Am planning to upgrade the inlaws' internet provision to wireless over Christmas so can anyone recommend a simple to install and use wireless router to replace an old Ethernet one?
Thought that this one looks OK but would welcome alternative suggestions.
www.ebuyer.com/204552-netgear-dgn2200-wireless-n300-adsl-modem-router-dgn2200-100uks
Thanks
Last edited by: Soupytwist on Wed 14 Dec 11 at 20:41
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Nowt wrong with that, cant go wrong with Netgear gear. Always find they find extra speed on the adsl link that others cant.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 14 Dec 11 at 20:52
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A decent router, but shop around you may find it is cheaper in even PCWORLD. I tend to rarely use Ebuyer now as its actually very expensive for most things. Their next day delivery charge is horrific too.
Have a look if these people sell it, they are my main suppliers now.
www.cclonline.com/
Edit just had a quick look around, the the Ebuyer price seems to be very good.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Wed 14 Dec 11 at 21:02
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Depends on whether you need wireless 'N' speed or not. If you don't then this is what I've been using for the last 4 years, easy to set up and a fair bit cheaper.
tinyurl.com/7qdkhm7
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I'd second Netgear kit. I assume your choice of an ADSL router means they have ADSL broadband and not something else, e.g. Virgin Media cable or BT Infinity. Both of them have separate modems so a router only needs to... well route.
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We aren't on cable so need a modem/router but our Netgear has been great: tinyurl.com/d3q7dyh
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I have had 3 x Netgear 834G in the last 6/7 years.
No problems with the 834G - just AOL service -problem they replace the router as the BT engineer costs them if there is no fault. So they replace the router 1st and then reluctantly bring in the BT man when all else fails and after threatening the poor customer with £150 bill!.
The very first, 6/7 yr old, 834g router is in my son's house - replaced a wired modem. He gets 11 Meg as he is 400 yds from the exchange. I get 6 Meg, 2.5 miles from my different exchange as the cable runs. Now using a foc D-link.
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That's 4 votes for Netgear then :-)
EDIT: make that 7 with FB's.
In addition to my own DG834G, about 18 months ago I installed one for some technophobe neighbours, that has run faultlessly as well.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 10:22
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How's about my Plusnet supplied Thomson TG585 v8 then, I'm getting less-than 1Mbps down and 0.4Mbps up :(
I've plugged the critter into the master socket, swopped microfilters etc., but still S-L-O-W,
Should I bin it and buy a Netgear for £55, or request a BT engineer who'll charge me £60 if the fault is internal,
Not an easy one, is it :)
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>> Always find they find extra speed on the adsl link that others cant.
>>
That is usually down to the ability to sync at a low noise margin, I have found 2Wire routers to be excellent in that regard, sold in the UK by BT as the BT1200, BT1250, BT1800HG, BT2700HG etc, 2Wire are now part of Pace.
>> How's about my Plusnet supplied Thomson TG585 v8 then,>>
We are on Plusnet and are currently using a 2700HG router (Business Hub in BT parlance) which will reliably sync below 5dB noise margin and gives us 7700 kbps despite being a couple of miles from the exchange.
The v5 firmware (5.29.117.6 being the best) in the 2700HG can also be tweaked to boost the wireless power and to disable access to the provisioning servers to stop updating to the inferior v6 firmware.
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>> I've plugged the critter into the master socket, swopped microfilters etc., but still S-L-O-W,
Unplug all phones and micro filters and try the router in the master socket. The micro filters are for phones and not the ADSL router. As I've said before this could be down to star wiring of phone sockets in the house - have you checked that? Or it could be down to line speed.
Have you tried running diagnostic type tests?
speedtester.bt.com/
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>>Unplug all phones and micro filters and try the router in the master socket.<<
Ah! - I think you've mentioned that before Rob, my ADSL cable has a smaller plug than the socket on the master jobbie (hence the m/filter) that's why I haven't tried it before :)
I'll try those BT tests later - thanks!
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>>
>> Ah! - I think you've mentioned that before Rob, my ADSL cable has a smaller
>> plug than the socket on the master jobbie (hence the m/filter) that's why I haven't
>> tried it before :)
>>
Normally the ADSL modem/router supplier will include a suitable cable in the box, if not here's an example of the adaptor cable you need:-
tinyurl.com/cwbf6v5
random eBay hit, not sure if the seller's any good or not.
