Andrue,

Maybe re throttling, I'm with PlusNet. There are weird things going on with their traffic shaping e.g. I'm finding that my p2p gets momentarily throttled to 0 at regular times: 12am, 1am, 2am etc. No explanation so far from the Plusnet support forum but it's not something I feel I can chase while I know there are line quality issues on my side.

Lately Plusnet been very helpful & responsive with other questions. Once I've done everthing possible from my side I'll get them to look at the line from their side.

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Jun-08 15:21:52)

silvryn,

Interesting - we do have some energy saver bulbs & I did try switching all the lamps on & off individually to see if there was a faulty lamp somewhere. Can you point me to any more info about this? I may see if a combination of energy saver bulbs together can cause a loss of sync.

I have inexplicably lost sync a few times for some reason definitely not due to the dodgy PC

As for the dodgy PC itself, we thought at first it was a Windows service starting up that caused the router to lose sync. But then after disconnecting it from the router the problem persisted, so I experimented booting it up in different rooms, no monitor or LAN connected. 100% of the time in any room of the house, 10-20s after switch on the router would lose sync

It definitely sounds like a faulty power supply on the PC and while it may not seem like a priority to fix it, bear in mind that it may be corrupting data on your computer and hence to other computers connected to it on your network. a new power supply is available from Ebuyer for around �10 so not much to loose.
It might also be helpful to disconnect the ring wire from your phone wiring as this reduces noise pickup.

The mantra amongst emc engineers with interference is to remove it at source, not try to mop it up elsewhere. With respect, I think that sorting out this PC which is a known source of noise is likely to be a great deal more successful than what can be a somewhat intangible local wiring issue.

Your noisy PC is electrically connected to your LAN via the mains and it is physically proximal; it's unlikely that any external source of interference would enjoy such a high degree of intimacy with your network.

Thanks Xris, the PC is going to be replaced anyway as it's old. For now I thought it would be ideal to keep it as the benchmark while I fix the wiring. For the reasons you state I figured that no other source of interence would likely be as strong as the PC. Therefore if I can stop loss of sync due to that PC, I would likely also prevent or mitigate loss of sync due to other EMI sources? or do you really think that would be a waste of time given the complexity of electromagnetic interference?

Your best way of eliminating the possibility of noise pickup by your extension wiring is to eliminate the extension wiring. The ideal situation would be.....

Filtered faceplate in master socket (good quality one, e.g. ADSL Nation)
ADSL router connected directly to ADSL output on master socket by short cable
DECT phones connected to PHONE output on master socket
ALL other extension wiring removed
Router connected to PC's by Cat5e cable, wi-fi or via Homeplug power adaptors.

Failing that, as an absolute minimum you should disconnect the ring wire on all the house extensions, and disconnect all the extensions that you don't need.

And replace that power supply - it could be affecting your neighbours too, and it's illegal to knowingly cause interference to public services.