Internet speed

17 Mar 2009 14:35:24

John Surtees

Has anybody any experience of their internet connection speeding up just by changing their router?

My ISP help-desk (Demon) has, over the last three weeks, been trying to increase my line speed. Last week, after only limited success, the help-desk suggested it might be my router. I've read on blogs, that this is a common fob-off when all else fails.

Any comments appreciated.

Re: Internet speed

18 Mar 2009 10:18:13

Mick Burrell

It seems logical the the electronic wizardry inside a modern modem/router would vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. My only experience is with people who have been having connection problems generally - dropped, intermittent etc. - with the free modem supplied as part of their broadband package. This has always disappeared when a new router from a recognised brand (I'm a fan of Netgear products so that's usually my recommendation when asked) replaces the free one. But of course, that may not be your situation.

Re: Internet speed

18 Mar 2009 21:17:10

Terry Willis

ADSL2+ is I believe the latest technology.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADSL2%2B

Re: Internet speed

19 Mar 2009 07:01:19

Rowland (Jim) Wren

I had the experience in Spain that my Billion wireless router wouldn't connect to Telefonica at all whereas the Telefonica supplied wired router had no problems although it was slow. Finally I connected the Billion router to the master socket and I had 5 times the speed. I couldn't use the master socket as in Spain when it is in use all other sockets are disconnected. However, with a little judicious jiggling of the wires in the distribution box the Billion router connected with no problems. When I get back to Spain I plan to rejig the wires in the distribution box with some proper connectors (At the moment the wires are just twisted together!

So the moral of the story is try everything you never know what might work.

By the way I purchased Network Magic for Mac which got my G3 iBook working wirelessly after months of trying. Don't ask me what it did, maybe that is why it is called Network Magic!

Re: Internet speed

19 Mar 2009 08:28:59

John Surtees

Thanks for the comments. At present I'm using a Thompson Speedtouch 580i. It was a well respected router when it was released, and has been very reliable. But it seems there may be better stuff on the market nowadays.

According to <http://www.samknows.com/broadband/>, there are modifications being carried out at my local exchange (Woolston), I think I will wait till the end of the month when they say, the work will be completed. At which stage, if there is no improvement, it might be time to change my ISP to O2 and get a new 802.11n router as part of the deal.

Re: Internet speed

20 Mar 2009 20:10:51

Lionel Ogden

Some time ago I had a problem with a modem router (a Netgear DG834G). I had complained to my ISP (Plusnet) that my Broadband speed had dropped to below 1mb. On checking they detected that the modem was intermittently dropping the connection for a fraction of a second several times within a day and this had caused BT to suspect a fault on the line and drop the speed. Apparently this is a factor with ADSLmax. When I changed the modem router all was restored. I changed it for another Netgear incidentally.

Re: Internet speed

23 Mar 2009 07:07:15

John Surtees

Many thanks for that info Lionel. It's certainly another avenue to investigate.