but before I go ahead and tweak the SNR margin, are there do not do's to be aware of ?

Yes.
Don't take it down below 3dB, especially if you're doing it during daylight hours.

And if I set the default margin back to 6 db, will this be retained after a router re-boot ?

Not unless you can find a "saveall" command, or similar ("saveall" is a telnet command used by the Speedtouch routers - same ADSL chipset family, but it may not be available on the Netgear - it certainly isn't on the Belkin 7633 ).

Ok, thanks for that.

I'll take it down to 6 db and leave it at that.

Cheers

Ron

In reply to:

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If you're on a poor line, 2 weeks of absolute stability is surprisingly hard to achieve.... :-)

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No it isn't, just turn the router off each night when you go to bed. You do not have to maintain a constant connection for 14 days solid, you can turn it on and off again at will (although on and off like a loony wont help you) and so long as you hit around the same sync every time you are on a winner. Turning it off at night means there is little chance of the router rebooting at a lower sync.

With lots of things newer can mean better but not always. The only thing you can guarantee about newer is that it cost the manufacturer less to produce.