Best router for poor quality line?

Hi

Subject says it all really. I need to find which router would be best for a poor
line. Initially it sync'd at 250k and my friend got a reliable connection. Recently
he's seeing the router connect at 512k, but it keeps losing sync.

His ISP has run tests and called out BT (his s/n ratio was down to 2 mb!). The BT
engineer called and after a lot of fiddling around has got what he said was the best
line. Apparently his local cables are aluminium and not copper and so this causes
problems. Something from years back and BT aren't likely to get around to changing
the cables within the next xx years.

The BT guy suggested (after the crappy modem that BT sent him out with wouldn't even
connect, but my friends Linksys router would connect) that he get a router that was
likely to be 'good' with a poor s/n line. The Linksys isn't too bad - it loses sync
and then regains it - and at least his BB does work, but we're looking to replace it
with a new and better router.

I run a ZyXel at home on my line and its fine (different village and copper cables).
I know that Net gear are good, but I wonder whether it might be worth going for a
Draytek. I believe that they are good, albeit more expensive.

Is the extra expense likely to improve matters?

Anyone's views much appreciated (except "Dave" the troll of course! :-) )


--

Andrew Sayers

Andrew Sayers wrote:
> Hi
>
> Subject says it all really. I need to find which router would be
> best
> for a poor line. Initially it sync'd at 250k and my friend got a
> reliable connection. Recently he's seeing the router connect at
> 512k,
> but it keeps losing sync.
>
> His ISP has run tests and called out BT (his s/n ratio was down to 2
> mb!). The BT engineer called and after a lot of fiddling around has
> got what he said was the best line. Apparently his local cables are
> aluminium and not copper and so this causes problems. Something from
> years back and BT aren't likely to get around to changing the cables
> within the next xx years.
>
> The BT guy suggested (after the crappy modem that BT sent him out
> with wouldn't even connect, but my friends Linksys router would
> connect) that he get a router that was likely to be 'good' with a
> poor s/n line. The Linksys isn't too bad - it loses sync and then
> regains it - and at least his BB does work, but we're looking to
> replace it with a new and better router.
>
> I run a ZyXel at home on my line and its fine (different village and
> copper cables). I know that Net gear are good, but I wonder whether
> it might be worth going for a Draytek. I believe that they are good,
> albeit more expensive.
>
> Is the extra expense likely to improve matters?
>
> Anyone's views much appreciated (except "Dave" the troll of course!

The Draytek units are the only ones which can have firmware especially
for longer lines. If money is no object I'd go for a Draytek, or shop
cannily on Ebay & pick up a bargain..
> :-) )

"kráftéé" <kraftee@dontspamkrafteeunless you know what'sgoodforu.pus.com> wrote:

>Andrew Sayers wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> Subject says it all really. I need to find which router would be
>> best
>> for a poor line. Initially it sync'd at 250k and my friend got a
>> reliable connection. Recently he's seeing the router connect at
>> 512k,
>> but it keeps losing sync.
>>
>> His ISP has run tests and called out BT (his s/n ratio was down to 2
>> mb!). The BT engineer called and after a lot of fiddling around has
>> got what he said was the best line. Apparently his local cables are
>> aluminium and not copper and so this causes problems. Something from
>> years back and BT aren't likely to get around to changing the cables
>> within the next xx years.
>>
>> The BT guy suggested (after the crappy modem that BT sent him out
>> with wouldn't even connect, but my friends Linksys router would
>> connect) that he get a router that was likely to be 'good' with a
>> poor s/n line. The Linksys isn't too bad - it loses sync and then
>> regains it - and at least his BB does work, but we're looking to
>> replace it with a new and better router.
>>
>> I run a ZyXel at home on my line and its fine (different village and
>> copper cables). I know that Net gear are good, but I wonder whether
>> it might be worth going for a Draytek. I believe that they are good,
>> albeit more expensive.
>>
>> Is the extra expense likely to improve matters?
>>
>> Anyone's views much appreciated (except "Dave" the troll of course!
>
>The Draytek units are the only ones which can have firmware especially
>for longer lines. If money is no object I'd go for a Draytek, or shop
>cannily on Ebay & pick up a bargain..
>> :-) )
>

Brilliant, thanks Kraftee
(Zen is great btw :-)



--

Andrew Sayers

Draytek is very good, you can pick up the older model 2600 versions on Ebay
cheaply, install the UK2 'longline' firmware and it should work well.
Zyxel 2602HW is even better, uses the latest TI chipset, and as it is ADSL2+
compatible it's more sensitive.
On my line it synchs at 3Mb/s, while the Draytek 2600 won't go over 2Mb/s.
Unfortunately in my situation the WiFI bit doesn't work, so I now have brand
new (tested once), boxed,
Zyxel 2602HW for sale, it has got 2 VoIP ports, retails at £155.
Open to reasonable offers,
Regards,
Martin at gsoft dot freeserve dot co dot uk

Speaking from personal experience: I am at the end of a very long
line - 9Km from the exchange. I am getting 512 to about 600 d/s
connection speed with a Netgear DG834 v2 router. It is worth you
noting that the BT engineer's test modem could not synchronize at all
on my line neither could my son's Draytek Vigor 2600+ with the long
line firmware. This is on an ADSL max service with Zen. Until Max
came along I could get no broadband at all. It is simply not a case
that a more expensive option gives a better result. I regularly sing
praises to my Netgear because if I hadn't chosen this, by pure chance,
at the start I would never have known that a broadband service was
possible on my line and would still have been stuck with dialup.


