Thanks for that (and to Peter Vaughan, too, for link).

Now I know what my sister's (v8) router looks like. Glad they moved the power switch from the position on the v7 (which I am using). Don't think I'll bother to flash with new firmware... given it is working fine for me

Hope my next change will be to use FTTC, but sadly that might not be for some years, unless North Wales gets boosted from the back of the queue!

Thanks all for last night's suggestions. The router just will not see the laptop so I now presume that upgrading the firmware as suggested today may cure the problem.

This 585v7 from PN is the only router I have ever had that was new and clearly is not up to the job. All my others have come for a song from ebay and worked perfectly. Having now gone on to 21CN I thought the PN one would do a better job! Now back to my trusty HomeHub2.

I think I will have a look for another Netgear now. With those you can also specifically block annoying websites effectively at source. If only they did Voip ports too.

TVM all
Meldrew