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If there is more than one phone socket in the house, how is the wiring connected. You could try a new BT Iplate for the master socket.
www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-iplate---bt-broadband-accelerator-58LT.html
www.maplin.co.uk/bt-iplate-adsl-speed-enhancer-383788
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If you want a cheap ADSL modem/router to experiment with then this Belkin one for 16 quid includes the access point and a USB WiFi dongle for 16 quid:-
tinyurl.com/c72c5cu
I've no experience with the access point but I've been using a couple of the dongles for donks without problems.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 11:57
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Belkin works perfectly as an AP. I setup Netgear as the main router and a Belkin as AP in my office. Seemless switchover when moving around the house with a stream running.
I've also checked to make sure it does jump from one to other.
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>> Belkin works perfectly as an AP. I setup Netgear as the main router and a
>> Belkin as AP in my office. Seemless switchover when moving around the house with a
>> stream running.
>>
I've never worked out why that Belkin deal is so cheap, it's been that price for 18 months or more. I paid 15 quid for just the dongle about 4 years ago. I was tempted to get one to use as a repeater, although that's pushing my IT skills a bit far.
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Just too many problems with them, its always a nightmare trying to get more than four machines working wirelessly on a Belkin. Always some sort of compatibility issues which I don't get with any other brands.
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>> Just too many problems with them, its always a nightmare trying to get more than
>> four machines working wirelessly on a Belkin. Always some sort of compatibility issues which I
>> don't get with any other brands.
Probably OK for a fair few domestic users then; no good to me though, I've actually run out of space in the MAC white list on my Netgear, too much wifi stuff at Spamcan Towers!
The only minor irritation with their USB dongles is that I've got two of them, one slightly newer than the other, they need different drivers and one is W7 compatible and one isn't.
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Netgear has the nicer interface, has adjustable signal strength and is generally more configurable.
The only reason I got the Belkin was due to a new Netgear n300 router I bought being so unreliable. 5 out of box failures (bad batch delivered to MediaMarkt I guess) made me switch.
Belkin have an AP setting on the router I have which configures itself, Netgear you have to do it all yourself.
One issue I have had with the Belkin is getting multiple hardware to work wired. Occassionally the ports die leaving only port 1 working. It's not often enough for me to bin and replace it.
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I avoid Belkin, far too many nigglly issues with them and long term they often fail quite early on (often just after the warranty expires).
A budget brand I like is TP Link, ideal for low end users and never touch wood had to replace one yet. My entire office/workship is wired with TP Link routers, witches and a printer server and its 100% reliable and cost about £100 less than a Netgear system would have.
I still have a Netgear as the main router though.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 12:07
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My master socket was renewed earlier in the year by BT when I had connection troubles and was orf line,
for 4 weeks :(
I have to have a rummage through me drawers, I must have an ADSL cable with the larger plug somewhere,
I'll probably go for that Belkin even though I believe my Thomson jobbie is OK, but I wont know until I compare it with another router.
Thanks guys :)
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If you get the Belkin, if you start getting strange problems with your internet access in six months time, don't say I didn't warn you.
At one point about 1/6 of all my jobs were down to issues with these god damn awful routers. Their common problem was with the capacitors, which would leak causing constant router crashes.
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>> If you get the Belkin, ...
you will get a lifetime warranty. By all accounts, they honour them and despite Rattle's experiences, Belkin have not gone bust giving free replacements for faulty routers.
;-) Perhaps Rattle conveniently "forgot" to get his clients the free replacements they were due.
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Its not really worth the bother and hassle of an RMA, clients won't do without the internet for weeks. I just had a lot of bad experiences at the same time, the newer routers may well be a lot better but I do have a customer with an expensive N one he paid over £100 for. I dread it when I he gets a new computer because making it work with the Belkin is always tricky.
Netgears do fail but they do mostly last 3-4 years, but they are just work out of the box a lot better.
That said I may be being unfair on Belkin, it was around 2007 when I got burnt. At the time I was supplying what ever I could get the best offer on, which was mostly Linksys and never had much issue with them.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 12:51
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As I said people want the internet working now, not in three weeks time when the replacement arrives.
