Feeling stupid - thanks Brian

[klipp]

Got another new router today.  My LA dropped back to 53db.  Touch wood my internet might be fixed now.  Brian at support insisted that my router was the problem, but I refused to believe him because I'd already bought a like-for-like replacement and it made no difference.  Well I can say now I will NEVER buy netgear again!!!

Thanks for your patience Brian.

[Niall]

What netgear did you have? Also what did you replace it with? I'm thinking of changing from my 834 v3 to something newer.

[klipp]

OK Niall, I had a DG834G v.4 for about 3 years.  Worked great.  Then one day (about 2 months ago) my LA jumped to 59db from 53db.  I also suffered with intermittant packet loss and PPP and Sync drops.  I bought a DG834G v.5 as that was the closest I could find to what I had before.  LA remained at 59db and all other symptoms.  You can see why I thought it must have been my line, and not my internal equipment.

Anyway I've gone for a Belkin N Wireless Modem Router this time.  £60 for PC World.  LA is back to 53db immediately.

[Niall]

Strange that. I've never had a problem like yours with any of this series of Netgear. I was just thinking of getting something with a bit more kick and security at some point. My sisters other half just got the new version of that router and hasn't had any issues at all with it. A friend of mine bought a fancy black one but I forget the model name/number and he is very impressed with it.

I will say however, you can get the odd duff one and it may not become apparent for a while. I've had one about 5 years ago that was a bit weird, then it suddenly fell over and died

[klipp]

For what it's worth, for the time that it actually worked, the 834Gv4 was very nice.  Did exactly what I wanted without any fuss.  Everyone sells v.5s only now.  My advice is to avoid v.5 (based on my experience).

[pctech]

From everything I've read v4 is considered the best as it used a Broadcom chip rather than the Texas Instruments designed AR7 (design now owned by Infineon) which along with support for DMT was the reason I bought it.

Router has been pretty solid but had to reset it a couple of times due to firmware going a bit awry. it definitely seems more stable on ADSL2+ than it did on ADSL.