Can a Modem/Router progressively fail?

For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.

My ISP (Plusnet) has checked my account and confirms everything is in
order.

I wonder whether there is a problem with my Belkin Router or D Link
Modem. Is it possible that a fault within the equipment would allow a
reduced flow of data rather than none, if it was failing? They have
worked with no problem for a number of years.

km

km wrote:
> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>
> My ISP (Plusnet) has checked my account and confirms everything is in
> order.
>
> I wonder whether there is a problem with my Belkin Router or D Link
> Modem. Is it possible that a fault within the equipment would allow a
> reduced flow of data rather than none, if it was failing? They have
> worked with no problem for a number of years.
>
> km
Its mnore like a bad connection somewhere is getting worse.

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:34:26 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>km wrote:
>> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
>> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
>> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>>
>> My ISP (Plusnet) has checked my account and confirms everything is in
>> order.
>>
>> I wonder whether there is a problem with my Belkin Router or D Link
>> Modem. Is it possible that a fault within the equipment would allow a
>> reduced flow of data rather than none, if it was failing? They have
>> worked with no problem for a number of years.
>>
>> km
>Its mnore like a bad connection somewhere is getting worse.

Do you mean in filters or my own cabling? Or is it more likely a BT
exchange problem? The ISP says that their checks reveal no problems.
Would that include the exchange?

I must admit that I do not have great confidence in Plusnet. In the
past I set up a Broadband connection for a Charity that did not
initially work. Plusnet were adamant that the fault lay at the
customer end until eventually thay discovered that they had not set up
the account properly.

km

km wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:34:26 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> km wrote:
>>> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
>>> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
>>> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>>>
>>> My ISP (Plusnet) has checked my account and confirms everything is in
>>> order.
>>>
>>> I wonder whether there is a problem with my Belkin Router or D Link
>>> Modem. Is it possible that a fault within the equipment would allow a
>>> reduced flow of data rather than none, if it was failing? They have
>>> worked with no problem for a number of years.
>>>
>>> km
>> Its mnore like a bad connection somewhere is getting worse.
>
> Do you mean in filters or my own cabling? Or is it more likely a BT
> exchange problem? The ISP says that their checks reveal no problems.
> Would that include the exchange?

Hard to say. Somewhere in the copper between the router and the
exchange. First of all remove *everything* from the~BT line, including
filters if possible and plug the router staright in. If that fixes it
you can gradually replace stuff till the culprit shows up.

This is necessary anyway before BT will come and fix the line.

If its still bad try and borrow a different router and try that.

If none of this works, you have the necessary armament to get your ISP
to get BT to frig with the line.



>
> I must admit that I do not have great confidence in Plusnet. In the
> past I set up a Broadband connection for a Charity that did not
> initially work. Plusnet were adamant that the fault lay at the
> customer end until eventually thay discovered that they had not set up
> the account properly.
>

In this case its not their fault in all likelihood.

However understand that if they get a BT engineer out to check the line
and it turns out to be your microfilter, they get charged...so you have
to convince them that everything else has been checked first.





> km

"km" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>


That is a big drop! You're not confusing bits with bytes are you?

ADSL connections reported by a router are normally expressed in bits/sec,
and is the raw speed including any overhead. (formatting information).

Download speeds are often expressed in bytes/sec and are usually net speeds
of useful bytes received that you might store in a file..


--
Michael Chare

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:23:08 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>km wrote:
>> On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 09:34:26 +0000, The Natural Philosopher <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> km wrote:
>>>> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
>>>> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
>>>> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>>>>
>>>> My ISP (Plusnet) has checked my account and confirms everything is in
>>>> order.
>>>>
>>>> I wonder whether there is a problem with my Belkin Router or D Link
>>>> Modem. Is it possible that a fault within the equipment would allow a
>>>> reduced flow of data rather than none, if it was failing? They have
>>>> worked with no problem for a number of years.
>>>>
>>>> km
>>> Its mnore like a bad connection somewhere is getting worse.
>>
>> Do you mean in filters or my own cabling? Or is it more likely a BT
>> exchange problem? The ISP says that their checks reveal no problems.
>> Would that include the exchange?
>
>Hard to say. Somewhere in the copper between the router and the
>exchange. First of all remove *everything* from the~BT line, including
>filters if possible and plug the router staright in. If that fixes it
>you can gradually replace stuff till the culprit shows up.
>

All filters removed with no change. Speed still slow. The BT cabling
comes into and old hard wired box. Practically oval shaped. This does
not have a master socket. The router/modem set up allows a number of
PCs to be connected with all of them suffering the low speed so I have
ruled out the cause to be a virus.


>This is necessary anyway before BT will come and fix the line.
>
>If its still bad try and borrow a different router and try that.
>
Unable to get hold of an alternative router at the moment so will hold
tight and hope that Plusnet find something.

km

>If none of this works, you have the necessary armament to get your ISP
>to get BT to frig with the line.
>
>
>
>>
>> I must admit that I do not have great confidence in Plusnet. In the
>> past I set up a Broadband connection for a Charity that did not
>> initially work. Plusnet were adamant that the fault lay at the
>> customer end until eventually thay discovered that they had not set up
>> the account properly.
>>
>
>In this case its not their fault in all likelihood.
>
>However understand that if they get a BT engineer out to check the line
>and it turns out to be your microfilter, they get charged...so you have
>to convince them that everything else has been checked first.
>
>
>
>
>
>> km

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:07:17 -0000, "Michael Chare"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"km" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
>> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
>> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>>
>
>
>That is a big drop! You're not confusing bits with bytes are you?
>
>ADSL connections reported by a router are normally expressed in bits/sec,
>and is the raw speed including any overhead. (formatting information).
>
>Download speeds are often expressed in bytes/sec and are usually net speeds
>of useful bytes received that you might store in a file..


Hello Michael. No the readings are accurate I have made use of
Plusnets own Download Measuring service and as part of their check to
try and identify why I am getting such slow speeds I used:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

initially I was told to use speedtester.bt.com but when I tried it a
message said it couldn't run the test due to an error. Having told
Plusnet this they then gave me the alternative of thinkbroadband and
didn't suggest that the message was some sort of warning of other
problems.

speedtester.bt.com error message said that I should refer back to my
ISP. Unsure if this is of any significance.

km

km wrote:

> For the last two weeks my connection speed (please, no comments about
> correct terminology) has been below 400kbs. Previously it could reach
> 4000kbs and regularly reached 3400kbs.
>
> My ISP (Plusnet) has checked my account and confirms everything is in
> order.
>
> I wonder whether there is a problem with my Belkin Router or D Link
> Modem. Is it possible that a fault within the equipment would allow a
> reduced flow of data rather than none, if it was failing? They have
> worked with no problem for a number of years.

ANY piece of electronics can gradually fail.

Power supplies are a particular cause of trouble IME.

Graham

km wrote:

> Plusnet were adamant that the fault lay at the
> customer end until eventually thay discovered that they had not set up
> the account properly.

They were no help when I had a problem either. Changing ISPs to Idnet fixed
that.

Graham

km wrote:

> The BT cabling comes into and old hard wired box.

Not unusual. So where does it go from there ?


> Practically oval shaped. This does not have a master socket.

So where is the master socket ? There IS one. Do you have any BT wired
extensions ? If none, then the one BT socket you have is the 'master' socket.

Graham