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You haven't tried them, so how do you know it takes 3 weeks? You are judging and trashing them without any evidence.
If you phone them, they will send out a new one same day. Quicker and cheaper than waiting for the typical PC repair guy to turn up.
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They would still need me to set it up for them though :).
Still pretty sure back in 2007 they didn't have a life time warranty with them.
The problems I have now with Belkin is not hardware but compatibility issues.
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The speed test link I posted should tell you what your line is capable of. If you've never had a good connection speed and happen to live a long way from the exchange, there may be nothing you can do about it.
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I have carried out a BT speed test before actually, and I should get at least 2Mbps - which is what I used to get,
I've just been in touch with Novatech to ask their advice on a router for my iFlame desktop,
and they recommended this one ... is it a thumbs up?
www.novatech.co.uk/products/networking/wirelessnetworking/wirelessrouters/adslroutersbtline/dgn2000-100uks.html
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Depends on what level of future proofing you want, it's 10 quid dearer than the older DG834G I suggested but has 'N' capability and 2 antennas so you could get higher data rates between wireless devices - that wouldn't affect the download speeds though.
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I would go for an N without a doubt, especially in crowded areas, N copes with interference much better than G, even if the computer is only G its well worth the extra money as your phone etc will most likely to be N.
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I suspect Dog is as far as possible from 'crowded areas' ;-)
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In that case G will probably work just fine, a lot of people in south Manchester are having issues with G when it once worked fine for them. The block of flats next door often reveals why when you look at the networks, I think my record was a wireless NIC picking up 40 different networks.
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>> I suspect Dog is as far as possible from 'crowded areas' ;-)
I imagine he is. If he's never had a connection run at 2Mbps at this new home he may never. On the other hand if it's dropped recently then it could be a combination of problems on the line or router.
If there is a lot of noise on the line, the profile for the connection will be downgraded until it is stable. This profile can be reset by BT. But if it's low because of noise then this won't help.
It would be useful to know if the slowness of the connection is a new thing or it's always been like that.
And for asking questions and actually getting someone to look at it, then posting in the BT broadband forum instead of here would be my recommendation.
community.bt.com/t5/BB-Speed-Connection-Issues/bd-p/BBinHome
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Dog, can you look at the router stats? What does it report the noise margin or s/n as? it should be in dB.
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>>Dog, can you look at the router stats?<<
How do I check that out Cheddar?
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>> >>Dog, can you look at the router stats?<<
>>
>> How do I check that out Cheddar?
>>
You should be able to logon to the router and access a page called "stats" or "summary" or sumit ...
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I did see someone earlier on, but it was probably a Sheep :)
Ahem! - I used to get 2Mbps consistently, I advised Plusnet of my speed issue on the 3rd Dec,
So um gonna (A) request an upgrade to ADSL2+ which is available for here as I've checked,
And (B) check out that BT broadband forum.
Thanks to all :)
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I assumed when you mentioned BT engineer you had BT broadband and not Plusnet. Do you know if this Plusnet broadband is just BT broadband or is it LLU? If the latter then the forum I mentioned will be of no use. Sorry.
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Plusnet is owned by BT, so it's BT infrastructure.
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The forum and the speed test link might be okay then. The mods on that forum work for BT.
The speed test link needs the computer plugged directly into the router. Not sure what it does at the other end but it does say what speed range you ought to be getting. This can be a clue as to why speeds are low - the ADSL profile may be downgraded.
As someone (Cheddar?) says above, it would be good to login to the router and let us know what the signal strength etc are like.
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>>You should be able to logon to the router and access a page called "stats" or "summary" or sumit ...<<
Thanks Cheddar, I've been connecting/disconnecting the router may times to try it in the master socket and back to the ext. so it will have logged that as well no doubt.
Rob - I am on LLU but ... (don't it take time all this blimming mucking about!) I've been onto Plusnet (they've been very good to me over the years) and they are going to upgrade me to ADSL2+ AND send me their new N router :)
So, that'll take about 10 days or so, if I STILL can't get a decent speed I'll either request an engineer,
or buy a one-way ticket to Beachy Head :(
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>>
>> Thanks Cheddar, I've been connecting/disconnecting the router may times to try it in the master
>> socket and back to the ext. so it will have logged that as well no
>> doubt.
