Setting up Linksys WAG54GX for plusnet??

[#1]

Hi. After seeing my linespeed halve since joining Plusnet from a steady 4Mb with Sky+ to barely 2Mb sync speed with Plusnet, I have borrowed a colleague's WAG54GX to try to eliminate the Thomson - to try to diagnose whether the issue is a faulty un-techie friendly Thomson.
However, even though I get Showtime, and a DSL connection (immediately 10% faster than the Thomson), I cannot access anything - all DNS lookups are failing. Calling Plusnet help is worse than useless... if it aint a Thomson they dont want to know. But they did confirm I was logged onto the network with the WAG54GX. And yet I had no DNS lookup... is it my side or something Thomson-dedicated on their side???
I have temporarily switched off all firewalls - none on router, none on my bridge, none on my PC - I still cant get any DNS resolution.
On the WAG54 setup page are 2 mysterious boxes - and I wonder if they are the problem/solution as they are the "Optional Settings (required by some ISPs)". Host name and Domain Name. In doing a websearch I did find one user putting @force9.co.uk into the domain name box, but no details for me as a Plusnet user.
Anyone know how to set up a WAG54 - what could I be missing that is preventing my PC reaching the DNS (ipconfig /all shows it has picked up the correct DNS addresses from the router)????
Any help greatly appreciated.
PS. My stats with the Thomson are a horror story:
Bandwidth: 448/2076
Output pwr: 12.0/18.5
Line atten: 27.0/49.0
SNR margin: 18.0/12.5
Cheers
RichK

[#2]

I have had four different  WAG54G's (although not the GX you have) , and have always had them configured as shown below -
Obviously replace the obscured sections with your own username and password.
If that still does not work, perhaps you could send me a PM with a screen shot of the Status->Gateway, and Status->DSL Connection pages, and I will see if there is anything obviously wrong.

[#3]

Thanks. Precisely as per your config, except my login is to @plusdsl.net.
It seems more likely to be a routing issue, so I would like to know your NAT settings page,etc. I had NAT enabled, RIP enabled (although I think that was irrelevant).
To screenshot the other two pages, I'd have to do a fair chunk of recabling, and that can be tomorrow!! I need some surf time - even at 1.83Mb!
RichK

[#4]

I have NAT enabled, and RIP setting does not make a difference unless you are running more than one local router.
PlusNet/Force9 often have DNS problems, could you try manually setting you DNS to 208.67.220.220 and 8.8.8.8.
First try this on your router, and if that does not work then try it on your PC network settings and see what happens.

[#5]

Yeah, mine had set to 212.159.6.10, and .9. Perfectly OK with the Thomson box, but not the Linksys. I'll defo try that tomorrow.
Cheers, RichK

[#6]

As it happens, my WAG54Gv3 DNS is showing as being set to the numbers you posted, and it is currently working fine.

[#7]

Don't switch off the firewall on the WAG54G !!! otherwise you will get probed and your network attacked in a very short space of time.
I run a Linux firewall to protect my servers, and it is amazing how quickly computers from all around the world try and get through ANY open port on your network that isn't blocked by your router firewall.