Broadband router/filter effects on speed

levyte357 wrote: my trusty old Belkin

Yes. The best routers for performance on DSL Max (although they have sod all memory so fail spectacularly when you ask them to handle heavy torrenting or other services with lots of external connections) are Netgear DG834v3s but only when running the latest firmware to fix a really stupid problem with the TI-AR7 chipset in them.

They'll struggle on a 21CN based service though because they don't handle bit-swapping, but then from our testing about 80% of popular routers don't and we're struggling to get BT to say anything other than 'just use a HomeHub" (Thomson TG784 in another case)...

Older Draytek 2600s are also good on vanilla DSL and Max. Avoid a 2800 like the plague, it doesn't meet the spec for UK DSL and it will cause you to lose sync the moment your SnR changes slightly.

Belkins and Zyxels are generally pretty awful, interface and hardware wise. Zyxel were open to a dialogue about what makes a router work well in the UK at one point but it seems they filed our reports in the bin.

I'd also strongly recommend removing the faceplate of your NTE5 master socket and fitting an ADSL Nation filtered master socket faceplate:
http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php

That'll filter off your internal wiring, other sockets, so they can't cause interference on the DSL frequencies. You should also move any cordless phone base stations, and other RF band kit away from the router and master socket to minimise electrical interference.

You should never, ever connect your router at any form of extension, internal or otherwise if you want a stable or fast connection.

This comes from doing proper DSL diagnostics, and understanding how the whole thing works pretty in-depth for four years now. I have BT SIN documents and handbooks all over my desk at work!

As this is a DIY forum - should you have an NTE5 master socket.. it should be noted that chopping the bell wire pretty much does what the adsl nation plate does - I would not usually put that out as a suggestion but as everyone on this forum enjoys opening things up.. I feel its valid :)

toastyghost wrote: You should never, ever connect your router at any form of extension, internal or otherwise if you want a stable or fast connection. This comes from doing proper DSL diagnostics, and understanding how the whole thing works pretty in-depth for four years now. I have BT SIN documents and handbooks all over my desk at work!

I knew this but never took it that seriously.

So have removed extension lead between phone socket and router, at expense of longer LAN lead from router to comp.

Ran speed test again few times today, and managed to get peak download speed of 8.38Mbps, on upto 8mb line, up from 7.36Mbps yesterday.

levyte357 wrote: toastyghost wrote: You should never, ever connect your router at any form of extension, internal or otherwise if you want a stable or fast connection. This comes from doing proper DSL diagnostics, and understanding how the whole thing works pretty in-depth for four years now. I have BT SIN documents and handbooks all over my desk at work! I knew this but never took it that seriously.So have removed extension lead between phone socket and router, at expense of longer LAN lead from router to comp.Ran speed test again few times today, and managed to get peak download speed of 8.38Mbps, on upto 8mb line, up from 7.36Mbps yesterday.

It's the same principle as having really really long 1.5mm cables for your heavy bastard bass amps mate, albeit on a much smaller scale due to the power levels at play!

Using a lot of low-grade cable will seriously affect your performance, and essentially what you've just done is the equivalent of moving the amps closer to the back of the stack with some decent cables to get some more weight to the bassline

Edited by toastyghost - 14 August 2009 at 2:19pm