Hi all. I have a Dell Dimension desktop pc, an Acer laptop, a Netgear DG834G v2 wireless modem router and AOL Platinum. Up until the day before yesterday (and three months before) my connnection was between 7 and 8 Mbps. Suddenly, the speed dropped to 0.5Mbps (yesterday it went up to 1.7Mbps and hasn't increased). I contacted AOL and they carried out a line status check via BT, which came back clear. The next stage is to get BT out to my place to check the line my end. I have been warned that if a problem exists with cabling in my house then I will be liable for the cost of the engineer's visit. So, before I make an appointment, I wanted to ask on here for any suggestion as to why these problems may have developed.

The only changes that were made on my PC in the past couple of weeks was the installation of a program called 'Speed-Up my PC'. I have run all the scans/fixes and the PC does run a little smoother and there were no initial, adverse affects to the internet connection. I have since uninstalled the program to see if it was to blame but the internet speed problem still exists.

My main concerns are that when I go into the router admin screen and also to 'Network Connections>Internet Gateway>Internet Connections>Internet connection Status screen, it shows my connection speed to be 7.8Mbps!! When I do an online speed checker ( I have tried several different ones) all I am getting is 1.7Mbps (ish) and downloading is a nightmare. As I said, my concern is that the router and windows are showing around 8Mbps? If this is what the router is receiving, then why do I seem to be limited to less than 2Mbps? I got a feeling that the problems are to do with my desktop PC but I also get the same speeds on my laptop which then shoots my suspicions about the desktop down in flames, I think!

It has been suggested to me that AOL maybe to blame but they have assured me that I should be getting full speed....also the 7.8Mbps connection as suggested by windows and the router/modem software is making my head spin!

Any ideas?

cheers
pmat