LIVEBOX

[Lollie]

How do  I connect a third computer with a wireless netgear adaptor.?   As we are unable to get it to work.

Lollie  44 

[Eslier]

1) unplug Livebox.

2) take Livebox to FT shop

3) tell them it's a heap of junk, you don't want it any more and please stop charging you 3€ per month to rent it

4) go out and buy a Netgear adsl modem/router

5) follow the clear installation instructions

6) open a bottle of wine and pour a glass to celebrate sorting out problem

7) wonder why you didn't do all this long ago

This is definitely the quickest and simplest way of sorting out your problem !

[BJSLIV]

How well does the Netgear adsl modem handle TV?

[Lollie]

Unfortunately that is not an option as OH. company installed and pay for our connections!!

[Ron Avery]

Eslier

You keep saying this but with the greatest of respect, what you are proposing just did not work for me. I followed the advice of a so called expert on here and got netgear stuff,  dongle etc for Wi-Fi and after hours of the PC looking for the wireless connection and not finding it despite oi being 5 metres away,  I and it gave up and I installed the Livebox and supplied dongle etc through the set up CD and it works just fine and with two PCs, Netgear may work for you , but it may not for everybody else,  assuming that you are on Orange,  if you are not, then how can you say that other routers modems etc will be successful?

To get back to the poster's problems, I think they will find a third PC on the livebox or any other router will slow down the download speeds on the two PCs already installed.  We noted quite a difference with the 2nd one but that PC does not have a USB 2 port, which may explain the speed reduction

[Patmobile]

Forget using the Livebox wirelessly!

I have connected the livebox direct by network cable into a cheap network hub and switched off the Livebox wireless facility, which is useless   A netgear wireless access point (also cheap) is then connected to the hub as is one of our desktop computers which controls the access point and the network. 

Everything else, sometimes 3 or 4 other computers (ours and guests), connect wirelessly through the Netgear wireless access point, which is far more accessible and far more reliable than the Livebox working wirelessly.

The Netgear handbook says I can add up to 64 computers to the network this way.  I could have done this with a Netgear wireless router, but I already had all the other bits when the stupid Livebox arrived, so I didn't have to buy one.

Working like this, with wireless turned off, the Livebox is a reasonably acceptable bit of kit.

Patrick

[Eslier]

I'm sorry to hear you had difficulty setting up your network Ron.

Just to be clear, I have set up Liveboxes and other adsl modem/routers successfuly. There is no question that the Livebox does work - it's just that, in my view and it seems in the view of many others, it doesn't work as well as some of the alternatives.  If you know what you are doing with computers etc. then there is no reason why a Livebox won't do a fairly simple job for you, although I would still advise against installing the Espace Orange/Wanadoo software.

My big gripe is that FT force it upon users without making it obvious that there is another option (they want the extra 3€ per month so good selling tactics). Many of the people that end up with a Livebox don't have the knowledge that is often needed to set it up (which is not as simple as many of the alternatives) and certainly don't have the knowledge to troubleshoot when a problem occurs. Many of the problems that people experience setting these things up are relatively simple - such as country settings, firewall settings, or even enabling the wifi capability on a laptop - but they are only simple if you know what you are doing.

The simple modem that FT/ Orange offer for a one off 1€ fee is much more simple to set up and more reliable. This would be a much more sensible option for many people who have struggled with a Livebox.

I use a Netgear DG834GT and at times this year have had at least four computers running through it. I get wireless signals through 60cm granite walls and with the help of an add on aerial get a signal up to 100m away also the other side of a thick wall. We have had guests staying in our gites all summer who have brought their laptops with them and have hooked up to our open network with no difficulty. The modem/router has been plugged in and connected to the adsl line for 24hrs per day continuously since April (apart from one brief occassion when I unplugged it during an overhead thunder storm). It hasn't needed a manual reset at any time.

I recommend Netgear products to others because: they are readily available in France, the instructions are simple to follow and can be downloaded from the Netgear website in English if you wish; they have an efficient helpline and you can phone the UK number and speak to someone in English if you prefer; you can download the latest firmware from the Netgear website to ensure you have the most up to date problem free system; if you have a Netgear wifi card in your computer then thet two units can communicate at up to 108Mbps which is twice the normal speed; and, above all, they are reliable.

