Netgear DG834G wireless route - speeds

[dedee]

Ever since Zen upgraded me to their 8000active service last week I have been looking at the connection speed of the router. Every time of every day that I have checked it is the same, 576kbps, it has never varied. I have switched the router off to reset and it stays the same. Is this normal? I would expect the speed to vary at peak/off peak times.

I know that I will not get the full "up to 8mb" until the exchange is upgraded but my understanding is that I should be getting closer to 2mb until then.

Also Firmware. I notice on the Netgear site that there are about 6 firmware upgrades available. Can I just download the latest one or should I do each one in turn? I have seen elsewhere that upgrading firmware can cause problems.

Andy

 

[Neomorph]

What is the WAN connection on your router and NIC cards in your PC or laptop? 10Base-T or 100Base-T ? If it's a 10Base-T you will need to get a faster router and/or modem as your current kit will not be able to handle the max speed.

Reason I know this is that Blueyonder is eventually going to upgrade my 4mb line to a 10mb line (should have been done last September/October but they managed to totally fubar the system and I'm now getting the upgrade in April hopefully) and my old modem was only 10Base-T capable so they replaced it for me free of charge (you just gotta love cable ). You need to have 100Base-T connections all the way to your PC/laptop or you will get a bottleneck.

PhoneLine --(100Base-T)-- ADSL Modem --(100Base-T)-- PC/Laptop.

Use Netmeter to check your bandwidth and download several files at once to see what you are REALLY getting. I'm putting a link below to the Blueyonder info on the new high bandwidth connections and how to make your PC faster to cope with it. Ignore the cable parts of it and read the parts that concerns you, namely parts 19,20 and 21.

http://anniebrion.myby.co.uk/evenfaster-faq.html

 

[dedee]

John, thanks, your stretching my knowledge to the limit here. The router as above is a 54mbps 802.11g and I am sure can cope with the faster upto 8mb speed, likewise the Mac

Andy

 

[Neomorph]

Cool... it's just the 11mbs connection that would have prob (802.11b).

Hmmm wonder why your system is going silly then. Have you tried using Netmeter? http://readerror.gmxhome.de

 

[Waka]

Andy

What Zen service did you have before you upgraded to 8000 active?

 

[dedee]

Waka,
I was on the Zen500 service. I think I've solved the problem now. I misunderstood their upgrade conditions. I thought that I would go to the maximum available for the line (2MB) until the exchange was upgraded to ADSLMax. It would appear that only new customers will get the 2Mb service but existing customers stay at the old speed until the exchange upgrade.

I've had a response from Netgear who suggest upgrading all the Firmware versions, oldest first, this goes against our own IT advice here (we exclusively use Netgear routers for 100s of home users) who suggest only the latest is required. Zen advise that firmware upgrade is not necessary at all.

I think I will wait and see what happens after the exchange is ADSL Max enabled before I risk a firmware upgrade.

Andy

 

[CHJ]

Andy, Only been on BB a couple of months but my Netgear 834 has never shown anything but:

Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 2272 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 288 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38

Current firmware is:
ADSL Firmware Version 4.01.02.00
following one upgrade.

I use Global who I belive are part of the same group as Zen (EDIT: . Incorrect) See Brightview

2 megs connection is all we are likely to get in my village.

I have yet to find any source of download that gets anywhere near that capacity.