the idea behind leaving it off for an hour, or overnight, is to ensure that the new sync rate is clocked by the systems and results in the profile going up.

This is now all very confusing lol.

I took the Belkin to a friends house this morning, and it worked perfectly. So it made me think it is the exchange. I was planning on hooking the Belkin back up tonight, but I did another BT Speedtest a few minutes ago.
------------------------------------------------------
Download speedachieved during the test was - 1958 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :5760 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 5500 Kbps
------------------------------------------------------
So now I don't know if it was

a) The exchange
b) The router
c) IP Profile took a long time to adjust due to the frequent disconnects last week.

If it was the latter, what caused the disconnects? Router developing intermittend faults?

So I'm sticking to the Thompson TG585 V7 for the time being. I just wish I could find updated firmware for it. Current version 7.4.2.6

Current router stats:

Uptime: 0 days, 1:33:26
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 5,760
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 29.0 / 46.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 25.0 / 12.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 72 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 57 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 86 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 765
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 2
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 2

Edited by DoctorJellybean (Mon 21-Jun-10 14:45:44)

Ideally you need to try leaving the router on for 24/48 hours at a time with each router and see if with both routers, you get a very low sync.

If this happens with both routers, from personal experience, I would say it could be a High-Resistance (HR) Fault. What is your phoneline like itself when on the phone? Have you tried the quiet test? Dial 17070.

The Line Quiet Test appears to be fine, no noises.

I'll be leaving the current router on for the next few days before trying the Belkin again. Plan B is to move next door to my exchange and plug the PC straight into their system!

My money is on the Belkin, they can be 'fluffy' at times.

I've heard about their unreliability. However, in saying that, my friend has one now for 4 years and never had a problem with it. Mind you, his PC does have a problem now and again in picking up the wireless signal from the router. He turns his off when he doesn't use it, whereas mine is on virtually 24/7.

Everyone has their own favourite, but any recommended routers?

Everyone has their own favourite, but any recommended routers?

...I'm not the one to ask, too long in the tooth, I've learned to hate most of them over the years.

When push comes to shove, I suppose I'd go for the humble Netgear, and I used to really hate the old models. I had a mate who had months of vague problems, had tried everything, and eventually found it was his Belkin.

I had a mate who had months of vague problems, had tried everything, and eventually found it was his Belkin.

His parents should have taught him not to do that.

Now this is getting ridiculous.

On Monday the 21st it went back to almost normal

Download speedachieved during the test was - 1958 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :5760 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 5500 Kbps

The next day it went down again

Download speedachieved during the test was - 639 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 200-1000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :864 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 750 Kbps

Router stats:

Uptime: 0 days, 1:16:39
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 864
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 17.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 29.5 / 46.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 21.0 / 33.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 72 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 57 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 102 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0

My ISP said that the SNR changed, which they can't explain. They also requested their supplier to reduce the SNR.

On the Thursday they advised me that the SNR has been reduced, and to do another speedtest.

Download speedachieved during the test was - 5486 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :6816 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 6000 Kbps

Router stats:

Uptime: 0 days, 0:04:05
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 6,816
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.5 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 29.5 / 46.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 24.0 / 6.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 95 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 66 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 130 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 20
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 18

Guess what? It all changed again late this afternoon!

Download speedachieved during the test was - 220 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 50-250 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :320 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 250 Kbps

Router stats:

Uptime: 0 days, 2:23:03
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 320
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 15.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 29.5 / 47.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 18.0 / 33.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 145 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 96 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 387 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 194
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 25
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 15

Is it still a dodgy router, bearing in mind that it is the spare one I'm using. There has been no disconnects since using this router, which was 5 days ago.

Or is it, as I'm beginning to suspect, at the exchange or between the exchange and my home?

I might just be better off with 2 tins and a piece of string

I can't solve the problem, but I can say that you are mistaken in thinking you have had no disconnections. The connection speed (on the system you are on) never changes unless there has been a disconnection.

What may help would be if you download RouterStats or RouterStats Lite, further down the same page, and run that 24/7.

They graph what your noise margin and connection speed are doing. I find Lite easier to use but it only does downstream. The full version does upstream as well, and has other features.

Seeing as your upstream seems reasonably stable, I suggest the Lite. Set the sampling interval to 5 seconds, set it to save graphs, and set it to log to file as well.

If you switch off at night, don't! Leave the router and computer on for a few days to log everything.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 25-Jun-10 23:04:02)