Possible cause of disconnections

[Glenn]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before

Zen Internet has uncovered a potential problem with the Texas Instruments AR7. The chip is at the heart of about a third of routers in use worldwide today - including Linksys and Netgear kit.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/22/zen_ar7_infineon_bt_fault/

[Rik]

I think it has been mentioned, Glenn, but many people won't have seen it. 

[Inactive]

Indeed Rik, the article is nearly a year old, the 68 comments make interesting reading tho'

[Sebby]

Yep, that's quite old, Glenn, and is the reason why I don't like older Netgear routers and others that use that chipset.

[Tacitus]

.........others that use that chipset.

I use an AR7 based router on a poor line and for me it is more stable than some of the others.  Whilst routers that don't use the AR7 appear to sync higher, I suspect the problems may be caused by a combination of the AR7, the particular firmware used and a given line.  With the virtually infinite number of router/line/firmware permutations, it seems reasonable there will be circumstances where certain combinations are pretty useless. 

Although mine syncs lower than a Draytek 2800 I had in the past, it is much more stable, not that that's saying much, although I've not tried the Draytek with the latest firmware.

Of course when we get FTTH all these problems will disappear....   

[Sebby]

I absolutely agree with you that it depends on the line and the equipment at the exchange.

[Tacitus]

I absolutely agree with you that it depends on the line and the equipment at the exchange.

Interestingly the equipment at my exchange is Alcatel, which suggests a Thomson (Speedtouch) router should give the best results.  Unfortunately they don't do any reasonably priced ones which act as a VPN endpoint.  Cheapest is (I think) the 608WL, which last time I looked was around £170.