"pstock" <midtownee@gmail.com> hath wroth:

>I hope that subject line covered it.

Hint: In order to get more working room on the page, my news reader
does not display the subject line.

>I recently changed PPPoE DSL providers (a telephone company) and have
>been having trouble connecting to the Net since.

This should be an obvious clue if the provider was the only thing that
changed. However, there were apparently other changes.

>Laptop running WIndows XP, DSL modem (speedstream 5260), Netgear WGR614
>v4 router with the latest (and only) firmware 5.0_07. DSL is PPPoE with
>login.

The Speedstream 5260 has some really nifty diagnostics. The problem
is how to access them either directly or through the router. I
usually use a 2nd computer and a hub or switch between the 5260 and
the router. Setup this 2nd PC to 10.0.0.10 and telnet to the 5260 at:
telnet 10.0.0.138
You should get something like:
<http://groups.google.com/group/ba.internet/msg/e35b9b0f232f9551?fwc=1>
Look for problems with SNR Margin, line levels, and error rates.
There's a page somewhere on DSLReports.com that explain the buzzwords.

>Before the DSL provider switch, my connection whether direct to the
>modem or via the wifi router was virtually the same. There was no
>problem.
>
>Since then, when connected via the router (wired to the router, not
>wifi, though the wifi performance is the same) service has become
>spotty.

So, have you tried it directly to the modem without the router? If
that works, you have a broken router..

>Here's what happens. When I request a page, 9 times out of 10, I get an
>error "Server not found" (this is in Firefox. Explorer behaves as
>badly.) I then have to hit the Refresh or Try again button once or
>twice, before the page eventually loads. You can imagine this is
>annoying, having to refresh, refresh everytime one accesses the Web. By
>the second or third try, I get through.

That can easily be a flakey DNS server at your ISP. Try setting the
DNS servers to some other nearby DNS servers on your XP client. It
will ignore the DNS cache in the router and go directly to the DNS
servers.

Also, I had exactly the same symptoms when I inserted a typo error for
the primary DNS server. XP would wait about 15 seconds before giving
up on the first DNS server, before going to the secondary.

>If I bypass the router and plug directly into the modem, the pages all
>load first time, every time.
>Rebooting the modem, router, and PC have not helped performance.

That leaves:
1. Broken router
2. Bad ethernet cable between modem and router.
3. Bad DNS servers.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558