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[randominion]

I wonder if any of your users can help me. I've been consulting your site for information about a problem that I'm having with my line.

When I switch on my router, I can hear interference (noise) on my landline. This can be so bad, that I usually have to switch off the router when making a phone call - a bit like the old dial-up.

I have tested my phone line using the master socket, and I've asked BT to test the line, and there seems to be no problem with the voice line. When I listen to the line with the router switched off, there is no noise.

After looking at your site, I've taken the following actions:
- I replaced my Netgear DG834G with a Linksys WAG200G to see if it made any difference, but the interference was exactly the same
- I plugged in a different phone into the phone to see if this made a difference, but the noise was exactly the same
- Today, I followed your advice, and bought an NTE5 ADSL faceplate (about £15 from TLC) and fitted that. After plugging everything back in, I can still hear the same interference, although it does seem to be a little more faint

I plugged the Netgear router back in and updated to the latest firmware, and I have the statistics for the line. Can anyone advice me what to do next? I think I need to contact BT to get an engineer round, but I need to give them the right information so they don't end up charging me because they say it's my fault.

Any advice gratefully received. Let me know if you need more information.

Dom

Statistics from Netgear router:

ADSL Link           Downstream      Upstream
Connection Speed    8128 kbps       448 kbps
Line Attenuation    13 db           5.5 db
Noise Margin        14 db           27 db

[waltergmw]

Hi Dom and welcome,

Can you please tell us who your service supplier is and what package you are on.

Can you also please describe how your internal socket(s) are wired up.

Kind regards,
Walter

[burakkucat]

And continuing Walter's last request, if you are able to do so, images of the connections within each socket will be the most direct method of providing that information.

[randominion]

Thank you for your replies.

On the broadband service, I'm with Zen Internet, and I'm on their 'Zen 8000 Active' service which has a 50GB monthly limit.

I've just looked on the Zen customer portal, and it says:

- Your current maximum download speed is 4500Kbps

- Your current line technology is IP Stream Max ADSL

if this helps.

Also, if this helps, it publishes a table of 'line rate data'. The latest entry reads:

Upstream Downstream Sync Rate BRAS Profile Interleave Sync Date         Date
0        4500       5120      adsl4500     Auto       12-Sep-2011 09:36 12-Sep-2011 09:36

With regards to the phone wiring, the landline phone and the router are both plugged into the BT master socket. I've attached an NTE5 ADSL faceplate to the master socket and the phone and router are plugged into this. There are no extensions from the master socket, so I made no changes to wiring of the faceplate - just plugged it in. See attached photo to clarify set up - as you can see - it's very simple.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[burakkucat]

Puzzling. 

With your camera to hand, please unscrew the ADSL faceplate and unplug it. Next, unscrew the two screws that hold the inner section to the backing box and gently remove the plate. Lay it face down and take a photograph such that the individual coloured wires of the cable can be seen where they connect to terminals. Refit the inner section and replace the screws.

Now remove the central screw from the junction box at the window. Take a photograph so that the coloured wires can be clearly identified, from which cable they originate and to which terminal they are connected. Replace the cover and tighten the screw.

Now please share those images with us.

Plug the telephone into the inner test socket and perform a quiet line test. Call 17070, option 2 and listen. It should be apparent that the circuit is electrically alive but there should not be any noticeable hum, buzz, clicks, etc.

Do you have one of the "dangley" microfilters available? If so, please plug it into the test socket and then connect the phone & modem/router to it. See if that makes any difference. Repeat the quiet line test.

If your modem/router has wireless enabled, test with it disabled.

I'm sure Walter will also think of something for you to try . . . but the above is enough for the moment.

[waltergmw]

@ BKK,

I have already !

K R
Walter

[jeffbb]

Hi
quote: Connection Speed    8128 kbps       448 kbps those are great stats cannot get any better for your package .
quote :Upstream Downstream Sync Rate BRAS Profile Interleave Sync Date            Date
                    0        4500       5120      adsl4500     Auto       12-Sep-2011 09:36 12-Sep-2011 09:36

from the Zen data you appear to have had a resynch giving you a lower synch rate ?(at earlier time? )
have you resynched ? since the last Zen update ?
Regards Jeff

[randominion]

Many thanks for all your replies.

@jeffbb: The stats on the Zen website only had one row for each day, so possibly it only reported once per day. The stats from my router were much later that day.

@burakkucat: Please see attached pics of inside the ADSL faceplate. There are just two wires, red and green. I don't have any wires attached to the extension terminals. Also there is a pic of the inside of the master socket. There are just two wires blue-white and white-blue connected to the A and B terminals.

As for the tests:
- I tested the phone line in the test socket (rather than use the quiet line, I just dial 0 as that clears the line so you can listen to it - it's quicker). In this case, there was no noise. I also left the router powered on, so it doesn't seem to interfere with the line when it's not plugged into the ADSL.
- I attached an ADSL microfilter dongle to the test socket and plugged the phone and the router into it. I checked the line and I could hear interference from the router (you can hear it doing its handshaking like an old dial-up modem, and then a steady hiss).
- Then I connected to the router and disabled the wireless. I checked the line and still I could hear the interference.

