Indeed. There are some discussions about this at PUG and new firmware released recently:

http://usergroup.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,4322.0.html
http://usergroup.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,3550.0.html

If you do use these, make sure that you get the correct version from the download site. v2 and v3 of the router are incompatible.

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So theoretically if he was not using the machine on the internet they would disconnect him?

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The OP said in their original post:-

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Timeouts on the router and at PN are disabled.

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Rgds,

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Ah, glad you posted that. I've been having problems initiating an ICQ chat session with someone on a BB+ account recently. It needs NAT and Firewall rules on routers to work so this pretty much explains it...

It was getting progressively slower making the connection before this so I suspect that is due to some shaping at the PN end. Also file transfers over ICQ had been very slow a long while ~5KB/s

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Hi,

Chat sessions on default ports are in the Gold traffic queues so should be fine any time of the day or night. DCC file transfers and chat on non-standard ports is in Silver so will slow considerably during busy periods. I provided a bit of a more in depth explanation on our portal forums yesterday regarding IRC if you're interested.?

Kind Rgds,

That will depend upon the remote desktop software being used. I use pcAnywhere over VPN most days. My PC's main main monitor is set to 1280x1024 32bit. The remote desktop is 1024x768 16 bit so it runs in a window on my PC rather than taking over the full screen. Within pcAnywhere I have it set to "color scale" to 256 colors.

Although my connection syncs at 8Mb, the VPN Gateway limits the speed to 1Mb. Set up the way I am, speeds are such that you can forget you are working remotely. Before I put the color scale on it was laggy.

He's on a DG814 - there's no updates for that router.

This did apply if both are on the same gateway. The OP can rule this out by making sure they are on different gateways. However as Bob has said, this problem is believed to be fixed.

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I often need to help my bother with his PC, since he doesn't have much computer knowledge. When he wanted internet access (about a year ago), I asked around and PN was recommeded. He has a 2M plus account.

Issues would no longer be a problem, we thought!

However, these days, I can't help him remotely, because I just can't get a stable connection to his machine. The bandwidth is extremely poor, I mean, several minutes to start a connection, which will often then fail.

I have noticed several issues:
1. He is experiencing poor bandwidth generally: downlink 230-450 kbs, uplink 100-150 kbs. For a 2M connection, this seems poor?

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This does seem pretty low. It could be due to a number of factors though. You say he has a 2Mbps Plus account. Is it fixed at 2Mbps or is he on MaxDSL? It could be that he's been dealt a nasty bRAS profile by BT's dynamic line management system. Another possibility is exchange side contention, a genuine fault or the symptoms of the problems we're experiencing as documented here and here. It's pretty hard to say without being able to look at the account.

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2. His router shows regular disconnects/reconnects, like 10-12 times from 5PM-midnight yesterday. Timeouts on the router and at PN are disabled.

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This could be a loss of synchronisation suggesting that the connection between your brother's equipment and the exchange is being intermittently dropped. Difficult to say again without acces to the RADIUS logs however he should have a DSL or Link or ADSL light on the front of his equipment that would go out or flash from time to time if this was the case.

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However, my main issue is remote connection, hence my questions:
a) Does PN block Windows XP RDP on port 3389?

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No, make sure as suggested thought that the server side firewall is switched off at your brothers end.

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b) Does PN block Windows XP remote assistant?

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Not as far as I'm aware but I couldn't be categorically sure at the moment without capturing the traffic and double checking.

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c) How about VNC on port 5900?

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Nope. Neither 5901, 5902 etc. when running multiple machines.

Kind Rgds,

Then try downgrading.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/DG814.asp

Simon

Ta - will have a read

Oops! Specifically WinVNC with regards my last post.