ADSL Woes

I'm having issues with my DSL connection, I'm with Virgin Media ADSL.

The Issues i'm having are really low speeds, frequent disconnects, low ratings in the router logs and the line switching to Interleave from FAST. I can also hear the ADSL faintly in my phonecalls.

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/3415/capturezs3.jpg

I've tried about 5 different microfilters, two different phones, plugging into the socket behind the master, I've even looked into removing the ring wires, but when I take the master socket apart, there is only two wires connected and the rest are coiled up. The cable is also coloured up with solid colours. There's an orange, brown, green, blue and I can't remember the rest.

Spoke to two Openreach engineers at the end of the road who couldn't understand why I could hear the ADSL. If I plug a phone in directly to the socket, its clear, as is when the filter and modem are connected up, as soon as the ADSL goes live it screws with the line. If you pick up the phone it kicks the internet off.

Any ideas? As far as i'm aware, I've isolated all my own wiring in the house and think it could only be BT's wiring. But because its fine with just a phone plugged in what can I tell them? The Openreach guys said to ask for a "broadband engineer" and not a line engineer.

Edited by soopahfly (Mon 15-Oct-07 14:56:22)

The ADSL is radio frequency so you can not hear it.

Or, at least, that is what people will tell you. But, if you have a high impedance fault on the line, then those are the symptoms you may get.

Chase it through your ISP.

It sounds like the old 56k modem noises, and clicks and crackles when your using the phone.
So its definatly a case of phoning ISP, so they can contact BT?

In reply to:

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The cable is also coloured up with solid colours.

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is that the extension wiring or the incoming pair ?

Your 29 dB attenuation should give you 7616 sync interleaved so 4640 is pretty grim. Was that in the test socket behind the master ?

It sounds like a line fault which needs reporting to your ISP to get an engineer out, but check there's nothing unfiltered on your line (sky box, fax, dialler box, 56k modem, alarm, callerID unit etc).

The solid colours were the two feeding the master socket. I can get a photo if that helps. Just wondered if it was the dreaded "alarm wire" instead of proper cable. If this was the case, being before the master socket, is it BT's responsibility to come and replace it?

The readings in that image were plugged directly into the test socket behind the master. Nothing else plugged in.

some (older ?) BT cables use solid colours and yours sounded familiar.

If you have no weird wiring of things ahead of the master then its def a line fault and needs a BT engineer arranging via your ISP. accept no substitutes

Thats good to know, I'll get on to Virgin during business hours, so I don't have to speak to their "foreign relations"

Sounds like you have a battery contact (wet joint etc) on the BT cct. ADSL only requires 1 wire to work, which is why sometimes your phone will not work but your ADSL is fine(it just depends which leg is broken). This sounds like a BT fault on the external pair. It will affect your service depending on the severity of the line fault. If you have a multi meter you should see 50v (batt on one leg and earth on the other) If you have a battery reading on both pairs the BT line is at fault(Anything over 5v will cause problems, no matter what BT say). BT should be able to perform a RAT test on the line to confirm this. The only other issue may be a faulty line card in the exchange, but in my experience I would think the line is at fault.

after this mornings BT Visit:

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1152/captureif8.jpg

Nothing but praise for bt/virgin.

Rang on tuesday reported the fault to a competant techie, they ran their tests, bt rang virgin to arrange a visit, virgin rang me on thursday at 5pm to arrange a visit, 8:30 this morning a BT engineer arrives

Turns out the cable that runs from outside into our flat was dodgy and failed the quiet line test.
So after replacing the cable we're cooking on Calor

Edited by soopahfly (Fri 19-Oct-07 11:30:10)