>>
This how I got into a spiral of doom and ended up with 200K down, 370K up. The DSLAM (the gubbins in the exchange that connects to the other end of your phone line) senses that there are connection issues on your line and reduces your broadband speed to see if that improves things. Then you reset or disconnect the modem again, and so it reduces the speed further...and so on.
Not saying that is the specific problem here, but sometimes (as in my case) just leaving it running for 24 hrs. can magically fix download speeds sometimes.
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>> just leaving it running for 24 hrs. can magically fix download speeds sometimes.
When BT Infinity is installed it can take a little time to get max speed whilst the profile is adjusted. You are meant to leave the modem on whilst it learns. Mine is never off apart from when we go away on holiday. I was lucky and I got near max speed when it was installed (after the old star wiring disconnected).
So Dog, whilst you are out in the sticks, how far away is the exchange?
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Sounds like they are doing all they can to help. At least you'll get a free router to see if that helps. Being on ADSL2+ will also help.
When I was waiting for our broadband to be installed last year I was using a Vodafone 3G dongle. I was getting a faster connection with that than you are with Plusnet!
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ADSL2+ will cost you more whereas a router than can sync at a low noise margin will almost certainly improve your speed if you are a good way from the exchange.
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Right ... I'm 2.2 miles from the exchange, I've carried out Rob's BT test and the (surprising) results are as follows:
Download speedachieved during the test was - 2673 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :3648 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 3000 Kbps
I will check out the router logs later on Cheddar, my brain hurts at present :)
Plusnet didn't mention increasing my monthly charge Re: the upgrade, but I will have to stay with them for 12 months, or cough up £60 for the new N router they are sending me.
EDIT: I do usually leave the router on 24/7
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 14:57
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So what speed do you actually get when you do to say:
www.speedtest.com
And there's a speed test on the BT link I gave too:
speedtester.bt.com/beta/
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>> So what speed do you actually get when you do to say:
>>
I think that is what Dog has reported, 2673 Kbps is fine when the IP Profile for the line is 3000 Kbps.
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>>And there's a speed test on the BT link I gave too: speedtester.bt.com/beta/<<
That's the one I just used for those figures,
I usually use Thinkbroadband and when I tested the speed last it was 0.7Mbps down and 0.4 up but, I read that the weather can affect bb speed and, the weather here yesterday was A-trocious!
BTW ... My bb speed has been poor for weeks, not just last night :)
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 15:07
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Then the figures suggest there's nothing wrong with the ADSL broadband speed considering distance to exchange.
Was the PC connected to the router in the same way as it always has? i.e. directly into the router and not via wifi etc.
When I had BT Infinity installed the Openreach engineer wanted to check the speed. Their recommended speed testing site was www.speedtest.net. Selecting a nearby site to test against, i.e. not seeing how fast you can download from Australia :-)
Although I just tried Australia and the speed was about what you get anyway. So your ADSL connection in that instance is not the bottleneck.
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>>Was the PC connected to the router in the same way as it always has? i.e. directly into the router and not via wifi etc<<
Yes.
Also. I've not been able to view Zed's steam trains at all - probably because they are HD,
I'll leave it now until I get my upgrade + N router.
Sorry to Soupy for hijacking his thread, but I think he may have learnt a little more about routers etc. as well as me :)
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I'm back :)
I've logged into my router and the Bandwidth is (Up/Down) 448 / 3,648 kbps.
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Which is what the BT website test said as well. So in theory you could have a max download speed of about 3.6Mbps and upload of 448kbps.
So have you tested bandwidth on anything else like www.speedtest.net. And what about say video of the BBC iPlayer service.
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>>I'm back :)
I've logged into my router>>
See if you can find the noise margin or s/n ...
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Rob ... My Speedtest speed test gave ping 45ms, down 2.83Mbps, up 0.37Mbps
I haven't used the BBC iPlayer lately, but when I have used it, it's been fine.
I knew my bb speed wasn't up to much, but it does what I want, usually, it's only when I tried to watch Zeds Vids that I thought it was about time I did something about it, and although according to the above test, I can get an almost 3Mbps downspeed, I still can't watch Zeds HD youtubes properly.
Cheddar ... I've searched through the various menus but I can't any noise margin or s/n,
I can see the event logs for today, which were all successful.
