Random Disconnects

[Shaher]

Ever since I started playing FFXI at launch, I've been having a bad problem with random disconnects. It doesn't happen during certain times or after certain actions; sometimes I go the whole day without being disconnected, sometimes I get disconnected 5 times in 20 minutes. It's completely static. I'm not sure if it's FFXI or my router, but I'm thinking it's the router because WoW never had any problems. The disconnecting goes something like this:

I'm playing, doing whatever, when suddenly everything around me just STOPS. The "Recieving" at the upper-right corner turns to 0 and my percentage gradually begins dropping, rising, dropping, rising. It fluctuates like this for a good 5 minutes usually, and as long as someone is saying something in the chat log or there's any sort of action going on, it makes the router receive information, pushing the "Recieving" number up, though during this time I'm experiencing severe lag to the point that I'm just wishing it'd boot me already. When I log back in, it usually does it again. And again.

I have a Linksys Router, which some say should be smashed with a "blunt, heavy object", and others say is an excellent router. I posted this type of thread a while back and input all the port numbers and was told to call my Linksys and request all ports be opened, which I did. It was running good for a while after that call, but that was probably just a streak of luck; again, the disconnects are very random and are impossible to anticipate.

If anyone can help me with anything, maybe with ports, telling me what sort of routers they've used and what worked best, if Linksys is generally a good/awful router, I'd really appreciate it. I just want to be able to play without being disconnected and getting my party killed.

Oh, and it's probably worth mentioning it's a wireles router.

[Haggai]

I was having that problem for a while with a Linksys router myself. I found out that my girlfriend's computer had a virus, after I took care of that my problems disappeared.

I'd suggest that you make sure all computers connected to the router are virus free. AVG is a good free anti-virus program.

[KoukiRyu]

This is kinda a random suggestion...but I occasionally get R0, maybe like 3~4 times out of 7 days, and what I found out, is if you constantly equip and unequip things that change your appearance, as in Head, Body, Hands, Legs Feet armor and weapons, that you will slowly but surely reconnect. The longest it's ever taken me to reconnect was about 4~6 mins or so, but whenever I get R0 I usually have to keep reconnecting and getting disconnected, so I didn't mine spending some time trying to connect. Just something to try, cause sometimes R0 seems unavoidable. Also, if you get someone to /tell spam you then you'll reconnect as well...these are things I've tested. I got a friend to /tell spam me and she just sent me online faces and the alphabet, it's funny to see what they type and it helps you, so make a friend do it. XD

[Haggai]

I gotta say that I get a kick out of that Banana thing.

[Gentoo]

When I log back in, it usually does it again. And again.

Sounds like connection state problem.

When that happens, try power cycling your router. No seriously. This will clear out the routing-state tables. See if things stablize -- if they do, then it's clearly the Linksys router. If not, try power cycling your Cable/DSL modem. Again, if the problem seems to stabilize, you know whats causing the problem.

If it ends up being your router, you might want to check that you have the latest firmware. One thing almost all the older routers had issues with was timing out UDP connections, and I believe most of the brands got this figured out with firmware releases (including Linksys).
(Also check to see if your DSL/Cable modem has newer firmware available for it.)

telling me what sort of routers they've used and what worked best

My very best router I used was OpenBSD running on a P100. After it bit the dust, I tried a fair number of brands in my search for the perfect consumer router (Buffalo, D-Link, Linksys, SMC, Belkin, Netgear). The attempt was to find something that can support my work (telecommuting) needs as well as my personal networking requirements. None of them really shine, none of them really suck.
SMC was the only one that really frustrated me. The VBR<something something something> model I picked up reserved a few high UDP ports, and if FFXI tried using those ports the router would become -- random.

I was pretty happy withy my Buffalo router -- but it suffered a component failure, and I replaced it in a pinch with a WRT54G Linksys, and have been using it for a little over a year without any issues. (I picked the Linksys because of its pricepoint and hackability)