Kitz Forum

Broadband Related => Broadband Hardware => Topic started by: kitz on February 25, 2007, 05:40:18 PM

Title: Router Praise
Post by: kitz on February 25, 2007, 05:40:18 PM
I get quite a bit of correspondence in my in-box  (Im also very behind with some of it) :/

Anyhow I thought it would be a good idea to post some of the comments I get so that other readers could perhaps share - or maybe even find the info useful.

In the UK we are all too often quick to slate something that doesnt work, so I thought it would perhaps be nice to post some of the comments I get praising a particular piece of kit etc.

Title: Netgear DG834
Post by: kitz on February 25, 2007, 05:43:40 PM
Last week Martin wrote

Quote
I just wanted you to know how useful the information on your site was.  On your recommendation I bought a Netgear DG834 router as a last resort before giving up ADSL and going back to dial-up connection. 

We are a rural company in North Wales, approx 3 miles from the exchange and were struggling to maintain contact with the outside world.  Previous routers included one from Sitecom and a BT supplied BT1800HG.   I stumbled across your site in a desperate search for answers.  Hallelujah!  The DG834 works as well as you described. Much frustration now spared.
Title: Re: Router Praise
Post by: toulouse on February 25, 2007, 05:49:59 PM
Hiya,

I also recently bought (from Amazon through Kitz's site) a new Netgear DG834 v3. Plugged it in and off it went. I think it's actually improved things quite considerably. Haven't upgraded the firmware yet, as most of the changes in the latest version appear to be to do with Wireless which I will probably NEVER use. All I have to do now is get a decent ISP, and I will be a very happy bunny.

TTFN

toulouse


Title: D-Link DSL-G604T
Post by: kitz on February 25, 2007, 05:59:49 PM
An old one from last year but worth sharing
J Housden wrote

Quote
Having had a 3 month battle with BT to get broadband I finally succeeded last Monday but through nothing which they have done.  They had declared the line, which I admit is very long and undoubtedly "on the edge", incapable of supporting broadband as they can't (or can't be bothered to) get the SNR up above about 5.
 
I found your site and it gave me hope.  Sadly I couldn't get hold of either of the 2 routers you suggest but had heard that D-Link did a badged version of the Netgear (or is it the other way around?).  As BT were about to cease their attempts I decided to give it a go and plumped for the D-Link DSL-G604T (currently on offer at PCWorld packaged with a USB wireless node as the DSL-904).
 
Nothing which BT had supplied would sync but the 604T did immediately and has been very stable ever since - 25 RX error packets in 5 days exceeds no connection for 3 months by a long way.  It even syncs with the NTE5 faceplate removed and a bog-standard ADSL filter in the "test" socket.
 
Your site, combined with what I heard elsewhere about the Netgear/D-Link badging, has given me broadband and saved my job!  On the down side this means I now have to do some work!
 
Thanks again!
Title: Re: Router praise - BT Voyager and Home Hub
Post by: soms on February 25, 2007, 07:55:14 PM
I haven't ever tried the Netgear or D-Link routers mentioned but have tried a raft of other ones.

Firstly (when I knew nothing about the telephone network, ADSL or how attenuation/SNR works etc) we had a US Robotics ADSL gateway 9061 or something which gave us some trouble and would often fail to authenticate (I do believe the settings were correct). The router also reported low margins so overall seemed pretty cr*p.

Next was a Linksys WAG354G which has now broken (I accidently used an under-rated PSU and now the DSL side of it doesnt work at all). That worked OK but the LAN side of it would have trouble. It seemed to be when the router was used as the network DNS server every day or two it would just give up! The DSL and internet were up but no clients could get online or inter-communicate for that matter. That was solved by manually setting clients DNS servers as the ISP DNS servers which isn't generally recommended but solved the problem.

Next was the BT Home Hub which has proven OK however the user interface is seriously dumbed-down and whilst it does basically have all the standard functionality of a router there is no plain option for MAC filtering etc.

I have also tried the Voyager range of routers which tend to sync slightly higher than the home Hub however none compare to the abilities of the Voyager 105 USB modem.
Title: Re: Router Praise
Post by: tired on July 15, 2007, 08:18:11 PM
I have used netgear, Bt home hub, 2 wire 1800 and 2700, various buffalo air stations, Voyager family and D link and more but have found the 2700 and the net gear DG834G far better than the rest for my long line (4.7 km)
Title: Re: Router Praise
Post by: Astral on July 15, 2007, 09:58:45 PM
>but have found the [2 Wire] 2700 and the net gear DG834G far better than the rest<

Oh goodee, re the 2 Wire 2700. I was supplied with one, but have never seen any review or comment on it. I have to say that it works for me; more than can be said for BT customer service who supplied it!
Title: Re: Router Praise
Post by: oldfogy on July 17, 2007, 05:49:50 PM
Oh goodee, re the 2 Wire

I read an article just recently that basically said that by using the third wire on a telephone nowadays is not really required with modern phones and can slow down a connection drastically.
Something to do with it going around in a loop, I did try to find the article, but alas could not find it again, somewhere on CA (I think).

The third pin/connection is the connection used to allow the ringer to work on extensions.

Kitz, sorry for going "Of-topic"  :-[
Title: Re: Router Praise
Post by: roseway on July 17, 2007, 06:49:58 PM
The problem with the ring wire is that it acts as an aerial, and potentially introduces interference into the ADSL signal. It's really not required with modern phones because they generate their own ring signal electronically. And in any case, most ADSL filters only connect to the two main wires and contain their own ring generation capacitor.
Title: Re: Router Praise
Post by: kitz on July 17, 2007, 06:56:59 PM
There was also a bit of a discussion earlier today about it with a link about the third wire.
http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,666.0.html

Or alternatively its mentioned on my site - towards the bottom of the page
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/lowSNR.htm