How to speed up your broadband

some usefull websites for more info tips Note no affiliation just sites i have found helpful [url=http://www.samknows.com/]http://www.samknows.com/[/url] Wealth of info including exchange searches, check who provides services, estimated speed for postcode. [url=http://www.skyuser.co.uk/]http://www.skyuser.co.uk/[/url] Wealth of info for sky broadbad users and other sky stuff as well. [url=http://www.stumbler.net/]http://www.stumbler.net/[/url] Use this program to check all wireless routers in you area to help select best channel, diagnose wireless signal quality. Regards Neil

My 2p some practical advise for getting the best connection speeds if you have ADSL broadband (ie not virgin) Things to uderstand about ADSL technology. It was developed to use higher frequencies down your copper phone line so that it can co-exist with your analogue phone; this is why you need those filters. The length of the line between your house and the exchange is the main factor in limiting your speed. Being copper cable pairs which are bundled in 100/300 pair cables there is cross interference from external factors as well as the other cables. This is most noticable late at night when more people are using it hence you may notice you connection become less reliable / slower at night. (note this is in addition to the fact more people using the bandwith at the exchange / ISP connection will also slow your internet experience) Helpful hints 1 - Filters, without these in the correct place you will suffer a bit drop in connection speed. Depending on your wiring will affect how and where to place these. Scenario 1 - Phone line + router + phone in same socket (no fixed extension wiring in back of NTE socket). Put filter in phone socket and connect router and phone to filter. Scenario 2 - Phone line + router + phone +extension wiring / sky box in same socket (no fixed extension wiring in back of NTE socket). Put filter into NTE socket, phone /extension lead into filter and router into filter. Ensure that any other phones/extension leads are connected into the filter and they will not need filters on them(this will drop your signal) Scenario 3 - Phone Line + router + phone + hard wired extensions in the NTE socket. You will need a filter on every extension socket in use (i.e. has the router or a phone attached). For best performance try to have the router attached to the master socket (the one with the split faceplate) as there will be less signal loss. Ensure that all the extensions have been wired correctly and use good quality cable as these can drag the signal down. I have seen a friends internet from bt dropped to 0.5m due to an incorrectly placed filter, I repositioned filters and line speed increaded to 5M Wireless Choose your channel wisley ! You've spotted that the world and there wife in your neighbourhood are all using the same default channel as you (how ? download netstumbler and see what chanels wireless are being used.) and have decided to change yours to another to reduce interference. Your default is set at 6 (for example) and you have a choice of 1-11, what do you pick ? you think 5 sounds good ? nope bad choice. Due to the bizzare way the wirless channels are spread out there is an overlap !!! The channel nuber is the centre channel, so it is best to to stick to one of three non overlapping settings, 1, 6, 11 Check what you are getting. Logon to your router and check the statistics of your line. The default password and login are normally supplied with the router either on the router or int the documantation. Check for your line speed and noise margin. line speed tells you what speed the router negotiated and noise margin tells you how much interference tolereance is currently available. the lower the noise margin the more suceptible to interuptions. 7.0 + is ok, 6-7 you will start experiencing interuptions, 5.9 or lower you internet connection will stall/become unuseable. If your noise is low rebooting you router either through web interface or power cycle will cause it to resync at the best rate for the current line conditions *NOTE* current, that is why you may find a router you turn on first thing in the morning and is fast crawls by night time, check those stats and reboot if necessary, some routers will automatically resync, others will not (sky ) I have rebooted my sky late at night and leave router on permanently, have only had to reboot since discovering this about three times in the 18 months i have had sky (when the router has locked up for antoher reason) Hope this helps Neil BTW i have sky max package, was quote 2m, get 6m stable (7m if rebooted in morning see above)  Cust service ok

Re: redechan's query about using the mains for transmitting ethernet around the house using the mains. We have a stone house built in 1909, last rewired in 1975, and the system works perfectly. We have Advent adaptors from PC World (but these are now expensive) and a Cisco Linksys adapter which has 3 sockets and they all work happily together. If you Google on 'home plug' you will find there are several manufacturers and quite a competitive market.