I have an open case ( 30990041 ) regarding poor broadband speeds that has been going on since November. I thought things were fixed. I got another router, the line was reset and ended up somewhere around 6000 to 6500. I put it down to a faulty router. I was going to send it back to Belkin under warranty but before they will accept it I needed to reset it all and try it again.

It seems fine, the speed is usually around 5000 on downloads. So I am thinking it wasnt the router. Anyhow, today I am getting disconnects. at random. The router is set to keep the connection on at all times.

Is there anyway I can find out if it is the router dropping the connection or something else at fault?

Was it something I said?

Logs from my router:

03/13/2010 04:37:45  If(ATM1) PPP connection ok !
03/13/2010 04:37:44  ATM1 get IP:212.56.xxxxxxxxx
03/13/2010 04:37:43  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:37:43  If(ATM1) PPP fail : Peer terminate
03/13/2010 04:37:41  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:37:40  ADSL Media Up !
03/13/2010 04:37:26  ATM1 stop PPP 
03/13/2010 04:37:26  ADSL Media Down !
03/13/2010 04:36:13  If(ATM1) PPP connection ok !
03/13/2010 04:36:11  ATM1 get IP:212.56.xxxxxxxx
03/13/2010 04:36:01  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:36:01  If(ATM1) PPP fail : Timeout in CHAP negotiation
03/13/2010 04:35:31  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:35:31  If(ATM1) PPP fail : Peer terminate
03/13/2010 04:35:29  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:35:29  ADSL Media Up !
03/13/2010 04:35:07  ATM1 stop PPP 
03/13/2010 04:35:07  ADSL Media Down !
03/13/2010 04:34:23  NTP Date/Time updated.
03/13/2010 04:20:07  If(ATM1) PPP connection ok !
03/13/2010 04:20:06  ATM1 get IP:212.56.xxx
03/13/2010 04:20:03  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:20:03  If(ATM1) PPP fail : Peer terminate
03/13/2010 04:20:01  ATM1 start PPP 
03/13/2010 04:20:01  ADSL Media Up !
03/13/2010 04:19:35  ATM1 stop PPP 
03/13/2010 04:19:35  ADSL Media Down !

Can anyone tell if it is the router or Plusnet dropping the connection?

TIA

PS I have reported it in the support area (added it on to what is now a very long support ticket!) But as usual not expecting a reply until May or possibly June

PPP is Point to Point Protocol which is used between your router and Plusnet (and that includes the exchange), so unfortunately it's take-your-pick as to where the problem occurs.

Do you have an alternative router and filter that you could try to eliminate your router as the cause?

Yes I do have another router but when I had speed problems i was told to use another one which I did and the speed improved, I contacted belkin about a warranty return and they told me to plug this one back in and go through several steps to reset it. The speed is fine with the Belkin one now so I am thinking it wasnt the router after all.

Whne I swapped back to this router (the Belkin one) the line sync speed dropped to 5000 from 6000, after 3 days it is back up to 6000 if I swap will the speed have to aortt itself out again? Are teh disconnects something to do with the line 'settling' down after the router has been swapped?

Since the PPP seesion drops occurred in the early morning it is possible that BT were doing work in the exchange - is it due to have 21CN soon? Line 'settling down' is always a possibility though I wouldn't put that high on the list.

Trying a different router was a way of eliminating the router as the cause these drops. There is no reason why sync speed should drop if the swap is done at the right time - not after dark when noise margins are at their lowest and probably below your target value. When changing hardware it is best to wait 10-15 minutes before turning on the new router to reduce the risk of the DLM reacting adversely to the disconnection. And avoid disconnecting again the same day if you possibly can.

Thanks for the tips I'll give it a go.

Out of interest what happens after dark with the connections? Im intreagued!

After dark changes in atmospheric conditions cause an increase in background radio frequency noise (with analogue radios interference from foreign stations might be more noticeable). This is reinforced by street lights and householders turning on all the electrical gizmos needed to support modern life, including central heating. The signal strength doesn't change so more RF noise reduces signal to noise ratio margins and routers have to work harder to sustain the connection.

If the margin becomes insufficient sync is lost and regained at a lower speed to restore an adequate noise margin. There's not a lot you can do about normal noise, apart from making sure your internal wiring is less susceptible to it; abnormal noise (through faulty equipment or a line fault) is the problem, and this needs to be eliminated. If BT visit and show the fault is with your equipment it can be a costly lesson.

Very interesting I know I should have paid more attention to my teacher when learing about ionospheric ducting and night time skip and such things.

I have plugged the other router innow. It is one I got from Plusnet, a Thomson. I have checked the logs on this after 12 hours, there is no sign of a disconnect, although I don't know if it shows such things inthe logs. Does anyone know if it does log disconects? Sorr for all the questions but support still haven't responded to my ticket.

The belkin router has a setting for MTU, it is set as 1454 as default I think and it says your ISP should be able to tell you what it should be set to. I have searched but can't find a figure, is 1454 OK?

Thanks

The Thomson logs will show PPP link down and GRP Default destination is not routed anymore if the connection to Plusnet is lost, followed by CHAP messages and the opposite of the GRP and PPP messages when it reconnects.

If sync is lost I think it would be apparent from the logs that this happened - but I can't remember what messages are shown.

The MTU on the router should be the same as on your PC which usually defaults to 1500. Having it smaller can lead to packet fragmentation which has the potential to reduce data transfer speeds. I think MTU=1458 used to be the recommended value for the original BT ADSL services. However when I had a Belkin router for a while an MTU value was displayed but the UK firmware appeared to take no notice of it (universal firmware did).

Spraxyt thanks, how do I find out what my PC is set to? Im using Windows 7 64bit. I'm going to leave the Belkin router unplugged until Belkin get back to me. Their support seems as slow as Plusnets at the moment. Sill no reply to my ticket posted on Saturday.

It's a bit tricky. On Vista (and I believe Windows 7 is the same) it requires use of a netsh command in a command window run as administrator.

Open a command prompt window and run the command

netsh interface ipv4 show subinterfaces

The MTU is shown in the first column of the line marked Local Area Connection (or Wireless Network Connection if you are using wireless).

1500 is shown on my Vista computer.

Mine is showing as 1500 too, still no reply from plusnet tech. Belkin are looking into the router for me though theya re quick with tech support which is refreshing

Hi there,

I'm sorry we've not been able to get back to you just yet about this. However I have not replied to your ticket. As far as we can see the issue seems to have been resolved. You seem to be on the right profile now and things seem to be stable again. We would be interested to hear if you still have the Thomson router connected or if its the Belkin that's in use at the moment?