Taking a mallet to my router

[itsgravy]

I've had dsl in my house now for about three years.  When my Dad got it, he bought the shittiest wireless router/modem combo he could find.  Now, he and my sister both have laptops that don't work on the wireless but my laptop works fine (which is the strange part).  I set it to default settings so there is no mac filter and when they connect they either can't connect or they get limited or no connectivity. 

Dsl in a problem in itself (IE goes out in the rain) but it has to be something wrong with the router if it's not letting people on except myself.  Suggestions?

[Spectere]

What kind of router do you have?

Dsl in a problem in itself (IE goes out in the rain)

That's just...awful.  Who's your ISP/telco provider?

[itsgravy]

Westell brand router (never heard of besides sitting on top of my computer stand) and I have Verizon.

[Spectere]

Hmm...

Do the laptops associate themselves with the access point?  Do they work with static IP addresses?

Also, do the laptops that don't work have built-in wireless or do they have USB dongles or PC Cards?  In my experience, the latter two suck balls at establishing and maintaining connections.

[MortifiedocAlot]

Westell brand router (never heard of besides sitting on top of my computer stand) and I have Verizon.

I have a Westell. Mine is probably newer, or around the same age. It's a rather plane and small black box with 5 lights dictating what's working and what isn't. Mines been somewhat reliable, and has never gone out in the rain.

[OmegaOmni]

NERDS!

[itsgravy]

It's been reliable until we decided to use it for more than just me playing WoW in my room.

The computers are brand new so the wireless is built in.  Default I'm assuming is static IP... The thing is that my Dad decided to lose his user name and password with verizon and the one he had saved to the router so I can't actually change anything.  If I reset the router again then we don't have internet because you have to have your verizon user/pass to set up a dsl modem.  If I don't reset it, I can't get in because he doesn't remember the pass for the router software.

Honestly I was looking more for "BROKEN THROW IT AWAY" so I wouldn't have to worry about it.  Come Thursday ima call verizon and get the user name / pass then I'll see what it's doing with the IPs.  I only say this because if it is assigning a static IP then that might be the problem due to the strange way the physical network is set up.

Also, cookies.

[MortifiedocAlot]

The thing is that my Dad decided to lose his user name and password with verizon and the one he had saved to the router so I can't actually change anything.  If I reset the router again then we don't have internet because you have to have your verizon user/pass to set up a dsl modem.  If I don't reset it, I can't get in because he doesn't remember the pass for the router software.

I'm pretty sure mine does the same thing. Really is a pain in the ass.

[itsgravy]

Yea, it has to do with actually accessing the dsl from the phone line.  It doesn't just get turned on to your house like cable does, you need a modem to get it from the phone line and router to connect it to your computer.  To get it from the modem you have to have the user/pass given to you by the isp.

[Bobbias]

Default wouldn't be static IP, the default would be DHCP. If it was static IP, you wouldn't be able to connect the router and set it up without having to set the static IP settings properly.