Hi Arthur, > I plug my line from my my modem/router straight into the connector on the > inside of the master socket (using the socket exposed when the cover plate > is removed.cover plate removed), that's the only way it will work at all. > I have disconnected my home wiring from the master socket to see if > removing it had any effect (no it didn't).
I thought you said earlier that you normally plugged the router in via an extension (ie the "home wiring"). When you say "that's the only way it will work at all" do you mean during tests today, or that this is how you normally have it plugged in? > I have a Netgear 'G' wireless router (about two years old) attached by the > supplied (by Netgear in the kit) cable to the master socket. My PC thinks > that it had a very good (little green screen) wireless link and (usually) a > 56 something or other speed - the maximum between it and the router (it > does however vary from time to time to lower speeds and a yellow screen). I > have tried to use an ethernet connection between the PC and the router to > no > improved effect. I brought my daughter's PC over and used that both > ethernet and wireless to get no improvement. Kitz reckons that the Netgear DG834 is one that can keep the connection well, even with interference problems. > What astounds me is that on rare occasions I get all the performance I > might reasonably expect being fairly remote from the exchange, ie a stable ( > for an hour or so at least) link and sub-second responses, I can even listen > to music or see a video on You Tube. And then later on the same day or next > day response times go out of the window or I can't get on to the internet > at all. I find that if I can't get on via AOL I can't usually get Internet > Explorer (7) to respond either, but occasionally IE works and sometimes I > can log on to AOL from there. When this happens I can see my list of > emails, but then I can't open any of them, or be able to connect to any > webpages. This sounds like a classic case of interference. It could be almost anything - from the Ionosphere (remember getting AM transmissions from europe in the evenings?), water in joints in the BT line, or other people turning on their modems. At least your WiFi part seems to be working fine. > > Does any of this help the diagnosis? A little, but you are probably going to get numbers on this, so we can see the actual state of the line as far as the router/modem sees it. Probably the best thing you could do is to leave the modem/router plugged into the test socket at the back of the master, and run a program to monitor the line statistics. If you have the right kind of modem, you might find "RouterStats" useful: http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm The graphs might give you an idea of whether you are suffering from occasional bursts of interference, or whether it is a constant problem. > > If I change ISP what is the likelihood of getting any improvement in > reliability or response? Almost certainly no improvement in reliability. At least not if the phone connection stays with BT, as the problem is probably to do with the line to your house. You might find another ISP more responsive to your plight than AOL, but I have no experience of whether they are good or bad. I've found that you can get a decent response from PlusNet provided you go via the forum rather than the normal support desk, and even then it can take some perseverance. Especially if BT need to be called out. > Is someone able to control the bandwidth I can use. I > am probably one of the half dozen remotest users from the nearest (Ranskill > actually) exchange - I'm I getting what's left over in bandwidth terms after > everyone else in the area has had their slice of the cake? Being remote shouldn't affect your share of the bandwidth from the exchange to the rest of the world. Your main limitation will probably be that the length of your line leaves your modem syncing to the exchange at a relatively low speed level. Your current problem is *probably* that interference causes the sync to keep dropping, and forcing the mode to resync with the exchange. When the sync goes, your browsing experience will tend to show as pages that fail to load, or downloads that are extremely slow. There are a few things that BT and your ISP can do to the line to try to make it more reliable, such as turning on interleaving, or increasing the noise margin. Both will tend to make your connection slower - but the exchange has probably already tried these out for you. Mike
