21CN with Dratek 2800

At our office we have broadband direct with Entanet. Several weeks ago the connection started dropping frequently and randomly. This seemed to coincide with our exchange being changed to 21CN. When we swapped our Draytek 2800 router for a Draytek 2800G the problem persisted. However when swapped with a Belkin router the connection was rock solid. Unfortunately the Belkin router does not have some of the Draytek features that we need. Namely support for multiple WAN IP addresses and internal port forwarding. From doing some research on the internet it seems that there are issues with the Draytek 2800 router and 21CN. We have tried upgrading the firmware on the Draytek router but it seems to have made no difference. We have also tried turning off interleaving but the instability was unchanged. We have changed the Entanet service from ADSL to ADSL2+ and changed the stability setting from Standard to Stable and this seems to have improved the situation slightly but we still get the occassional drop and I have noticed that the SNR on the router status page is up around 20+ and even near 30db sometimes. I'm not sure if this is an indication of the line itself or Dynamic Line Management (DLM) seeing our line as unstable and trying to do what it can.

So my questions are thus:
Is it true that the Draytek 2800 is not compatible with 21CN? Surely BT can't just foist 21CN on us and make our existing routers defunct?
Assuming that the Draytek won't work with 21CN can anyone recommend a good ADSL router that supports internal port forwarding (by which I mean if you enter the external ip addresses it will perform the port forwarding even if you are on the LAN side of the router). This is essential for us as we have laptop users who have application settings which need to remain the same whether they are in or out of the office. Ideally the router should also support multiple WAN ip addresses but this isn;t essential. I have seen many people talk about Netgear routers being good but I don't know much about them or if any support internal port forwarding. Any suggestions please?

Edited by deleted (Wed 21-Jul-10 22:52:11)

In reply to a post by Caltor:

Is it true that the Draytek 2800 is not compatible with 21CN? Surely BT can't just foist 21CN on us and make our existing routers defunct?

The 2800 range have had problems with ADSL2+ services for quite a while. However the 2800's worked well on ADSL(1).

The newer draytek kit (e.g. 2820) is vastly improved; and if you're using wireless is finally WiFi Certified.

It might be just that?

Thanks for that. Given this fiasco though I don't see why I need to be loyal to Draytek. Isn't there anything better out there?

I too have a Draytek 2800 and had several line drops and resyncs when I was upgraded to ADSL2+. My ISP reset my connection back to ADSL1 - while remaining on 21CN and the connection has become rock solid again. So maybe it was not the move to 21CN which is causing your problems but a switch from ADSL1 to ADSL2+. Things might improve if you get your ISP to switch you onto ADSL1 (G.DMT).

In reply to a post by Caltor:

Thanks for that. Given this fiasco though I don't see why I need to be loyal to Draytek. Isn't there anything better out there?

There are lots of routers vendors; it depends what you want. The features the draytek range have that others generally don't are:
* multiple SSID's on wireless (with LAN isolation if required)
* VPN inbound and outbound - multi protocol and LAN or home worker
* pretty easy to configure web interface
* USB socket for printing (LPR) or 3G dongle for backup
(on the 2820 range the USB socket can also take a USB memory stick for mass storage).
(also on the 2820 range are two WAN sockets, ethernet and ADSL, or dual ethernet models)

If you only want a simple ADSL home router, then worth starting a new thread to get suggestions. Post your existing connection stats as well. (Attenuation, SNRM, sync speed).

The E67.36 firmware works much better with ADSL2+ and would be worth a shot before splashing out on new kit: http://www.support.draytek.co.uk/download/v2800_282_...

I am using the E.67.36.1 Annex A 2.8.2 version and then set the line to ADSL2. This worked for me for around 6-8 mths before I moved to a LLU provider, where again I kept the settings at ADSL2

In reply to a post by grahammm:

I too have a Draytek 2800 and had several line drops and resyncs when I was upgraded to ADSL2+. My ISP reset my connection back to ADSL1 - while remaining on 21CN and the connection has become rock solid again. So maybe it was not the move to 21CN which is causing your problems but a switch from ADSL1 to ADSL2+. Things might improve if you get your ISP to switch you onto ADSL1 (G.DMT).

Thanks for your suggestion. Curiously our experience seems to have been exactly opposite. We were still on ADSL1 and switching to ADSL2+ has improved the stability but not cured it entirely.

In reply to a post by iand:

I am using the E.67.36.1 Annex A 2.8.2 version and then set the line to ADSL2. This worked for me for around 6-8 mths before I moved to a LLU provider, where again I kept the settings at ADSL2

I'll look into that. Thanks.
Thanks too iand for the confirmation of your working setup.

In reply to a post by rct:

The E67.36 firmware works much better with ADSL2+ and would be worth a shot before splashing out on new kit: http://www.support.draytek.co.uk/download/v2800_282_...

Thanks I'll check it out.