Problem with NetGear DG834

Hi,

Since yesterday, I've been having the following problem:

1. Usenet access - Newsbin just sits there with items queued, but nothing ever starts downloading.
2. Tried to download the latest firmware update (.zip), and again it just sits there not downloading.

It's either my router or my ISP. The latter claims that nothing is wrong with my service, and I haven't changed the settings on my router in over a year. Normal web pages display fine, it's just downloads that hang. I've tried a different pc so it's not a virus/trojan/other.

Can anybody advise me on what to try next?

Cheers

W

What news provider?
Anything shown in the router security logs (pertaining to the usenet ports)?

news.usenetserver.com

Nothing in the logs. Worked from midnight to 7am, so my initial thought was some sort of restriction on the news server. But that wouldn't explain why I can't download a .zip file from Netgear's support website to update the router firmware!

My ISP applied traffic shaping (256k max, usenet total restriction, according to their website), that SHOULD have finished yesterday as I entered a new billing period. But my connection is still dog slow. However, my ISP claims that they don't restrict usenet. So they disagree with their own website! (It's Metronet, by the way... but not for long)

All in all, I think it's probably my ISP. But taking their denial at face value, I was wondering whether my router could somehow be causing a problem.

I had lots of trouble when with Metronet about traffic shaping affecting everything I did - despite what they say.
It was also the case that traffic shaping sometimes did not end when it should have done, at the start of a new billing period. And sometimes they said it had ended when later they said it hadn't.

Yep - guess what? All back to normal today, once they'd been given a kick up the harris.

Bye bye Metronet... bye bye...