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What PC and at what resolution are you playing them back on? I've just tried this one:-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6vw3vOQgs
and even if I pause it until buffering is complete playback at 1080p is very stuttery. Fine at 360p. This is on my mighty powerhouse 1.6GHz P4 laptop.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 20:15
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It's a new Novatech iFlame desktop PC, spam, that youtube stopped 3 times while I was watching it,
Compare my speeds (Plusnet Technologies) with what some people in the world are getting :(
www.speedtest.net/wave/6c89f636ca1a1c45?
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Ah! ... I watched that Tornado Cathedrals Express youtube at 720p and it played OK without stopping once!
So that's the answer then - thanks spamcan :)
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I go to the trouble of filming and using my bandwidth to upload in 1080 HD, and it turns out you dont want it, crappy quality will do.
Sniff.
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>> I go to the trouble of filming and using my bandwidth to upload in 1080
>> HD, and it turns out you dont want it, crappy quality will do.
>>
>> Sniff.
>>
Awwww poor Zero.
Im sure someone, somewhere, will be interested enough to watch in 1080HD...
... not me though.
Last edited by: swiss tony on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 21:03
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Just tried it on my 3gig dual core desktop with its 25 quid graphics card and it plays back fine at 1080p, no stuttering.
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My iFlame is 4gig 64 bit but still hiccups even with 720p, so we'll wait and see how we get on when Santa delivers my new router + upgrade.
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I tried the one linked above and it played fine and precached/loaded it in seconds. Then I tried this one:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcE8Hg4YXAE&feature=related
And it stop a few times in the first 30 seconds and that was enough to tell me either there's an issue on Youtube or the video. It will not download the video as fast as my connection allows and hence stutters. This is on a dual core iMac with a 38Mbps download speed (so more than ten times faster than Dog's connection).
Hmmm maybe it's a browser thing. I might try Chrome.
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>> It's a new Novatech iFlame desktop PC, spam, that youtube stopped 3 times while I
>> was watching it,
>>
That's a much better machine than my desktop, should be able to play back at 1080p no probs. Maybe worth a thread of its own if it's causing significant annoyance. if you are pausing the video until it's downloaded completely and it's still stuttering I don't think it's the broadband. Even on board graphics should be good enough to play back 1080p on that machine I should think.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 21:34
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I just tried this one again:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcE8Hg4YXAE&feature=related
It had downloaded some of it already so started playing. But is not even trying to download anymore until it's got to the limit of the cached download. Very odd.
I don't look at things on Youtube much.
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Tried in Chrome and it played okay but did not preload any of it. But my connection should be fast enough to stream the 1080P stream. But it played okay. In Firefox it was downloading the video ahead of playing it.
What bit rate is the 1080P streams Zero?
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And the conclusion for Dog's connection is... it's working and he's only having problems watching Zero's 1080P train videos?
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>> I just tried this one again:
>>
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcE8Hg4YXAE&feature=related
>>
I've downloaded a local copy of that one to remove the browser and broadband connection from the equation, 102MB of mp4; plays back with no stuttering in WMP even on the 1.6gig laptop. File properties say 1920x1080 so the full Zeddo HD experience.
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Just tried downloading the MP4 version of that video - interestingly it is only downloading at 1.9 - 2.1 Mbps. That's slow. Does Youtube throttle downloads?
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>>if you are pausing the video until it's downloaded completely and it's still stuttering I don't think it's the broadband<<
Nay, it’s OK if I pause it until it’s downloaded and then play it.
>>And the conclusion for Dog's connection is... it's working and he's only having problems watching Zero's 1080P train videos? <<
Nay, at one time last night I was only getting 0.7Mb/s down and 0.1 (that’s right!) 0.1Mb/s up ... and my connection often drops umpteen times per day, if a new N router & upgrade to ADSL2+ doesn’t cure the problem, I’ll request a visit by a BT engineer.
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A question for zero. If Youtube appears to restrict downloads to 2.1Mbps (I've tried a few), what bandwidth do you think is needed for the bit rate you've used in the 1080P videos?
I've tried a few downloads of flash and MP4 video of the Youtube site and on BT broadband it is definitely capped. Whereas if I download something from BBC iPlayer to view later I get it at full speed (about 4 Megabytes per second).