@walter: You sent me a message where you suggested 17070 option 1 to see if this affected the connection. I tried this and there was no affect on the interference either during or after the ringback. I'll also give Zen Internet technical support a call tomorrow evening and see if they can help.

Thank you for all your suggestions - if you think of anything else, please let me know.

Dom

[attachment deleted by admin]

[waltergmw]

Hi Dom,

Perhaps this is stating the obvious but you have used different routers, different filters and the standard as well as the test socket.
The wiring looks in good order although the box on the window isn't shown.
Have you examined the outside of the house for any junction boxes there ?

The only conclusion I can come to is that the noise is being picked up either at or en route to the exchange.

The next action should be a call to Zen.

Any other ideas anybody ?

Kind regards,
Walter

[jeffbb]

Hi
quote The stats on the Zen website only had one row for each day, so possibly it only reported once per day. The stats from my router were much later that day.

quote : BT will only provide line information if your circuit experiences technical problems which cause your BRAS profile to change .

It will show more than one line per day ,if the BRAS profile has changed .

Regards Jeff

[randominion]

Sorry - I didn't understand what the line data meant - here are all the records shown on the Zen customer portal:

Upstream	Downstream	Sync Rate	BRAS Profile	Interleave	Sync Date	Date
0	5000	5696	adsl5000	Auto	14-Sep-2011 14:48	14-Sep-2011 14:48
0	6000	6816	adsl6000	Auto	14-Sep-2011 10:33	14-Sep-2011 10:33
0	6500	7392	adsl6500	Auto	14-Sep-2011 06:03	14-Sep-2011 06:03
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	12-Sep-2011 17:57	12-Sep-2011 17:57
0	4500	5120	adsl4500	Auto	12-Sep-2011 09:36	12-Sep-2011 09:36
0	5000	5696	adsl5000	Auto	09-Sep-2011 12:49	09-Sep-2011 12:49
0	5500	6240	adsl5500	Auto	08-Sep-2011 21:07	08-Sep-2011 21:07
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	08-Sep-2011 14:13	08-Sep-2011 14:13
0	5000	5696	adsl5000	Auto	07-Sep-2011 16:34	07-Sep-2011 16:34
0	5000	5696	adsl5000	Auto	05-Sep-2011 05:40	05-Sep-2011 05:40
0	6000	6816	adsl6000	Auto	02-Sep-2011 21:47	02-Sep-2011 21:47
0	6500	7392	adsl6500	Auto	02-Sep-2011 19:45	02-Sep-2011 19:45
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	29-Aug-2011 23:11	29-Aug-2011 23:11
0	3500	4000	adsl3500	Auto	29-Aug-2011 23:09	29-Aug-2011 23:09
0	4500	5120	adsl4500	Auto	29-Aug-2011 21:33	29-Aug-2011 21:33
0	5000	5696	adsl5000	Auto	28-Aug-2011 23:36	28-Aug-2011 23:36
0	5500	6240	adsl5500	Auto	28-Aug-2011 20:45	28-Aug-2011 20:45
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	29-Jul-2011 16:31	29-Jul-2011 16:31
0	6000	6816	adsl6000	Auto	28-Jul-2011 20:50	28-Jul-2011 20:50
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	24-Jul-2011 22:01	24-Jul-2011 22:01
0	3000	3424	adsl3000	Auto	24-Jul-2011 18:48	24-Jul-2011 18:48
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	26-Jun-2011 00:15	26-Jun-2011 00:15
0	6000	6816	adsl6000	Auto	24-Jun-2011 13:58	24-Jun-2011 13:58
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	18-Jun-2011 00:15	18-Jun-2011 00:15
448	7150	8128	adsl7150	Auto	16-Jun-2011 00:15	16-Jun-2011 00:15

There is also a table labelled 'Synchronisation data' which just has one row:

MSR	FTR	MSR Reset Status	Date
2272	1817	N	06-Sep-2009 02:03

Dom

[randominion]

Just to update you, I contacted Zen technical support last night and they were very helpful. Thanks again for all the assistance on the the forum - it helped that you'd asked me to do certain tests as I was able to give the results of the tests to the Zen support agent.

He did some additional tests on the line, but the convincing thing seemed to be the history of line drops. He's going to arrange for a BT engineer to come out, so hopefully that will the start of resolving the problem.

Dom

[roseway]

That's good to hear. I'm with Zen too, and I've found their support to be excellent, so hopefully you're on the way.

[bbnovice]

I've experienced something similar.

In my case it was not the router that caused the line noise as such - it just provoked it (why or how I do not know). The line was quiet when the router was not switched on so initially I naturally assumed the router was indeed the cause of the problem. However swapping it for other routers yielded exactly the same result. So then I got suspicious

Cutting a long story short the fault was in the network, not the router. I can't provide a technical explanation for this but if you swap your router and the noise on the line still happens then suspecting a network fault is not unreasonable.

Getting OR out is the smart option and I hope the engineer can diagnose the fault for you.

 

[burakkucat]

Cutting a long story short the fault was in the network, not the router. I can't provide a technical explanation for this but if you swap your router and the noise on the line still happens then suspecting a network fault is not unreasonable.

That is an interesting fault. I can't think up a reasonable explanation . . . Can anyone else?

(At this point I would have asked for Mr Pag's opinion. Sigh.   )