Hi guys,

Thanks for your moral support. After insisting to the ISP Help Desk, some one worked out that the gateway IP address given to me by the installation tech was wrong! Then it all started working! 30 minutes later, it all stopped again, because another tech was busy re-connecting the line to the house next door! (the neighbour was hopping mad that his line had been dead for 2 days!).
All they need to do now is run another cable up from the street (Monday?).

Now we can close the thread.

Regards,

Richard