Upgrade modem/router and an iPlate to increase speed?

[griffy]

I currently have slow broadband on a non LLU exchange, and because of the distance to the exchange, my broadband is quoted to be around 1meg

I have a Belkin N1 Vision modem/router and it works fine, connecting around 1650kbps, with downloads maxing out at 170kb/sec

I recently had some wireless network problems so pulled out my old Netgear DG834G modem/router and plugged that in instead, and was a little shocked to see it connect at around 1952kbps and downloads now max out at 215kb/sec

The Belkin N1 does not seem to give out line stats like the Netgear, the Netgear says my line attenuation is 60dB which explains the slow connection, all down to distance I guess?

I am considering upgrading to a new modem/router, as I liked the N wireless speed and better coverage, as the Netgear is only rated G. I use my wireless for an ipod touch, macbook pro, psp, appleTV, ps3 and wii! so the higher speed and wireless signal strength was nice.

Any reccomendations please???

Also would an iPlate make any difference on my line? I'm pretty sure the extension cable coming out of my BT master socket only uses 2 wires, so no bell wire. I'm told the iPlate only filters out bell wire interference, so it won't make any difference whatsoever

 

[Azuse05]

There is no set way of measuring attenuation therefore every manufacturer does it slightly differently. Attenuation however, is a measure of resistance not length. True, length is a factor, but noise counts too.

Iplates only cut the ring wire out, a filtered face like the XTE-2005 will do a far better job and filter every extension in your house too, though you'll need an IDC punch-down to connect your extension to it (new £5, disposable ~50p).

Even if it doesn't improve your speeds the reduction in errors will improve the stability.

I also use a shielded rj11 lead, basically cat5 for the modem, but its 2 quid and reduces my errors enough for me to keep a stable connection when my snr drops to 1 db, so it has it's uses

 

[griffy]

I only have my modem/router and a cordless phone basestation plugged into the one extension that comes from the BT master socket. They go through the normal cheap plugin filter.

Would this XTE-2005 faceplate make any difference? It sounds like it filters out the noise on the 2 wire phone system? Therefore improving my connection? If thats the case then it sounds like I will try and find one online, with the cable tool.

Any more speed/stabilty is a bonus!

 

[Ryan111]

You should always have your modem/router plugged into the master socket if you want the best possible speeds.

 

[Azuse05]

Hmm, must have missed that. A filtered faceplate will only work on the master socket. If you want respectable speeds any filter will only really work in the master.

 

[griffy]

There is a 2 core BT extension from the master, no bell wire. Its only about 12m long. Is it really worth that much? If so I could run a 12m cat5 cable from it to the iMac

 

[Bane]

It would be worth trying your router in the test socket of the master socket before spending any money on a iplate or filtered face plate. But if you are using internal extension cables then that could cause a derogation as one advantage of filtered face plate is less connection joins in the cable length.

To test optimal connection remove the lower section of the master socket by undoing the two screws then plug ADSL filter into test socket in the cavity. Apart from variation in filter quality, that will give you the best indication of connection limit.

As for routers I've had a massive difference in sync connection depending on router and chipset. Have connected at max 8128 kbps using a Netgear DG834G v2 (Texas Instrument AR7 chipset) and DG834GT (Broadcom chipset). And have lost up to 1000 kbps using O2 Thomson TG585 v7 (I think) and Netgear DG834G v5 (Conexant chipset).

Edit: During Winter I've noticed a drop in sync. Read it's to do with interference from street lights and alike, but no idea if that's true. Sort of matches my experience as when there was an 18 hour power cut recently I was able to connect at full 8128 kbps in the evening when power was restored. But regular evening before and after power cut I connect at around 7700 kbps during Winter months.