How Can I Load Balance Two Wireless Routers?

Internet, you're being weird. Stop it.

• Trying to set up a new wireless network and running into all kinds of strange problems. Connections dropped every few hours! Some machines work, some don't! Can connect to internet, can't connect to router! DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER (literally). Please help. The set-up is a little convoluted, but does work (until it doesn't). The original router is an ISP-provided 2wire HomePortal 1700HW, a combination DSL modem/router that plugs directly into a phone jack and broadcasts it as a WiFi network. It's a few years old but has worked decently on its own up to this point, so I don't think the problem lies there. The newcomer is a brand-new Western Digital My Net N600 router, acquired both to improve on the range of the old one and to provide networked storage capability for shared music and such. Configuring the two of them to work properly was a bit of a dog, but I finally did get it working. The phone jack plugs into the old 2wire, now set to bridge mode to disable its built-in wireless capability. The 2wire plugs into the N600 via Ethernet. And the N600, armed with all the correct PPPoE login information from the ISP, correctly connects to and interprets the DSL coming in from the 2wire and broadcasts it out. Even the network storage works! Problem is, every couple of hours this connection fails, and in the weirdest way possible. Right now, I'm typing this on an old 'n' busted laptop running Windows XP. It's currently connected to the N600's wireless network and can browse the web no problem. All the status lights on the routers are green, running an ipconfig command returns normal IP address information (including the router's IP), I can ping the router at that location fine. But I can't connect to the router's settings page (192.168.1.1). WTF? Also, a visiting Chromebook can connect to the network but can't load any websites... except for AOL webmail, of all things. A test email sent from a phone showed up in the inbox fine, while Google, Facebook, etc. look dead. Not even Gmail, mail.live.com, or even just plain old aol.com work -- just mail.aol.com. This Chromebook doesn't have a data connection, btw, just WiFi. I say again: WTF? Meanwhile, a newer Windows 7 laptop can't connect to the N600 network at all ("Unable to connect..."), and even plugging directly into the N600 router via Ethernet won't work -- I can ping it fine, but neither websites nor the router settings page itself will load. Various mobile devices are likewise denied -- various iPhones and iPads can't connect to the network at all. Power-cycling the N600 router solves all these problems and things work alright for all devices... for a few hours. Until everything craps out again, for no apparent reason. What could be triggering this issue, and how do I fix it? http://ask.metafilter.com/134428/WhyFi, but it seems totally bizarre to me that: - the status lights on both routers are fine, including the N600's "internet connection OK" light - ONE laptop can connect to the router's WiFi and browse the web, and can ping the router, but can't access the router itself - the other laptop can ping the router through a wired connection, but can't access the router settings or browse the web that way - a Chromebook can connect to the network and can load *one* website (mail.aol.com), but nothing else - no other device (apart from that first laptop that mysteriously works fine) can connect to the WiFi network at all Any thoughts or advice appreciated; I'd love to get this problem fixed rather than have to venture back to Best Buy and try to find a replacement (maybe an N900? who knows).

• Answer:

  After re-reading your previous question, and because I like simple, this would probably be the point where I'd go looking for a regular ol' DSL modem, and get your persnickety old router out of the equation (even better if you can borrow one to test, first, however). What does your old laptop show for DNS servers vs. the Chromebook? It always seems to come back to DNS in my world, but I'd suggest seeing what happens if you manually set the IP address and DNS settings on machines to the same, and see if the issue is the same on each. (And, like I suggested in your other question, I'd use the OpenDNS servers/Google DNS, to eliminate any ISP DNS variables from the equation.) The single web site loading sounds like some kind of weird DNS cache thing, but unless you have the same config in both machines, it's tough to see if the issue is DNS/DHCP/WiFi/cache/whatever. And, does the Win7 laptop connect okay if it's plugged directly into the old router? Hope that helps.