Hello,
Bald Eagle thought it might be of interest for me to post about a problem I had when ADSL was first enabled for me, and what I did to fix (circumvent?) it. I'd welcome comments on whether I did the right thing, and what might actually have been wrong.
So...
Last year, ordered Broadband from Talk Talk. They are 1 of few ISPs who offer LLU at my local exchange.
I knew when it had been enabled as there was lots of noise on the line
So immediately switched on the Router (Talk Talk supplied DSL-2780) and fitted microfilter to the DECT base unit.
BUT, the line, which had for years previous, been very low noise, now had distinct hiss (I assumed ADSL noise) and speech quality, whilst not apalling, was far from being good.
I tried a different filter on the telephone, and also tried stacking two in series. Made no difference.
I left it for a few days, but it was annoying, so thought I'd try a few experiments to see if anything could be improved.
Wiring was like this
incoming line > JCT box in attic > BT master socket > unused extension > unused extension > socket for DECT phone. Total wire length can't be more than about 15 - 20 metres I'd guess.
The router modem was plugged into the BT master socket, via a microfilter as per instructions. It isn't (wasn't *cough*) an NTE/5, just a plain BT branded master socket.
I tried replacing the master socket, as it was in a sorry condition and my suspicions were heaped upon it, but this made no difference.
Disconnecting the extension sockets gave me a significant boost in speeds
Synch Speed Attenuation S/N Margin
UP DWN UP DOWN UP DOWN
With extns 941 15524 11.6 23 11.8 10.9
Without 925 17380 11.5 22 12.5 11.8
Now, I'd already disconnected the ring wire, and had no previous problems with line quality - it's always been remarkably clear and crisp, quiet line was *really* quiet!
Using a BT plug and a junction box, I contrived a bodge that gave the extensions a pre-filtered signal from the one plug-in ADSL microfilter at the master socket, so ADSL was only available at the master socket. On resetting everything, I was delighted to get a vastly improved voice quality on the telephone, and the modem resynched at the same "extensions disconnected" figures I quoted above (except S/N margin down was marginally lower)
I subsequently replaced my bodge with one of those pre-filtered NTE5 faceplates from ADSL nation, which has retained the noise-free voice line and good ADSL speeds.
So, I was pleased to have sorted it out, but am curious as to what might have been causing the problem? As I said, I feel I've circumvented it rather than fixing it. Why did I get so much ADSL noise on the voice phone, when it had it's own ADSL microfilter plugged in, and I tried several varieties in case of a faulty one? (The microfilter that provided the bodged solution was one that had previously been used on the handset in question, so I am sure it was working OK)
Ian
(for amusement, I've attached a picture of my bodge that worked!)