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[Digibit]

Hey all, new user in the forums. Please be gentle.

OK, I have been busily troubleshooting a ‘problem’ I have with my sync speed. I have really good attenuation on my line but I can never sync at full speed – always in the low 5000’s. Here are my stats:

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 5,376
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.5 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 14.0 / 26.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 21.0 / 5.5

I think you will agree that I should be getting better sync speeds than I am with this line. I have tried three different routers and five different ADSL filters – all from the master socket in the house which is an older BT master (early eighties) without the test socket behind it rather than an NTE 5. I have disconnected all wires except 2 and 5 in this socket and there are no extensions connected. None of this has improved my sync speed at all. I tried running the DMT tool on an ST585V6 I bought specially for the purpose and found a few ‘gaps’ in my graph but I don’t know enough about the tool to comment whether this is causing the problems. I can post a screen shot of this if anyone is interested.

I also have a noticeable noise on my line which sounds like static inference when the routers (any of them) are connected via any of the filters to the main BT socket. This noise is not present when only the phone is plugged into the master socket and, not before the router establishes a connection. I know it sounds like I have an internal wiring / router / filter problem but I believe I have done enough to isolate this.

I have done a lot of research on this and suspect that the most likely cause of this noise (and my less than maximum sync speed) is probably a high resistance fault on the line. Any BT engineers are welcome to comment on this huge leap of the imagination at this point.

The question is where do I go from here? Is the fact that my line is syncing at less than its attenuation suggests grounds to log a fault call with my ISP? I suppose the hissing sound on my phone line is quite annoying but if I call BT out about that and they find that the fault only occurs when my router is connected they are going to say it is a fault filter / router (I know thats what I thought it was).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know I shouldn’t be moaning about a couple of meg but… well you know 

Digibit

[roseway]

Hi Digibit, and welcome.

It does look as though you've eliminated any internal source of the problem, assuming that the filters you've tried are different models. I don't think there's any point in reporting a voice fault to BT if the noise is only present when the router is active, so I guess that reporting to your ISP is the only option. Depending on who your ISP is, this might well be a frustrating experience.

[kitz]

You really do seem to have done your homework and diagnosed this as much as possible yourself.

The noisy line theory sounds correct, but the difficulty is that it only occurs with the router establishes a connection, which as you say normally indicates an internal problem.

Youve done all you can to try and correct the fault..  I notice you have an old star system and Im wondering if a new NTE style faceplate/ rewiring of the master socket could prove to be the solution.

As roseway says, you need to perhaps try your ISP and see if you can get an engineer to visit, going on the path that the line is noisy*.. once he arrives ensure you tell him all that you have done yourself including trying numerous different filters and modems yet the problem persists.

*You may get stuck in no-mans land - normally with noise on the line I'd recommend you try 151 for an engineer, but the problem doesnt occur with no adsl link, and I'd hate for BT to turn round and then try point at your equipment so youre landed with a £150 call out bill.