What is wrong with my internet?

[The Toaster]

Hi,

The story of my internet is a long one, so I will give the abridged version.
The internet kept on disconnecting intermittently so I called up the isp and they said to unscrew the phone socket and plug it into a 'tester' or something like that inside the socket. Which fixed the problem, it is still plugged into that now.

This was about a year ago and since then everything was fine, apart from not long ago the PC started acting strange with it.

Download speeds are very jumpy, by jumpy I mean it gets 1kb/s then jumps to 10Mb/s and then straight down to 1 again (this is on speedtest.net) The same is reflected in downloads from steam, very jumpy. Also torrents don't really work, I get about 6b/s no matter what device, what i'm downloading. And despite this all tests that should show if the isp is blocking them say they work fine.

The problems happen on the PC wired or wireless. I was thinking possibly the router? It's a quite old Belkin G+ one.

I am getting fed up with these problems and no amount of looking online has solved them.

So what do you guys think?

 

[RealBeast]

I would start by making a direct computer to DSL modem connection, leaving out the router to test. If it works well and speeds remain consistent and at your plan level, then yes probably the router.

 

[The Toaster]

I should have mentioned that the modem and router are one unit, how would I get a direct connection, or would I have to get a separate modem?

 

[RealBeast]

You can't test it that way then. What model Belkin and what DSL Internet service do you have?

 

[The Toaster]

The Belkin is 'ADSL2+ Modem with Wireless G+ MIMO Router'
Model Number 'F5D9630-4'

DSL Internet service (I assume you mean ISP, or is that different?) is TalkTalk, i'm not really sure what you mean.

 

[RealBeast]

Yes, same thing.

While it is likely that your Belkin is failing and that is the problem, you can't really know until you try another. If you can borrow one from a friend or buy one where you can return it easily, you will have your answer.

As far as a good replacement combo unit, take a look at THIS modem/router combo available for £32.99 from Amazon UK. I use a lot of TP Link and have been very happy with all of their products that I've used. It would be an upgrade to G/N wireless, gigabit LAN ports, and has a USB port to attach a drive or printer.

 

[dharmender1]

Hi,

The story of my internet is a long one, so I will give the abridged version.
The internet kept on disconnecting intermittently so I called up the isp and they said to unscrew the phone socket and plug it into a 'tester' or something like that inside the socket. Which fixed the problem, it is still plugged into that now.

This was about a year ago and since then everything was fine, apart from not long ago the PC started acting strange with it.

Download speeds are very jumpy, by jumpy I mean it gets 1kb/s then jumps to 10Mb/s and then straight down to 1 again (this is on speedtest.net) The same is reflected in downloads from steam, very jumpy. Also torrents don't really work, I get about 6b/s no matter what device, what i'm downloading. And despite this all tests that should show if the isp is blocking them say they work fine.

The problems happen on the PC wired or wireless. I was thinking possibly the router? It's a quite old Belkin G+ one.

I am getting fed up with these problems and no amount of looking online has solved them.

So what do you guys think?