Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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wildfoodie
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router or provider problems?after 4 years or so very acceptable service the wireless router (a cisco lynksys wireless-N ADSL2 + gateway )seems to be losing the plot. We've had intermittent dropping of the line, ( but 80% of the time this is cured by turning the router off then on again, until this week when it all got a lot worse. )
My trusty Dell laptop, now nearly 6 years old, copes best with the router, but the macbook pro will frequently drop the connection then prompt for a password and fail to reconnect, giving 'connection timeout' or 'cannot recognise the network' messages.
So yesterday I bought a new router - a Belkin Share N300 - and after an hour on the phone to tech support I finally got the thing working only to endure speeds dramatically slower than the old router. So have reconnected the old one for the time being and am returning the Belkin.
TalkTalk have run diagnostics on our line and claim speeds of around 5 mbps yet the online connectivity speed tests on my Dell and on the macbook show results in the ranges of 400-630kbps... how can that be?????
To boot, the talktalk engineer said the line was fine it was my router, and I should get a talktalk compatible router - a DLink dsl model which he said would be compatible with my current broadband package, or I can upgrade to a new talktalk contract and get a free router, but be tied in to the tune of £29 per month.... I said I would think about it (I'm not thrilled with Talktalk - we pay around £27 per month for anytime phone and broadband which seems a lot. ) and lo and behold the old router network seems to have recovered for the time being....
I'd really like to know if my old Dell is just not up to new wireless speeds, or is Belkin a rubbish brand, or how possible/likely is it that talktalk have been less than honest by secretly fixing the connectivity issue then saying it's my router??
I feel blocked through my lack of knowledge....
can anyone recommend a router?
cheers
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Nature'sgrafter
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try this devious I know but:
Contact your ISP and tell them that due to the service not being up to scratch and the fact that they want you to pay to upgrade to a new service contract so you can have a new "compatible" router you have spoken to some of there competitors and will be changing service provider as they will give you a new router for free and you wont be paying extra for the privilege then ask them how much notice do you need to give them to terminate your service and see what happens. Odds on they will offer you a new router for free without having to change your service or pay more.
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vegplot
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As above but also get BT to check your line.
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Treacodactyl
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£29 a month doesn't sound too bad. Have you tried all the recommended trouble shooting tips of trying a new micro-filter, plugging the router into the main phone socket etc, etc? Does the Mac still have problems if you connect it using a LAN cable?
The difference in speeds is probably down to the fact the exchange has connected you to a speed it thinks is best, so 5mbps is the max the line can support but due to a problem the exchange has set it much lower and it'll only set a higher speed after a while when it doesn't detect other problems.
Certainly ask for the phone line to be checked and can you borrow a router at all?
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sgt.colon
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We are with Talk Talk and we were supplied one of their Dlink routers. It would drop out from time to time, so I installed the old Netgear one that we had. Not had a problem since.
At work we were getting about 7mb on the ADSL, then we had line problems. A BT engineer came and had a look. Moved our line to a different connection on the post outside and we got 19mb  Get BT to check it out. Talk Talk will do diddly squat unless you hound and hound them.
As for a router, I'd suggest buying Netgear for home. I've tried other brands but found them to be the best.
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toggle
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£29 a month doesn't sound too bad. |
it's a tad on the high side, unless you are getting really fast download speeds or something extra added into that. i got mine for 22, for buying a 10 quid orange PAYG mobile. i'm supposed to spend a tenner on the mobile a month to get the deal, but i don't.
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Treacodactyl
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£29 a month doesn't sound too bad. |
it's a tad on the high side, unless you are getting really fast download speeds or something extra added into that. i got mine for 22, for buying a 10 quid orange PAYG mobile. i'm supposed to spend a tenner on the mobile a month to get the deal, but i don't.
It depends on what you're after and what you get, we pay much more but went with the provider with the best record for customer service to try and prevent problems like this.
wildfoodie
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| Treacodactyl wrote: |
£29 a month doesn't sound too bad. Have you tried all the recommended trouble shooting tips of trying a new micro-filter, plugging the router into the main phone socket etc, etc? Does the Mac still have problems if you connect it using a LAN cable?
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a new filter was supplied with the Belkin router. Router has always been in the main phone socket. Mac works better with a LAN cable, but as the router is in the hall, that's not a long term solution...
as for the talktalk contracts, I'm actually looking to trim our phone/broadband bill to around £20-25 per month... All we get for that is a broadband connection and evening and weekend talk phone package plus an Anytime phone top up, which gets us free landline calls durig the week. ( essential as we both work mainly from home. )
I was looking at the Orange broadband service, since I have an orange mobile, but I'm aiming to halve my £23 per month mobile bill so not sure if I will stay with them.
We are now day 2 back with the old router and network, and touch wood, everything seems to be running smoothly.... which I suppose brings me back to my default mode: if it ain't broke don't fix it!
But I will muster my energy to call BT for a line check. I tested the speeds again today, this time with internetfrog.com, and we are now on just over 1mbps, which is a big improvement over yesterday.
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wildfoodie
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I'm still stuggling with how Talktalk can tell me that they measure speeds of around 5mbps whereas I'm only getting 1mbps? Would this be to do with having an old router or an old computer? anyone know where to look to see what kind of wireless widget my Dell has?
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RichardW
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I'm still stuggling with how Talktalk can tell me that they measure speeds of around 5mbps whereas I'm only getting 1mbps? Would this be to do with having an old router or an old computer? anyone know where to look to see what kind of wireless widget my Dell has? |
Even seriously old network cards & devices like routers can do 10mb. I would be very surprised if that was your issue.
sgt.colon
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Right hold on here, we need to determine something. Is it your broadband that is only getting 1mb or your internal network?
Go to www.speedtest.net and test your line and report back 
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Penny Outskirts
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We've always stuck with BT for the phone line and broadband. It is a little more expensive, but when we have an issue, you just ring one number and they sort it really quickly. They have no one else to blame anything on, so they knwo they will have to fix whatever the problem is.
Out of interest, why is the speedchecker thingy showing a much faster download speed than upload speed?
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RichardW
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Out of interest, why is the speedchecker thingy showing a much faster download speed than upload speed? |
Thats normal. The old ADSL lines actually had it in their name (Asymetrical Digital Subscriber Line).
For normal internet usage you upload about 10% or less than you down load. Hence the difference in speeds.
buzzy
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We've always stuck with BT for the phone line and broadband. It is a little more expensive, but when we have an issue, you just ring one number and they sort it really quickly. They have no one else to blame anything on, so they knwo they will have to fix whatever the problem is.
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That'll be the same BT that took from May to February to get my telephone line working properly, will it?
Henry
Penny Outskirts
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We've always stuck with BT for the phone line and broadband. It is a little more expensive, but when we have an issue, you just ring one number and they sort it really quickly. They have no one else to blame anything on, so they knwo they will have to fix whatever the problem is.
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That'll be the same BT that took from May to February to get my telephone line working properly, will it?
Henry
That's never been our experience though Henry. They have always been excellent.
wildfoodie
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| sgt colon wrote: | | Is it your broadband that is only getting 1mb or your internal network? |
I'm assuming its the connection as that is what all the online sites aresaying they measure. This morning at the internetspeedtest.net site I got
3.13mbps download and 0.64mbps upload.
on internetfrog I got
2.84mbps download and 1.23mbps upload.
how does one test the internal network speed then?
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sgt.colon
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You could download a tool like this?
http://download.cnet.com/LAN-Speed-Test/3000-2085_4-10908738.html
Have you got neighbours with broadband? Have you asked them what sort of speed they are getting?
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