which one shall i keep

[woodcroft]

hi all
just need a bit of advice
just changed my b/band supplier and they sent me a new router not sure if it is better than the one i had so don't know the best one to use
the new one is a NETGEAR DG834GT
my old one is a BELKIN F5D7633-4

any ideas

[teabee]

Both makes have a good rep.... change for the sake of change is seldom a good move, IMHO.

I'd just keep the new one for a spare. 

[HairyHaggis]

Am a Netgear fan through and through ... enuff said !!

[eggz]

I have the Belkin. Don't know if the Netgear has these features (which I personally love), but with the latest firmware your Belkin should:

Be able to automatically log in to a dynamic DNS service (great for remote controlling my home network)
Bridge with another (compatable) router to extend range (great for getting signal right through my house and down my garden)

[TopPopMopTop]

also...

unless there are features that you might use, not sure it matters

on one hand you could stick with a router that you know - settings etc

on the other hand - if you have any problems there might be more help/resources from you new isp with regard to the belkin router

also, do you use wireless?  If so might be an opportunity to check if one or the other has better wireless strength/coverage/stability
plus apparently some programs e.g.  torrent  can work better/worse with different routers

[woodcroft]

also...
 do you use wireless?  If so might be an opportunity to check if one or the other has better wireless strength/coverage/stability

i am using wireless for 2 PC's a laptop and PS3 signal seems fine with the new one (netgear) the stability however just does not seem right i cant put my finger on it just feels different than the belkin maybe just the change of router i also don't have the settings for the belkin as the new netgear came with a CD from sky and set itself up. i have connected the belkin but can't get a connection i can access the router setting just don't know what to do when i get there

[daxian]

hi woodcroft....
sky insist on you useing the router they supply(part of the t&c's)and the settings are built into the firmware.
you can use another router ,but if you need support, they wont be very helpfull (not that they are anyway )if you dont use their router.
if you do decide to go with the belkin ,i have found a very helpfull site, http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/.
nothing to do with sky itself and the guys there will be able to help with getting the settings from the netgear .Dave.

[TopPopMopTop]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/22/zen_ar7_infineon_bt_fault/

see it mentions Netgear - lot of maybes though so don't get too worried

[woodcroft]

the settings from sky for this router don't seem to be easy to get hold of
i am having a few problems with the speed on this router one day I'm getting d/l speeds around 9.7 meg the next day I'm getting speeds around 400 kbps - 1 meg
uploads are constantly around 650 kbps regardless of d/l speed and the ping is always around 140 when i run the speed test on http://www.speedtest.nets 
i know that the isp's say the speeds fluctuate for the first week or so but i only live 90 meters from the exchange so from 9.7 to 400 seems a bit much
i don't know if any of this is to do with the router but i never had any problems with the belkin

[daxian]

hi again....i live a similar distance from my exchange,i get the full package and connect at 16meg down and 768 upload .
speedtests vary with the time of day but the average download speed is 12 meg.
most of the time connection speed is fine but on occasion it drops and browsing is not good ,but i find if i power down the router then power up again everything is fine again
what package did you sign up for ?
the settings for the sky router are in the firmware (username & password )
and not accessable (they really dont want you to use your own router)but the site i linked to in my last post has lots of info on how to get to the settings if you want to try
using the belkin ,but i dont think it will improve your connection any .Dave

[woodcroft]

my connection is supposed to be the max up to 16meg but the very highest speed test results i have got have been 9.7 and on average its about 6.5 so in comparison to you this is garbage
you think i should give them a call or wait a week or so, so they can't say it takes time for the connection to sort itself out
i know at busy times the speed can be slower but to drop from  around 6.5 to 400k, that cannot be right no matter how busy it is. 
and what about the ping issue my son got kicked for having a ping to high on c/strike from a server he has used for the last year or so on a daily basis (he was distraught like a fifteen year old baby) cos he could not shoot his mates , but to be fair that never happend  on my old 2 meg connection with talktalk

and just one more thing
why don't they want you to use your own router i know netgear are half decent but there not the best routers out there
although i have decided not to bother trying to set my belkin one up, at least for now so sky can't use it as a reason for the poor connection

[daxian]

hi again...pings for gamers have been a big issue on the other forum lately....but it seems that sky are listening and have made improvements
but you will have to sort out the line speed issues first .
it is a lot more difficult to maintain a good line speed at the sort of speeds that sky are offering than for a 2meg line
 things like line noise (snr) signal to noise ratio ,internal wiring in the home can all adversely affect  line speed .
to sort out the snr you will need to monitor the routers stats ,then reboot the router when the noise is at its highest .
check out the site i posted earlier .they helped me get the speed i now enjoy ,when i first got it i was capped at 9 meg .
they talked me through the process of checking line noise and told me how to get in touch with sky to sort it out .....Dave

[TopPopMopTop]

i had time to spare so i found this on that sky forum site

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-router/15796-sky-netgear834gt-router.html  -  shows you how to find your username and password so you can try using the belkin router - just to be a little bit paranoid, you might want to double check your T&Cs with sky to check they can't kick you off for using a different router - never heard of it myself though.

plus this tutorial link that i haven't read through

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/technical-discussion/5243-how-obtain-your-username-password-sky-router.html

bearing in mind there is also this

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-help/14765-cooked-our-connection-sky-have-kicked-us-off.html

which mentions stuff like getting the dns info from the netgear to type in to a new router to get it to work PLUS stuff to do with using wrong login info and Radius account being locked - haven't got a clue what that means

and this mentions the rebooting at a high noise time, so may be of help to you

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-tutorial-section/6815-how-fix-common-causes-disconnections.html