Netgear DG834G v 5 - Fault??

Just a question from a very non-techi female!

Have always enjoyed a very stable broadband connection with no issues. However, over the last couple of weeks have been experiencing loss of connection and the dreaded BT Wholesale message. Checked with my ISP who advise no probs - although there was a BT outage on Saturday. However following reboots things run smoothly for a while. However over this weekend in the status section - modem - the downstream speed fluctuates wildly. I've checked this all weekend. For example:

17.51 hrs DOWN 17598 UP 1243
17.52 hrs DOWN 4083 UP 1243

In each case the attenuation and SNR remain the same.

Have done various speed tests on different speed sites and all give the speed as varying roughly between 14600 and 15300 - which is fine. So All I can assume is that the router is faulty???

No doubt somewhere can help me.

Thanks

Hi Maggie - Netgear unlikely to be faulty, you need to start with the basics...

Is EVERY device connected to a telephone socket filtered?

Has anything been added / changed on the telephone line?

Is there any noise or crackling on the telephone line?

The message you mention sounds like an BT fault page and certainly not related to your router.

Are those figures the down and up stream sync rates? It does seem odd that they vary so dramatically. The example you gave shows a drop, does the sync rate rise just as rapidly?

If the sync is changing so drastically, download a copy of Router Stats Lite from http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm#routerst...

Set it up to record the downstream sync and SNR at 30 second or 1 minute intervals. It will happily work in the background, then when you have a 24 hour graph, post an image on a suitable hosting site and provide a link.

It will be useful to see if it is a sudden change or is a degradation over time and similarly, how it recovers.

Hi TechGuy

Thanks for yr advices - in response to your queries:

Yes, all telephone sockets are filtered
Nothing has changed on the line
Did the BT quiet test - nothing untoward there. No noise whatsoever.

Bit of a mystery!!!

In reply to a post by john2007:

Are those figures the down and up stream sync rates? It does seem odd that they vary so dramatically. The example you gave shows a drop, does the sync rate rise just as rapidly?

Thanks John

The figures are the actual connection speeds downstream & upstream given by the roouter stats page. It is only the downstream figure that changes - the upstream remains exactly the same. The speed goes back up as quickly as it drops and is up and down like a yo-yo.

I've had a word with my ISP who has done a line test which indicates some packet loss?? whatever that may be and they could see no evidence of the fluctuating speed as given by the router. They have said that my speed has remained constant and have suggested doing a BT speed test. This I've done whilst the router was showing downstream 4083 but it didn't pick it up. Suppose that's cos by the time the Speed Test was underway, my speed had risen back to 17000 odd. I will continue to do further tests and see what happens.

Thanks

Very frustratingly I already have a copy of Router Stats Lite (& full blown Router Stats) which I have been trying to get to run on my computer for the last couple of months without success. If I could get this working it would be just the ticket for getting to the grips with this matter.

Maybe you can help me, I used to have an earlier version which I eventually managed to work after much of a struggle. Then it stopped working. I can't get either the RS Lite or RS to work, it just will not pick up the stats page from the router. Have tried everything I can think of but still no luck. Could it be something to do with the fact that the URL for the router is not the generic whatever but 10.0.0.1. Have tried using the DG834v5 link and changing the default URL to 10.0.0.1 and the user defined link with the URL details but absolutely nothing - just ERROR!


Any advices????

Make sure you have the latest version of RSL.

Using teh 10.0.0.1 IP address should not matter - I use the 172.16.xxx.xxx range and previously had a 10.0.xx.xx network. Make sure you input the URL correctly as http://10.0.0.1

Try both versions of the DG834 and see.

Check you have the correct Username and Password.

Also, give it time ... sometimes I found that it would take three or four intervals before it picked up the data so with a 600 second interval, give it 5 minutes.

You mention packet loss ... have you tried the TBB Broadband Quality / Ping Monitor?

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/monitors/create.html

Run that for a day or so and you should be able to post a link to your graph - provided your IP address does not change.

Hi Maggie,

Did you get anywhere with this? - I have a client with a very similar issue with the speed alternating between about 15800 and 3700 - but the SNR alternates between 6 and 27dB at the same time...

Also a Netgear DG834 - but a V3, I think

Hi Tech Guy

Have been monitoring my connection with Routerstats Lite for a couple of days now with an old Dell Computer which I've still got as I just couldn't get it to run on my current machine!!!I've posted in General BB chatter separately about that.

Anyhow, my connection has behaved itself well, maintaining connection at 17498 with SNR fluctuating between 3.25 and 2.25 for the last couple of days. That was until today when all of a sudden, it has started again dropping to 3810, SNR 3.0 for a few mins and then rising back - no great variation in the SRN. I am puzzled.

Have spoken to my ISP who have suggested getting BT to increase the SNR level to 6 to see if that will hold the connection constant but I don't think that is the problem as why else would my connection remain good with the lower levels as described above?
Will continue to monitor for a while and see what happens.

