DHCP lease time

My 3 computers and 2 printers share a home network. Occasionally everybody loses connectivity to the Internet and to the printers. The PC's appear to still have IP addresses but they don't work. It has to be corrected by powering down the router for a few seconds, and renewing the IP addresses on the PC's, then it's OK.

I suspect the DHCP client lease time, which is set to "0" in the router (that's the default for a one-day lease). It's always been set this way but the problem with disappearing connectivity has gotten worse in recent months. Is the lease time the culprit? Or is the router just old and tired?

Using a Linksys Router WRT-54G for about 5 years now. All machines are wire-connected except one PC which is wireless. Router Firmware updated in late 2006.

 

I don't know about your ISP but here (in the UK) lease time of 24 hours is normal, have you tried resetting that router instead of powering off/on. It may help.

The fact that everything loses connection suggests either a router or ISP problem but I'd try the reset first (saving any essential settings beforhand obviously).

If that doesn't help talk to your ISP and see if they have issues with their DHCP, after that try and borrow another router. If resetting doesn't work, ISP says no problem and borrowed router doesn't have any problems then perhaps your linksys is ready for silicon heaven.