, but that is fast enough to share an internet connection.

 

[kjones66]

"Internet access disappears and reappears several times in a 10 minute period."



this probably means you have two programs trying to handle the wireless communication. There's software that comes with the router, and windows has a wireless zero configuration service. Those two programs are probably competing with each other; that will cause things to work, not work, work, etc. It's best to turn off the router's software control and let windows wireless zero configuration handle it.

 

[elel]

"Internet access disappears and reappears several times in a 10 minute period."



this probably means you have two programs trying to handle the wireless communication. There's software that comes with the router, and windows has a wireless zero configuration service. Those two programs are probably competing with each other; that will cause things to work, not work, work, etc. It's best to turn off the router's software control and let windows wireless zero configuration handle it.

if this solution works, it deserves a best answer imo. good job

 

[twbg4cq]

2Wire makes one. Put the DSL modem in Bridge mode and make the Internet connection on the Linksys.

This was actually one piece of the puzzle. We found this out after my aunt persistently complained to Bellsouth because they weren't being helpful in the beginning. But to get the router in bridge mode we had to retrieve the password of the modem in order to log into it.

I should also add that this all started when she was trying to get the wireless router to talk with her Wii because she signed up for a free trial of Netflix. The Nintendo website said if the Wii wasn't working the way it should, then change the channel width on the router. It still wasn't working, so I decided to change the channel width back to "Auto" instead of keeping it at 40 MHz.

kjones66 wrote :
this probably means you have two programs trying to handle the wireless communication. There's software that comes with the router, and windows has a wireless zero configuration service. Those two programs are probably competing with each other; that will cause things to work, not work, work, etc. It's best to turn off the router's software control and let windows wireless zero configuration handle it.

I agree elel. kjones66's solution would have been awesome, but when he mentioned that it involved Windows PCs I figured it wouldn't apply in this situation because my aunt has nothing but Apple computers, lol. I personally run Windows at home so, yeah...

So, after setting the modem to Bridge mode and then returning the channel width to default, everything started working.

Thanks everyone.

 

[twbg4cq]

Best answer selected by twbg4cq.

 

[elel]

Good to hear