About two weeks ago my download speeds plummeted (see the attached screenshots). The cable guy came by the house today and had me try a simple test which I am very embarrassed to say I didn't think of doing myself. He had me connect the cable modem directly to my computer instead of through the router, and magically my download speed was restored to normal.

Interestingly, my ping times and my upload times have remained relatively constant throughout. My download speeds, however, have varied from the normal 15+ Mbps (before the problem began) to as low as 0.07 Mbps.

Is this something that will require a new router, or if I "nuke and repave" the settings in my router will it maybe be OK after that?

The router is a WRT54G-2, the one that looks like a flying saucer, sort of.

Well, never mind. After switching the wires back again (going through the router instead of direct from the modem) my download speed remains at the level it should be, ~15-16 Mbps. Maybe just a poor cable connection at the router's Ethernet port?

tanstaafl.

Good that it's working again. There's no obvious reason why it might be good one day, and slow the next. Congestion on the cable possibly, or a flaky ethernet connection.

The WRT54G series are good for up to 24-30mbits/sec for most purposes.

Cheers

When I got my upgrade to FTTC, I was most upset to only get 10Mbps of my rated 40Mbps. Testing with a laptop connected directly to the VDSL modem proved that it was my problem, so the engineer left me to sort it out.

I'd accidentally left QoS turned on, with the default Tomato bandwidth limits. Doh.