On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:16:09 +0100, "Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Draytek is very good, you can pick up the older model 2600 versions on Ebay
>cheaply, install the UK2 'longline' firmware and it should work well.
>Zyxel 2602HW is even better, uses the latest TI chipset, and as it is ADSL2+
>compatible it's more sensitive.
>On my line it synchs at 3Mb/s, while the Draytek 2600 won't go over 2Mb/s.
>Unfortunately in my situation the WiFI bit doesn't work, so I now have brand
>new (tested once), boxed,
>Zyxel 2602HW for sale, it has got 2 VoIP ports, retails at £155.
>Open to reasonable offers,
>Regards,
>Martin at gsoft dot freeserve dot co dot uk
>

"Chris" <chris@no_spam.chriswillsher.co.uk> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Speaking from personal experience: I am at the end of a very long
> line - 9Km from the exchange. I am getting 512 to about 600 d/s
> connection speed with a Netgear DG834 v2 router. It is worth you
> noting that the BT engineer's test modem could not synchronize at all
> on my line neither could my son's Draytek Vigor 2600+ with the long
> line firmware. This is on an ADSL max service with Zen. Until Max
> came along I could get no broadband at all. It is simply not a case
> that a more expensive option gives a better result. I regularly sing
> praises to my Netgear because if I hadn't chosen this, by pure chance,
> at the start I would never have known that a broadband service was
> possible on my line and would still have been stuck with dialup.
>
>

Similar experience here - about 10 km from the exchange by road. My Netgear
834 has worked pretty well on a Zen Home 250 service for about a year, only
losing sync occasionally, mostly for a few hours around mid-day in hot,
sunny weather. However, it has been down for 2 or 3 days at a time
recently, so I bought a Draytek 2800. It has so far failed to sync. at all
(in about 3 weeks of trying for up to 24 hours at a time). Where can I get
this magical long line firmware? I can find only a reference to a version
2.7_E68 to help with "sync problems" on the Draytek web site, and have
tried that without any success, so far.

Trev

Trev:
>Where can I get this magical long line firmware?

Try these:
http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/dow...27_y128187.zip

http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/dow..._27_d57214.zip
Regards,
Martin

"Andrew Sayers" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> Subject says it all really. I need to find which router would be best for a
poor
> line. Initially it sync'd at 250k and my friend got a reliable connection.
Recently
> he's seeing the router connect at 512k, but it keeps losing sync.
>
> His ISP has run tests and called out BT (his s/n ratio was down to 2 mb!). The
BT
> engineer called and after a lot of fiddling around has got what he said was
the best
> line. Apparently his local cables are aluminium and not copper and so this
causes
> problems. Something from years back and BT aren't likely to get around to
changing
> the cables within the next xx years.
>
> The BT guy suggested (after the crappy modem that BT sent him out with
wouldn't even
> connect, but my friends Linksys router would connect) that he get a router
that was
> likely to be 'good' with a poor s/n line. The Linksys isn't too bad - it loses
sync
> and then regains it - and at least his BB does work, but we're looking to
replace it
> with a new and better router.
>
> I run a ZyXel at home on my line and its fine (different village and copper
cables).
> I know that Net gear are good, but I wonder whether it might be worth going
for a
> Draytek. I believe that they are good, albeit more expensive.
>
> Is the extra expense likely to improve matters?
>
> Anyone's views much appreciated (except "Dave" the troll of course! :-) )

Connecting the router to your master socket and connecting any extension cabling
via a microfilter can also help. (Essential in my house!)

--

Michael Chare

"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:44c17124$0$945$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Trev:
>>Where can I get this magical long line firmware?
>
> Try these:
> http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/dow...27_y128187.zip
>
> http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/dow..._27_d57214.zip
> Regards,
> Martin
>

Thanks - will try these & report back - found the UK Vigor Users' Forum too.
Trev

I note that the "y" and "d" versons are just shown as "alternative"
without any details as to what the differences might be. When I tried
the Draytek Vigor 2600+ there was a firmware specifically referred to
as "long line" but this did not work either whereas my Netgear
synchronized OK. Good luck!

On Sun, 23 Jul 2006 01:10:01 +0100, "Trev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:44c17124$0$945$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Trev:
>>>Where can I get this magical long line firmware?
>>
>> Try these:
>> http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/dow...27_y128187.zip
>>
>> http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/dow..._27_d57214.zip
>> Regards,
>> Martin
>>
>
>Thanks - will try these & report back - found the UK Vigor Users' Forum too.
>Trev
>