Speeds dropping, can I do anything?

[henleyb]

Hi everyone, hoping someone might be able to help us with our IDNet broadband.
we've been happily running my IDNet account now for a while but it's getting slower and slower. Granted we live a little remote so speeds are probably expected to be a bit slow.. But hopefully there's something I can do as it's starting to affect our work quite a bit.

We get:

Connection Speed
Down: 960 kbps
Up: 768 kbps

Line Attenuation
Down: 61 db
Up: 15.5 db

Noise Margin
down: 15 db
up:     6 db

Is there anything I can try to boost the speed? Our exchange is Axminster and our postcode is EX13 5SL, any ideas if BT are going to upgrade the exchange of cabling. Is there anyway I can check on these things?

[Rik]

Hi H and welcome to the forum.

BT are unlikely to upgrade your cable, unless a massive faults develops. Your speed is low because your noise margin is high (15db). This suggests to me that your line has been unstable (lots of disconnections). Have you noticed this happening. (Your u/s margin is unusually low, btw.)

The usual cause of such issues is noise pickup. How many phone sockets do you have, what's connected to them, are you using any loose extension leads, if so, are they flat or round? Do you have the newer NTE5 master socket - the type where the bottom part of the faceplate can be removed?

[Rik]

Update:

IDNet have tested your line and there's a BT fault showing. Once this has been cleared, they will let you know the outcome.

[henleyb]

Thanks for that!

It has always been slow, I think the fastest we have ever got to is ~1.4mbps when we first joined but this has steadily decreased over the last few months.

The building has just been rennovated so all new sockets on the walls. I joined up two slave sockets to the master (wasn't sure if two was ok but went ahead and things *seem* ok). One of the slave sockets has the router plugged in with new filters etc. Both extension cables are the flat type.

Is there any indication of the problem on the line and when it's likely to be resolved? I know what BT are like so understand if there's no more info.

[Rik]

I have no more information, but if you give IDNet a ring, they can probably tell you more (0800 0267237).

Have you connected the ring wire (terminal three) on your sockets? If so, try removing it from all sockets, the ring wire is not needed and just serves to put a lot of noise on the line. The other question is have you used a pair for the connections, eg blue/white and white/blue?

[henleyb]

I have no more information, but if you give IDNet a ring, they can probably tell you more (0800 0267237).

Have you connected the ring wire (terminal three) on your sockets? If so, try removing it from all sockets, the ring wire is not needed and just serves to put a lot of noise on the line. The other question is have you used a pair for the connections, eg blue/white and white/blue?

Which wire is the ring wire? I connected all four of the wires in to the socket for both extensions, so there's 8 individual internal wires connected in total going to the two extension sockets (four internal wires per extension).

In fact, have a picture!

[Sebby]

What you could try now we can see you have a NTE5 master socket is plugging the router into the test socket (that socket behind the faceplate) and re-posting your stats. This is where the ADSL comes into the property so it's a test to see if the extension wiring is picking up noise.

But, as you have a line fault, it might not be worth messing around too much at this stage.

[henleyb]

What you could try now we can see you have a NTE5 master socket is plugging the router into the test socket (that socket behind the faceplate) and re-posting your stats. This is where the ADSL comes into the property so it's a test to see if the extension wiring is picking up noise.

But, as you have a line fault, it might not be worth messing around too much at this stage.

Ok, fair enough. I'll wait on the line fault to resolve and then see what smoe testing shows up. Thanks for all the great help!

[Sebby]

For the future, it will certainly be good to see if your setup can be improved upon.

[Rik]

In fact, have a picture!

I can't see the numbering on the terminals, but you only want wires connected to terminals 2 & 5 at each socket.

[g7pkf]

Also looks like flat cable has been used.

For future info this is about the worse cable to use with adsl connections.

[Rik]

Good point, Dean.

