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[cosrush]

I dont know where I could post this so I hope somebody might be able to either help meor point me in the right direction of somebody who can.

My BT phone line comes into my house from a telegraph pole outside.
The cable goes into a box on the wall outside at roof height.

Inside my loft you can clearly a black cable coming through the wall at the point where the box is. It it runs down the wall about 1.5m whereby I found this.

Some kind of connector which then has a smaller grey wire coming out of it, and it is this cable that runs to the master socket.

I have been trying to resolve some interference issues and having found this wondered if this could be causing a problem.

Any idea what it is and why it has been used? I would have thought that the cable should have been a complete run from the box outside to the master socket without any joins.

Any help greatfully received.



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[mr_chris]

Perhaps the phone lines were installed before the house was ready for the master socket, so they terminated it at that junction box, and the master socket was connected up later. But if everything is ok with the box, it shouldn't be causing any problems whatsoever with your broadband connection. I'd be quite surprised if it's adding significantly to any problems you're having. Who knows, though.

However, that box you pictured, in fact everything leading up to the master socket is BT owned and you aren't supposed to touch them, so I'm not going to tell you to have a look inside it!!

Not a great deal else I can say - except presumably you've tested your connection using the test socket behind the master faceplate, etc.

The only other suggestion is look at http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/lowSNR.htm to see if there's anything there you haven't tried yet?

[cosrush]

Thanks for the reply.

Just to clarify, are you saying that upto that connector is BT owned, or all the way upto the master socket including the connector?

[roseway]

Everything up to the master socket is BT owned.

[cosrush]

Thankyou.

 

[Ezzer]

Have a look at the back of the connector box (Known as a Block terminal or BT) and check it dosn't say rf2 (RF3 is ok)

Typicaly this should be a BT78 (occasionaly bt80) you can open it to have a look inside (this bit of info is for anyone else reading this who's bt may be screwed to something rather than lying loose as this one is)

An RF2 can be identified by 2 small black cylenders inside about 4-5mm in diameter and about 6mm high. If you do have an RF2 then you need to call your ISP to get an engineer out to change this for an RF3.
Ther'e not common items but an RF would have been fitted if the normal telephony was being affected by some radio interference during a normal phone conversation. The RF2 was designed before Broadband was around and filters out the dsl signal completely unless it's corroded or your attenuation figures are so low because your close to the exchange the signal still forces enough through for your modem/router to still sync. Relacing it for an RF3 which has one small square black block with copper windings will do the same job but allows the dsl signal through with no hinderance.


Yes all this wiring belongs to bt so if you fiddle with it and you need an engineer to come out to put it right it will be chargeable

The black cable running into the black looks like a dropwire10 so this should be ok. the grey cable would be an internal grade of wiring and again usualy shouldn't be a problem as long as this runs straight into the nte. The only other problem which can arise is if you have star wiring, that is extention wiring connected before the nte as this can cause an inbalance which int turn can case a problem for DSL and also defeats the point of being able to remove the faceplate on an nte to test for normal telephony or dsl problems as some internal extention wiring is still connected.

If the BT has redcare on it or reads bt92 on the back, avoid it as this is for an alarm system and the phone monitoring needs to be deactivated before it's disconnected. Other wise put the kettle on for the boy's in blue as they'll round shortly 

[soms]

And if anything goes wrong still put the kettle on for the [BT] boys in blue... they certainly appreciate a cuppa and also bacon sandwiches if your offer 

[Ezzer]

The boys in blue I was refering to were the ones with flashing blue lights not amber ones. Once i did a cable change over single handed and couldn't tee the pairs while I was swapping them over. Working away in a hole in the ground only to have a car wheel stop near my head and a pc peering out of the window "Alarm at the vicarage down there. Wouldn't be you would it ?" 

I do remember one chap who offered a cuppa, then a can of larger, then a Shmoke ! and Yesh he vas dutch. I just had a cup before, I'm driving, and unusely for east anglia it seems, I don't Shmoke