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I've just downloaded Chrome and tried Zeds HD Vids on that at 1080HD but it was no better than IE9.
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I used a plugin for Firefox to download the video locally. The download only went at 2.1Mbps max and that's on a 38Mbps connection. I'm not sure 2.1Mbps is fast enough for a 1080P stream.
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>> I'm not sure 2.1Mbps is fast enough for a 1080P stream.
>>
It's not. You need at least 5. I have 6 and still pause any 1080P until half loaded before pressing play.
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I know it's not. It was an ironic question for Zero I suppose. The bitrate he's used for the 1080P is over 6000Kbps. And despite having a reliable 38Mbps connection, I had some pauses. But for the one I included above, even pausing it did not progress the download. So something is wrong.
For videos like this, the solution is probably to download them locally. If you like trains.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 23:58
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And I've not looked up where Youtube (Google) host their videos. All over probably if their load balancing servers work as they should.
So did a speedtest.net test to New York. I got 16Mbps download and 6.5Mbps upload. UK and European servers would be a lot faster for downloads. Ping was 86ms (about 15ms or less for UK).
Can't believe we have all been advising Dog how to check and improve download speeds when it might have been Youtube to blame. And Zero was responsible for the content :-)
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 16 Dec 11 at 00:06
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If your downloads slow down at "peak times" your problems may be your ISP shaping/throttling your bandwidth.
If you've got gallons of bandwidth you won't mind it being a bit less, but if it barely trickles out of the tap at the best of times it's not helpful.
Some ISP's are worse than others.
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We are on Plusnet like Dog and have no line shaping, it is down to the service/product rather than the ISP.
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Plus net traffic shape all their consumers unless you are on a commercial tarif.
www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/traffic_management.shtml
Look dog, at the end of the day, if you choose to live in dedend lane, backofbeyond, sheepshite, Devon, you can expect crap internet. It goes with the territory.
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Devon? isn't that somewhere in England.
At least after yesterdays steep learning curve (with much help - thanks) I gained a new router and upgrade to ADSL2+
:)
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>> Devon? isn't that somewhere in England.
Dartmouth is, but Dartmoor is like the moon, somewhere you need to go, but only if you have capsule to take you home again. You wouldn't want to live there.
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>>You wouldn't want to live there<<
Stunningly beautiful is Dartmoor (and Exmoor) I'd live there, if I had cartloads of wedge.
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>> Plus net traffic shape all their consumers unless you are on a commercial tarif.
>>
Looks like they do now though the Pro has very little shaping/managing.
We are on the Plusnet Pro legacy product, before Pro was an add on, no shaping, included webspace and commercial level support. No reason to change.
Last edited by: Cheddar on Fri 16 Dec 11 at 09:41
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>> I know it's not. It was an ironic question for Zero I suppose. The bitrate
>> he's used for the 1080P is over 6000Kbps.
It might be interesting (in the loosest sense of the word) to compare the playback quality of highly compressed 1080p as per Youtube with less highly compressed 720p or even less compressed 480p, I wouldn't like to predict which actually would give the best looking playback.
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Ok I will upload a series of tests, at various compressions and definitions
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>> It might be interesting >>
So many variables, it will depend on the actual compression in each case, the graphic card and the screen resolution.
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>> I shant bother then.
>>
Don't give up on my count, I was just making a point.
More generally if you get stutters etc when watching a YouTube video then let it play whlile you make a cupper and then play it again, it will usually play fine the second time whatever the resolution because any bandwidth restriction is not impeding the buffering.
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ADSL2
Not seen here any mention here of making sure you buy an ADSL2 modem. plusnet/BT says it will be up to twice as fast and up to 20Mbs/s when they have rolled out their new WBC 21N connectivity. I am about to buy the Netgear one recommended here.
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OOPs. Just seen Dog's ADSL2 upgrade comment.
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6 days time b/b, my new 'N' router didn't make one iota of difference to my download speed, (and why should it)
So I'll report back with the result of my upgrade to ADSL2+ in about a weeks time.
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>>my new 'N' router didn't make one iota of difference to
>> my download speed, (and why should it)
>>
If it had the ability to sync at a lower noise margin then it could.
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>> If it had the ability to sync at a lower noise margin then it could.
