I want to replace my router, our internet connection isn’t great at the best of times (drops out at peak times) and I reckon the router is contributing (although not exclusively to blame, 4 miles of copper cabling and TalkTalk don’t help). It’s not unsual for the network to be done completely (not just the internets) and quite often a physical or software reboot of the router will resotre an internet connection. Current router is a netgear one from a few years ago. It’s got 2 laptops, a Wii and a PC connecting to it wirlessly and one PC as a wired conenction. Don’t want to spend much more than £ 75, what do people recommend.

I’d try new filters 1st.

Cheers bruneep, done that and made sure the router was on the master socket with the phone (wireless phones as well).

When it drops, is it the ADSL disconnecting or the router crashing?

If it’s the former, we might be able to improve your internal cabling to help stablise it. If the latter, have you looked to see if there’s a firmware update for the router first? (Backup the config before applying then you can restore it afterwards)

As for recommendations; I’d go for Netgear or Linksys for a home router, but TBH there’s not a huge amount between any of them these days.

made sure the router was on the master socket

Is the bell wire still connected? Take the Master faceplate off, if there’s an orange wire connected to pin 3, pull it out of the connector.

It’s not required on modern phones, and acts as a bloody great aerial channeling noise into your phone line.

I have a Netgear DGN1000 that is available as I was told to get a new router, but it turns out there was a line fault that BT openreach couldn’t fix. I was given a new line after 3 weeks of pish poor broadband.

Been down a similar path having very poor internet connection speeds – Mainly due to distance from the exchange as opposed to internal house wiring and other external factors. It’s a long noisy line. ( although internal house wiring really can have a massive effect)

Copious amounts of research led me to ditch the supplied TalkTalk router in favour of a Netgear DG834G V4 as they have a certain Broadcom chipset which seems far better suited to long and noisy lines such as mine where the signal to noise ratio drops through the floor.

It’s the Version 4 that’s the important bit ! I’m pretty sure the DG834GT aslo has the same Broadcom chipset in – but don’t quote me on that.

Anyway, these units are absolute peanuts on Ebay thesedays. If you get one, your best bet is to reflash the firmware using DGTeam’s as opposed to Netgear’s own as it just seems to perform a little better …again, many months of research & testing on my part. The firmware when downloaded comes im multiple languages and versions, It’s the “O” version you want to try first as it’s usually contains the latest drivers.

Another top tip for these units is to use the feet they comesupplied with as it dicipates the heat better ( have the aerial top most).

P.s. The net freezing up at busy times sounds like ‘Line Contention’ at the exchange.
TalkTalk have a forum that is populated ( weekdays only), by people called OCE’s – I’ve found these guys to be very helpful….especially compared to the TalkTalk phone based help line. ( just Google TalkTalk forum)

Chris

Cougar

bit of everything really, usually it’s the internet connection itself (router says it’s not connected, LAN only) sometime it shows connected but doesn’t do anything, have had the LAN crash a few times recently which is why I was looking at the router. ALso have the internet drop out sometimes when the phone rings. Never used to have most of these problems a year or two ago (was one of the first to go onto broadband when the exchange upgraded, it also got better when the exhcange was loacl loop unbundled but has gone down hil again recently.

I’ll have a look for the bell wire and I’ll sort out a firm ware upgrade.

SnS, thanks useful stuff, I’ll follow that up too (found the phone help line to be pointless in the past).

If it’s dropping out when the phone rings, replacing the microfilter might help.

I can heartily recommend one of these – http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php – high quality microfilter integrated into a Master faceplate (and also isolates the bell wire).