BT infinity 2 Install Problem

Hello All,

I have just had the BT engineer out to install 78mbps Infinity 2 to my property, I was was quite shocked when he refused to install a new master socket or do any line optimization as we had an ADT alarm attached.

He just plugged in a filter, plugged in the home hub 5 and left, total time at my property was 5 minutes!

I have run a speed test and get 39.96mbps download and 10.9mbps upload (I should get 67-80mb Download and 19-20mb upload according to the BT's site).

Does all this sound correct to you? Should I demand to get a new socket put in?

I am really lost as to what to do next...

Here are my speed test results:-

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Some more info:-

3. Firmware version: Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.173.1.6 (Type A) Last updated Unknown
4. Board version: BT Hub 5A
5. VDSL uptime: 0 days, 00:49:10
6. Data rate: 11696 / 55996
7. Maximum data rate: 11164 / 57003
8. Noise margin: 5.7 / 6.7
9. Line attenuation: 0.0 / 17.1
10. Signal attenuation: 0.0 / 17.2

Did you have broadband on the line before, and if so is the alarm filtered at/inside its control box?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Did you have broadband on the line before, and if so is the alarm filtered at/inside its control box?

No we did not have broadband on this line before. The ADT wire goes directly into the master socket no idea were it is filtered.

I suggest you ask ADT about that alarm then.

A modern installation with pre-existing broadband will be filtered. Very old ones without broadband aren't. What happens in the intermediate scenarios of which yours is one I have no idea, sorry. Maybe recent ones are always filtered, maybe not.

I had to call ADT to warn them I was having a phone line upgrade re Infinity then let them know afterwards when the work was done. It was the Openreach installer who advised me on this after asking about a monitored alarm.

I am not worried about the ADT side, they are going to send an engineer out to sort that.

My main concern is loosing speed because no new master socket was fitted, also what optimizations should the engineer have done?

If anybody here has had infinity 2 fitted what did your installer do?

P.S The installer was from Quinns.

Edited by deleted (Thu 08-May-14 16:43:43)

I had a 80/20 installation done by Quinn a couple of days ago and he turned one of the extensions into a master (fitted bt mk2 faceplate) where the modem is plugged into. Took him 30 mins and he did a very good job as I get line speeds of 75/18 day & night

I don't understand why you expected a new master socket. Is it that the current socket is really old, non-NTE5?

Anyway, the way ADT alarms are installed is basically to hardware to the incoming cables, i.e. NOT to the extension prongs of the master socket if it has such an arrangement. I was once told this was to prevent an intruder from being able to disable the connection too easily, and to prevent the owner from accidentally disabling the alarm connection. I don't know if this is 100% accurate or not.

I think I can also see why the installation engineer would not want to touch it, as it would cause the alarm to be disconnected/disabled and he would not be able to know if it was correctly re-connected once he had finished his part.

As to the speed issues - as things stand, the alarm modem (or digi/dialier as they sometimes call them) is unfiltered, and since it calls home every time you arm/disarm there are going to be problems from that.

Once the ADT engineer has visited and filtered it then it should be fine and your speeds may improve.

I seem to remember being quoted £60 or more to have an alarm filtered at one point in the past, so be prepared for a bill (depending on your ADT contract type).