[henleyb]

What type of cable is good to use? Will the flat cable have a noticable effect? Both aren't too long, literally going in to two seperate rooms next to the master socket. They're straight extension sockets which I cut the ends off and attached to the master socket like in the pics.

[Rik]

Flat cables tend not to twist the pairs, which increases the noise pickup, and you do appear to be suffering from a noise issue. Add in the ring wire and it's a recipe for poor ADSL. Get some CW1308 from Maplin or B&Q:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=CW1308&source=15&SD=Y

[henleyb]

Ok, also once I've made a change (I've just removed those wires from the master socket) and am about to try plugging the router straight in. How long will it take to show any changes on the line, is it instant or will I need to leave it plugged in for a few hours to stabalize.. or something?

[Rik]

It will be instant if it's local noise pickup, I'd expect to see you sync speed increase and/or your noise margin drop. A couple of caveats, though, if BT have a fault, it might just prevent the difference from showing and the later in the day you sync, the lower the speed will be as noise increases after dark.

[henleyb]

Ok, I've gone to the master socket and plugged the router straight in (with a filter) and it's coming up as 1312kbps which is nice! I won't be able to change the extension cables as they're under the carpets. Might try removing one of the extensions and see if that helps as we can probably get by without it.

Noise and all the other values have stayed the same, only connection speed has increased.

[Rik]

You've just confirmed your wiring is causing some of the pain. Remove the wires from everything except terminals 2 & 5 at whatever sockets you leave connected, and make sure that the wires on 2 & 5 are paired, eg blue/white & white blue.

[Rik]

It's perhaps worth mentioning that you do not want to ask IDNet to get a BT engineer out to you over this issue. He/she will plug in to the test socket, decide there's no fault, and you'll have a bill for around £170.

[Dangerjunkie]

Hi,

If your extension cables are under carpet and could have been trodden on or trapped under furniture then they could well be damaged. This might explain the progressively worsening performance.

If you rewire your extensions round the walls with CAT5 network cable and replace the front of your NTE5 socket with one of these ( http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php ) you will get the best match to your ADSL line you can get and hopefully see an improvement. Once you have one of those you won't need to put microfilters on anything. If you have a Sky or Sky+ box it seems to be advisable to put one of these on it ( http://www.adslnation.com/products/xf-1e.php ) in addition to replacing the front of the NTE5. The products are both top-notch filters and will hopefully perform better than any cheap/aged filters you may have.

If I need to take a cable through a doorway I tack it up the side of the frame and round the corner onto the top then drill it through there. I then run it over to whichever edge of the other side of the door I want to come down on and go back down to skirting board level.

Good luck, let us know how you get on

Cheers,
Paul.

[Rik]

The alarm engineers who cabled my house lifted the mouldings around the doors, and ran their cables in the space, then replaced the mouldings. It worked a treat.

[Sebby]

Ok, I've gone to the master socket and plugged the router straight in (with a filter) and it's coming up as 1312kbps which is nice! I won't be able to change the extension cables as they're under the carpets. Might try removing one of the extensions and see if that helps as we can probably get by without it.

Noise and all the other values have stayed the same, only connection speed has increased.

As well as confirming that your extension wiring is responsible for some of the loss, there's also a lot more room for improvement, given that your target SNRM is set so high. Perhaps once the fault is cleared, IDNet will be able to get BT to reset this for you. Hopefully you'll get another few Mb.

[henleyb]

I'll definetly keep that in mind, have ordered up a few "pro" filters and that replacement master socket so will give those a go. If I can hit 2mbit then I would be very happy indeed!

Thanks again, will keep you posted.

[Lance]

Welcome to the forum, Henley.

With your wiring sorted, and noise margin corrected, I can see no reason why you wouldn't hit 2mb

[g7pkf]

I'll definetly keep that in mind, have ordered up a few "pro" filters
Thanks again, will keep you posted.

can you be a bit more specific on what pro-filters you have ordered?

(just being inquisitive)