Voyager 210 behaving oddly.

[#1]

@ colintivy
Well you can either get a router from ebay or buy a new one, I suppose the risk with ebay is you might get something that's faulty but I've collected quite a number from ebay and had no problems, infact I'll have to put them back on for sale to clear some space.
As pierre_pierre has said you can also get one from PN but if you leave them within 12 months of getting that router you will have to pay the price PN charge for it.
I prefer Netgears with Broadcom chipsets to the current 585 v7, the only one from that maker I found held the connection well on my longish line was a ST585 v6 with a certain firmware.

Edit
The Netgear DG834G v5, v3, v2 and v1 don't have Broadcom chipsets, the v5 is the model that is on sale just now ..... don't buy it.
The v4 has a Broadcom chipset as does the GT and PN but can now only be bought second hand having been replaced by newer models.

[#2]

What are the line stats like when/if  the V210 is working  OK?
See this to get them.

[#3]

Not unreasonable, I will take them later and post. A bit busy right now, but it is working for now but for how long????

[#4]

Hi colintivy,
Yes, you can turn off the wifi on the thomson. Also, the fact that we supply it also means we fully support it and will help or replace if there are any issues.
Jojo

[#5]

Hi Jo
Some crossed lines here. My router is (I am sorry to say!!) a Voyager 210 and now is even worse than before, I am lucky to be online to write this. The link provided by Apprentice on page 1 is excellent and shows that the 210 has been a major problem since 2007. It was the one used by PN two years ago So far I have not found a loan replacement.
Colin

[#6]

I got my first PN 2110 i16/7/2006 and that has four ethernet ports, my daughter got a 210 ethernet only on 18/1/2008 for free and she could have had a 2110 for a smallish fee
I got my first Thompsom  28/10/200 for the princely sum of £6.99 postage, when that started to die, a second 20/9/2010 for £4.99  All have four ethernet ports and switchable wifi,  or are you thinking about USB?

[#7]

Hi Apprentice,
Present stats are not unusual and are:-
Line rate:   Down 2912 Kbps  Up 448 Kbps        Actual Down Speed 1.89 Kbps
Noise Margin:      15.2 db            22 db
Line Atten:            39 db            21.0 db
O/P Power           18.7 dBm       11.9 dBm
Drop out rate several within 30 mins now!
I am fairly sure that the 210 is failing fast.. will investigate replacement options. Thanks for full explanation of like types.
Kind regards,
Colin

[#8]

Hi PP,
Thanks for that, it came while I was writing to Apprentice. I am confident that a replacement is the answer. I take it that the PN on offer is OK, which model number does it have these days? I am unlikely to go wireless, my cable enters the house in the garage roof which makes the green lights a bit difficult to see!! Also trying to fit a modern faceplate etc., more that a bit difficult as well. None of my hardware is wireless without external hardware either. Progress in these matters await a favourable envelope from NS&I !!!!
Regards,
Colin
PS My 210 is the same vintage as your daughter's, let us hope that she is not due for problems as well!

[#9]

the one I just got
Thomson Gateway
Thomson Gateway
Information
Product Name: TG585 v7
Software Release: 8.2.6.5
it can be had for £4.99 P&P, and is free if you stay for 12 month, if you leave early I think it is £40
Handles my 14M ADSL2 OK, the below is from a piggy backed SamKnows device via ethernet

[#10]

Quote from: colintivy

Hi Apprentice, Present stats are not unusual and are:- Line rate:   Down 2912 Kbps  Up 448 Kbps        Actual Down Speed 1.89 Kbps Noise Margin:      15.2 db            22 db Line Atten:            39 db            21.0 db O/P Power           18.7 dBm       11.9 dBm Drop out rate several within 30 mins now! I am fairly sure that the 210 is failing fast.. will investigate replacement options. Thanks for full explanation of like types. Kind regards, Colin

Well Colin,
It looks like the BT exchange equipment has increased the noise margin at some point to 15.2dB as a reaction to the perceived instability caused by the V210's frequent disconnections assuming no other internal wiring problems.
From those stats and with a sound wiring set up you could in theory get a sync rate of 5000 Kbps once the downstream noise margin goes back/ or is reset to 6dB (default setting)
Are you getting any help from Plusnet?

[#11]

Hi Alastair !
My noise Margin has varied over the years that I have been recording the data (since 2009), usually around the 14 to 16 dB. Recently these are typical:- 
            08/06/10 17.06      Line rate:  3744 Kbps    Noise Margin:  10.5 dB    Probably the lowest recorded.       
            18/07/10 12.20                      3904 Kbps                          12.2 dB
            16/11/10 16/15                      2912 Kbps                          15.2 dB
          Everything else does not vary much.
The drop-outs recently were intermittent but several in 24hrs and sometime an unknown batch overnight. Every morning I am left with only the power on green light.Yesterday I consulted my retailer who seemed to agree with the PN posters that the router was on its last legs and recommended a new one. He only stocked Belkin so I promised to visit him today with that in view. Yesterday I switched the router right off as it had done its overnight failure but booted it up in the evening. To my surprise it seemed to want to connect and I spent some hours on-line without any problem, left it on overnight and for the first time for weeks it was still connected next morning! I am still using it now. I have brought the Belkin home but am not going to unpack it for now. I know the P.of W. believes that talking to trees helps...but routers????  Nothing has been waggled or fiddled with here, apart from the spell switched off.
Colin
PN have been helpful as the posts above indicate but apart from them offering a Thomson from them, I have not bothered them further. I shell wait and see what develops, Belkins are not cheap but, I understand that they are reliable.

[#12]

It will be interesting to hear how long the V210 manages to keep hold of the connection .......... strange, but keep talking to it 
As for Belkin routers I've never bought or used one so can't comment fairly on how good or reliable they are but I guess it's safe to say some models within the range will be better than others.

[#13]

Hi Alastair,
V210 went bananas seriously after its fit of more proper working. It definitely looks like a sensitivity to heat. This is likely to be a component problem which I might examine in due course. I have unpacked the Belkin and installed it, all went well until the very last step when it failed to connect to the internet for some reason. The readout of Router Stats look just like its predecessor so the DSL side is OK. I will have a second bash to see what I have failed to set or reset. So far the system seems to have done a grand job of automatically finding everything, so finding what is adrift will be interesting. SWMBO has bagged my time right now. Hopefully I will return!!
Thanks for your interest.
Colin
PS. In case you have not spotted that I am online, it is because V210 has let me!!  (for the moment!!

Colin

[#14]

Hi Alastair !
Finally got the Belkin installed. Had to resort to an elderly XP machine to do that successfully because the CD programs were all .exe and not digestible by Ubuntu. Wine does not seem to include IE6. Now Firefox etc., quite happy. I note that the stats show the effect of the disconnects i.e.:-
Data Rate:      Down 2784 Kbs  Up  448 Kbs
Noise Margin                16 db              23 db
Output                        119 dbM        189 dbM
Attenuation                  37 db              21 db   
So I will wait and see for a week or two with the Belkin on 24/7 to see if we can achieve or better those demonstrated by the V210. Note that I have never seen any noise margin here as low as 6 db., is this only achieved a few yards from the exchange and not a mile or so of overhead cable?
Thanks,
Colin
I will also look in the entrails of the 210 to see if the two electrolytics mentioned elsewhere are looking to be suspicious. If so I will replace them.

[#15]

duplicate post removed