Doesn't seem to otherwise speed would have improved. He should have got the router you suggested.
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The main reason for the new router (free via Plusnet) was to rule out any fault with my previous router,
I had carried out all the checks advised by Plusnet and your good selves, and the router was the final internal suspect.
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I don't think many VM customers would recommend Netgear routers, we've had nothing but problems with the latest DG480 Superhub constantly resetting itself for no reason. There's endless threads about this issue and yet VM are still using the Netgear hub, there have been rumours that they maybe be changing to a Cisco branded router.
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>> I don't think many VM customers would recommend Netgear routers, we've had nothing but problems
>> with the latest DG480 Superhub constantly resetting itself for no reason.
Been there done that - it is indeed a heap of junk. After putting a whole bag of effort into sorting out my Superhub(s) in every way you can imagine, including pulling Virgin Head Office into it all, and endless hours over eight months of techy faffing, I gave up and bought an Apple Airport Express for £89.
Plugged it in, it all worked immediately and hasn't crashed yet in two months of solid running, delivering rock solid wireless performance at the speed I pay for. Worth every penny, even though I resent the fact I had to fork out more money to make the Virgin connection work as expected.
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>> The main reason for the new router (free via Plusnet) was to rule out any
>> fault with my previous router,
>>
>> I had carried out all the checks advised by Plusnet and your good selves, and
>> the router was the final internal suspect.
>>
I was wondering whether your speed issues were purely down to the wet string connecting you to the exchange or something more subtle; have you tried a 'ping' test?
www.pingtest.net/
I would expect a 'normal' domestic ADSL line to have a ping between 40-80 ms, much more than that and I'd wonder if there's something configured wrong in their network, in addition to the wet string connection.
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>>have you tried a 'ping' test?<<
Just have, and the result was = 49ms, Jitter: 1ms
Upgrade to ADSL2+ tomorrow :)
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Oh, and the Line Quality was A MOS: 4.38, Packet Loss 0%, Distance ~ 50 mi
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That all sounds pretty reasonable.
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Fastest download speed with BT in my area is apparently close to 80Mbps. Fastest for Virgin Media is 150Mbps!
Not sure I believe all the figures. I've even seen a Sky download speed of 75Mbps.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 4 Jan 12 at 15:56
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Upgrade day ~ Yay!
Just carried out a quick speedtest = 2.7 down 0.4 up :)
If that's it, well - not quite blistering is it but, considering where I am, I shouldn't complain really.
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So basically the same as before with jus ADSL. If we knew the stats for the line then someone might be able to comment.
Also these modems and the exchange end might negotiate a better speed over time if it's possible.
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>>So basically the same as before with jus ADSL<<
Nay lad, I was getting just under 2Mbps down before, but now it's a whopping 2.7Mbps :)
I can't really complain though because I pay about £19 pm, and that's for the bb, line rental + eve & wknd calls
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On the 15th December you said:
"Rob ... My Speedtest speed test gave ping 45ms, down 2.83Mbps, up 0.37Mbps"
So still the same. The price you pay has nothing to do with the speed - if you lived nearer you'd get much faster for your money. But you choose to live somewhere fairly remote.
As has been said, if this is partly due to locking onto the broadband signal, a better router may improve speeds.
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>>On the 15th December you said:
"Rob ... My Speedtest speed test gave ping 45ms, down 2.83Mbps, up 0.37Mbps"<<
Did I say that :) I'll have to read up on what exactly is ADSL2+ compared to common or jardin ADSL,
Has my ADSL2+ actually been enabled yet I wonder, I presume it has, I had to log into my router twice this morning for some reason, and the phone line was dead for a short period,
I'll see 'how it goes' over the next phew! days, maybe reboot the root, and try playing one of Z's 1080p steamers which I had trouble playing b4.
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.... and try playing one of Z's 1080p steamers which I had trouble playing b4.
And then go over the monthly download cap again :-)
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Praps I should upgrade that as well then, Wifey uses her laptop now every evening so I suppose it all adds up!
I wouldn't mind, but I only bought the Lenovo lap for sitting around the inglenook in the winter, but I've hardly lit the multi-fuel (anyone wanna buy 60 bags o' Taybrite and 4 Nokian WRG2's!!)
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Can anyone recommend a wireless router? - Zero