Perhaps it's the router, DG834G v 5 who knows??? Am seriously considering getting another router to try ( at present have no back up whatsoever to try out) Can anyone recommend a good router - not too difficult to set up!!!.


Thanks

In reply to a post by maggiej:

..... but I don't think that is the problem as why else would my connection remain good with the lower levels as described above?...

This is what's known as a spurious noise event and these can be notoriously difficult to track down. If an SNR of 6dB counters these disconnections then leave it at 6dB. This figure is chosen for very good reason.

Are you using the DG834G v5 router wireless or wired (ethernet cable) to the PC?

If you want a good router with easy access to stats, including some historic including those immediately before a resync then try to get a 2wire2700HGV-C with v6 firmware. They were supplied to BTs Business customers and I have always found them to be extremely good. They will work at 3dB and will hold a sync down to 0dB.

You can find a new unused one on ebay for around £10.

edit to add:

The 2wire works with RouterStatsLite too.

Edited by MHC (Thu 24-May-12 10:27:17)

Hopefully this will work - complete novice at work here!!

false

First quick look ... interesting. The SNR is constant at 3dB +/- 0.1 and does nothing when the sync speed changes from17400 to 3900. The consistency of the figures suggests external noise may not be the cause the profile of the plots does not suggest that.

In anothe rpost I suggested you try to get a 2wire2700HGV-C with v6 firmware - have you considered it?

Thanks for coming back. Glad I didn't make a complete pigs ear of my link!!!

Even with my very limited knowledge, I can't understand why the constant rise and fall in the sync speed when there are no obvious signs of any major changes in the SNR?? But as I say I'm very much a novice non techie female and hence my postings here for advice from people who have far more knowledge than I do about such matters.

I did look on Ebay for a 2wire2700HGV-C (v6 firmware) . Unfortunately very few actually state the firmware version and are main .....2400HGV ...whatever. Did further research via Tripod??? which helped with the versions, serial nos, etc but unfortunately, very few on Ebay provide that sort of info to enable you to find anything further out (or perhaps I'm missing the point!) I have finally decided to get another router and opted for TP-Link TD-W8960N from Amazon which was fairly cheap and had good reviews. Let's hope it's not too difficult to set up!!

I will then give that a try and see what happens.

Once again thanks for yr input it's most welcome and appreciated.

Edited by deleted (Fri 25-May-12 15:08:29)

We shall see what happens ... the Tripod site is a good one for 2700's and there are inputs from me on the site.

It does have me scratching my head too ... an external noise event would not be so consistent with the sync speeds being one of two.

I wonder if RobertoS has any comments on the images.

Post deleted by ukhardy07

As the others have said, it's extremely odd.

I do have a very unlikely theory, to do with wifi if that is what you are using. You didn't answer Apprentice about that . ?

Other than that, it is possible the router is faulty, as suggested. But the consistency of the two speeds worries me - I don't see that being possible, but my idea could account for it.

If you are getting reconnections, the 30-second RouterStats sampling won't show those up. 10 seconds probably would, but I prefer 5 seconds. It is quite common for resync's not to be spotted by the kit at the ISP end, particularly on Newnet. I forget the explanation for now, but it's something to do with the reconnection completing before the session gets dropped.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 25-May-12 19:17:40)

Sorry I overlooked to reply to Apprentice but can advise that I am not using wireless connection at the moment. Have been in the past but have disabled the wireless adaptor on my computer since I began to realise something was amiss with my broadband speed dropping, especially whilst on Skype stating speed 'too low' which I thought was odd and then getting disconnected.

Have noted what you've said and have got RSLite to log at 5 secs and have had 2 disconnections in 10 mins and ever since has been running at 3811 SNR 3.0 constant. Everytime I get a long spell at 3800 I try to get speed test but as soon as I connect to my browser the speed shoots straight back up for a while. No doubt time will tell when I get another router. Obviously whatever the problem is, it is not being picked up the various speed tests I've done (BT included) as they all come back with my expect Profile of 15.5 ish which is what it should be.

Sorry didn't reply earlier.

I am connected via ethernet cable. Have diabled wireless since noting something was amiss.

In reply to a post by maggiej:

... but as soon as I connect to my browser the speed shoots straight back up for a while.

Cross fingers and hope it is the router .

I've sent you a PM.

UPDATE:

Since my original posting, it could well be there may have been some kind of fault on the line!

Just over a week ago, BT equipment seems to have reset the line at 15500 with 6dB and it has remained stable. My speed has been gradually increasing with SNR dropping in line. At present it is ticking over at 18248 with an average SNR of 2.00... (perhaps too low??) and not disconnecting at all. Anyhow, as long as it remains stable that is all I am worred about. So who knows, maybe not my router at all!

Have also managed to get RSL to work on my current PC - turned out to be Firewall rule blocking incoming Telnet(?).

Thanks to everyone who helped me and here's hoping things don't change - fingers crossed.

That's great news. Thanks for posting the update.