I'm sorry I shouldn't have said the Livebox was "junk". Perhaps it would simply have been better to liken it to a 1970s Skoda !

[Bob T]

I am also a great believer in the Netgear route, I have a 834G here with three PCs running off it with no reduction in speed. I have also helped around 20 others set up networks over the past year or so and every one of them is running on a Netgear now. Throwing the livebox out and removing the Wanadoo software is the best thing anyone can do with an internet connection. I would agree with hte above post in that if you have only one PC then a Wanadoo modem at a cost of €1 is a better option. Having said that, this will only work with a windows setup (maybe a Mac too) but not with a Linux operating system as USB modems are not recognised by any serious operating system. I can hear you all saying that everyone has Window, not true, over 70% of the internet will be working on Linux servers.

[Deimos]

FT/Orange sales people are just disreputable when it comes to pushing their Livebox - 'cos they want 3€ per month for ever more. When I had problems with increasing the speed of my ADSL line last winter, Orange started claiming it was "because I did not have a Livebox" (despite the fact that they had actually supplied me an Ethernet ADSL router that was much better than a Livebox). Decided to check this with Wanadoo technical people who said that this "Livebox is better" claim is actually rubbish. The Livebox is nothing special. Its just a standard ADSL router plus WiFi AP in a box (plus a few other bits). As an ADSL router/modem its no better than many others in the market place.

Does seem that a lot of people have problems with it. I think that a lot of this might actually be due to the Wanadoo software which is really c**p (and that's being polite about it) - but even if you like it its totally unnecessary. However, there also do seem quite a lot of faulty Liveboxes - hardware failures.

Lollie, If somebody's company has supplied you the Livebox and connection you are fortunate in that you can spend all the time sorting it out on "company time" and thus being paid for it. Try telling your employer how long you are spending messing around with the c**p hardware they have provided and you will probably find they agree to buying you something else pretty quickly.

Ian

[johnv]

The main thing that I object to with the orange livebox setup is the software ... not only does it overwrite email / web browser etc, but also the wireless network setup, rendering your laptop pretty useless when taken back to a 'standard' wireless setup. I never got mine working wirelessly from my livebox .. I have managed to remove most of the software, and just connect through the ethernet port. I has, however, completely destroyed outlook express, which i cannot get back. I would say the software is junk ...

[PossumGirl]

I got ours to work fine without their software. 

PG

[suein56]

[quote user="PossumGirl"]I got ours to work fine without their software. 

PG
[/quote]

PossumGirl can you tell me how you did that - I tried ... and failed.

Sue

[johnv]

yes, mine works fine without their s/w .. if you just get the livebox running and connect the ethernet cable, all should be well - the mistake is to install ANY of their s/w! . I couldn't get it working with the wireless adapter in my laptop though .. I have a horrible suspicion that you need to put their (supplied) adapter in .. which kind of destroys the point.

[David]

When I changed to broadband, I too fell for the 3 euro per month rental for a live box, and I am waiting for the years subscription to expire in order to change.

However, after suffering enormous problems after installing the wanadoo cd for a dial up connection, and eventually having to change computers, I did not allow the livebox cd anywhere near my computer.

I have windows XP and I connected manually using wifi to the livebox following the instructions supplied with the live box.

I have to say that I have had no problems at all with this wifi set up, which is why I am not in a great rush to get rid of the livebox, even though it costs me 3 euros per month.

David

[johnv]

did you use their wireless adapter, or one that you already had in your PC? .. nothing on earth would persuade my laptop to connect wirelessly with the live box using its built in wifi capability .. no problem at all with the cable connection, after I'd removed all traces of their software.

[David]

Johnv,

You say that you installed the livebox soft ware, and then removed as much as possible.  I suspect that you have not been able to remove all the software, and that that is your problem.  As I said, when I installed the wanadoo cd for a dial up connection, my computer did not work.  I managed to remove most of the wanadoo software, but I was never able remove all of it.  I managed to manually install the dial up connection, but it never worked properly.  My problems only stopped when I bought a new computer.

However, I learnt a lot, and when the live box arrived I did not use the cd at all.  I simply turned the live box on and followed the instructions.  I did not use any adaptors, cables, cds, or anything.  I presume that my pc spoke directly to the live box by a radio connection, using a radio in my computer to connect to a radio in the live box.

As you can see, I am not a computer buff.

Hope this helps,

David