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[tom_robbo]

Hi Everyone!

I'm brand new to this forum and hoping someone can help me. I've been trying to work out my problem for a fair few months now, I'm not by any means a novice with technology but my house wiring is just blowing my mind and sufficiently slowing my broadband to death.

I live in an area with terrible broadband speed anyway due to being so far away from the Exchange on copper lines. However my usual Download speed is about 440kbps, the upload is about the same and it's all driving me mad!

Basically I have my broadband router plugged into what I think is my master socket (Image Number 1 Attached)
If I then trace the incoming cable of this master socket it goes outside around my house and into a BT Junction box fitted to the front of my house.
However I have noticed in this socket that there are 6 cables and apparently as I have read on this website I only require 2 of them as the others are just gathering interference. Can someone please advise as to which ones I should remove and how to do this?

Secondly to make this all a lot more complicated. I also have this master socket (Image Number 2 Attached) + (Image Number 3 Shows Wiring of Master Socket 2)
This looks like the NT5 Master socket to me and it looks a lot newer. However if I plug something into it, it doesn't work, there is no connection at all. It seems to all be wired in.
If I follow the cable it goes through my house but just next to my front door it goes into a smaller box with an immense about of wire in. (Image Number 4 Attached shows this box)
Once again it all seems connected and if I continue to follow this cable it goes outside into my BT junction box the same as the master socket 1 does.

The rest of my sockets around the house aren't really in use apart from plugging in my house telephone. So it's all a bit crazy. I believe it's all connected in the Star network fashion so maybe just getting these orange cables out the way will be enough?

My next door neighbour is getting 1.8Mbps and I would like the same! If someone could advise me on what I should do, I'm willing to try anything.

I am with Sky Broadband and I have their phone service.

Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Thomas



[attachment deleted by admin]

[waltergmw]

Hi Tom and welcome,

Firstly your photographs are not sufficiently clear to illustrate exactly what wiring has been done. The following is my best guess.

You seem to describe having two separate lines coming into your house. The newer NTE5 which is dead I would leave alone for the time being.

The first socket is probably an older type of master socket. As that picture is reasonably clear, you have recorded where the wires are, I would pull out all (four) wires just leaving the blue pair in terminals 2 and 5. Record the modem statistics before and after removing the wires, but otherwise leave well alone for a couple of days.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

Report back and we'll continue if necessary.

Kind regards,
Walter

[tom_robbo]

Hi Walter,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I shall go and remove those cables straight away. I've just taken a record of the router stats before I do so and they currently stand at:

Connection Speed: D/S: 544kbps        U/S: 448kbps

Line Attenuation: D/S: 56db              U/S: 31db

Noise Margin: D/S: 6db                 U/S: 1.6db

I'll report back with my findings after a few days with these wires out.

Thanks again.

[waltergmw]

Hi again Tom,

If you enter your attenuation here:-

you'll see that Kitz estimates that you should get over 3 Mbps so here's hoping !

( It might well be necessary to do some further work to achieve the above speeds.)

Kind regards,
Walter

EDIT Thanks Jeff; sorry I left it out by mistake !

[jeffbb]

Hi
expected synch rate 

I think Walter may have missed the link (not visible to me )

Regards Jeff

[tom_robbo]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies! That sort of speed would be fantastic if I could get hold of it!

I've pulled out the wires as it was mentioned and currently leaving it to reset the profile and stuff.

Should I be pulling out the bell wires at all my other terminals such as where I have my main landline phone plugged in etc as well or just this one for now?

Thanks again!

Thomas

[waltergmw]

Hi Tom,

It would do no harm to remove all wires other than those on terminals 2 and 5, but the biggest benefit should come from the master socket where you have the modem plugged in via a filter, ideally on the shortest possible line to the incoming drop wire. Do go carefully and record where the wires were to begin with. Try to pull them out rather than cutting them short.

I'm just a little hesitant as you do seem to have some rather complicated wiring which we haven't yet traced fully. Although the wires we've looked at in the master socket are the normal blue pair to be used, any pair in a cable can be used and it's not impossible that a second length of cable to a slave socket could use another colour so caution is the watchword. The colours are not as important as the pin numbers 2 & 5. In your circumstances it might be wise to draw a block diagram of all the lines you've discovered and how they're connected.

Kind regards,
Walter

[kitz]

Image 1 is the master socket (LJU2) easily identified as the master from the blue ring capacitor.
It is the demarkation point between your side and BTs property.

Image 4 is a BT connector.  As you say this comes into the house and BEFORE the LJU2, and this officially remains the property of BT.  These boxes are used to connect the drop wire to internal wiring. 

At that point it looks like BT has tapped a 2nd line in  which is hooked up the NTE which would be the master socket for line 2.
I agree with walter that its something like previous occupants have had 2 lines.. and now only the one is in use...  and why that other NTE doesnt work and should be ignored.


                                             |-----------------------> LJU2   (Line 1 Master socket)
                                             |
                                             |
Drop wire ---------------> BTc
                                             |
                                             |
                                             |-----------------------> NTE   (Line 2 Master socket)

[waltergmw]

Well done Kitz !

You've MUltipleXed ip your letters beautifully !

Re the second dead line, I was just wondering why the older line had been retained rather than the newer NTE one and then if that dead line might be injecting noise into the drop-wire.
If so, perhaps it should be isolated in the BTc, but Tom please note only BT Openreach should be fiddling around in that box.

Kind regards,
Walter

[tom_robbo]

Hi Everyone!

First of all a big thanks for all the help here.

The results of my connection are as follows:

Connection Speed: D/S: 2180kbps                  U/S: 448kbps

Line Attenuation: D/S: 57db                          U/S: 15.5db

Noise Margin: D/S: 9db                                U/S: 15db

Overall its a massive improvement and I am now some what happier with my connection. I didn't realise those unused wires could make such a difference, so many other people that live around me must be experiencing the same thing. It's a great bit of knowledge to have!

As for my second dead socket I don't know what is going on there. Maybe the previous occupants had it put in as a second line but then when they no longer wanted it they removed that line rather than the other one as perhaps all my other sockets in the house run off that older box? Therefore to avoid a load of re-wiring they just took out the old one?

It's a mystery but have no fear I won't be touching any of BT's property, the outside box and the dropline are beyond me.

I'll leave it all be for now, I'm satisfied for the time being!

Once again, thanks for your time!

Kind Regards,

Tom

[waltergmw]

Hi Tom,

We're pleased you're feeling a bit happier.

However with your attenuation on a reasonable line you should be syncing at over 3,000Kbps.
That would give you an IP profile of 2,500 instead of 1750 Kbps you will be getting now.

I would also expect an upstream attenuation to be around 25 dB and not 15.5.

If nothing else, next time you have a line problem, you might ask BT Openreach to provide you with a new NTE box preferably including a SSFP.

Kind regards,
Walter

[HPsauce]

Line Attenuation: D/S: 57db                          U/S: 15.5db

I'll second the comment by Walter, that's not right.
I'd go back and have another detailed look at your wiring.