Broadband access problem

I've a fairly simple setup: a 3Com modem / firewall / wireless router,
cabled to a couple of desktops, wireless to another desktop and a couple of
laptops, normally only one or two machines on at a time. I've also recently
cabled a Laserjet 8000 to the router.

Over the last two or three weeks the phone line has been noisy (BT insist
that it is OK) and I have done the standard tests, different phones into the
"inner" master socket and connecting the modem direct to the inner socket
(via a filter of course). I know the ISP (fairadsl) had some mail server
problems at about the same time my problems started. Prior to this, all the
machines worked OK. There would be an occasional loss of service, but
nothing which caused problems. However, at the moment none of the machines
apart from mine will connect when started up alone. And mine (which is
cabled) won't normally connect to "reliable" sites like Google, BBC, EBay,
or to the mail server. However, once I connect to my news server
(news.individual.net) everything starts to work OK, The crackly phone line
does not seem to slow things down significantly. The one time I talked to
Fairadsl support they got me connected by going to (E-Mail Removed)in
and then (E-Mail Removed) before returning to my ususal
login.

I have the router set to DHCP on, but the printer set to a fixed IP address
(192.168.1.16) which I have just realised is in my DHCP range. Could it be
anything to do with this? I'm using MAC address filtering, and not
broadcasting SSID to keep out unwanted clients, but not encrypting to save
cycles. And I've changed my router password.

What might I be missing?




Newshound