Openreach Cabling

Hi Everyone.

With all the appropriate apologies for wrong question in wrong thread and usual newbie mistakes, I wonder if anyone might be able to offer me some advice.

Approximately a month ago we moved over to BT Infinity Option 2. After some initial problems with the engineer not turning up, he duly arrived and installed a new faceplate to the master socket and ran about 3-4 metres of ethernet cable through the wall to the area I had set aside for the modem and hub.

All seemed well initially with an engineer measured speed of 40.2Mb which I confirmed with the TB Speedtest. Since then the speed has steadily decreased until it is now anything from 29-32Mb depending upon the test I carry out. According to BT's own test I'm supposed to be getting 34.2 from the cabinet to the house and then 32.2 to the equipment. The W"What speed can I get?" test says my line can support 40.2-9.2 Mb.

1. My questions are should this amount of degradation in speed be acceptable or normal?

2. IHaving looked at the supposed ethernet cable fitted by the engineer, it appears to be pretty poor quality. I cannot see any shielding on it and it it very thin, almost like standard phone wire. Is this ok and if not can I replace it with better quality cable myself. I know that when I improved my adsl cabling my speed increased by about 3-4Mb/s. I know these technologies differ.

3. What, if any, other things can I do to improve matters?

My gratitude for taking the time to read this and for offering any advice.

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

Ethernet cable is generally not shielded - it's UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pair. As it is a common factor to your original and current throughput I doubt it is the problem.

See the front page of the main site for an item about DLM - your speed may have been reduced to improve stability.

Thanks yarwell. Of course, you are absolutely right!

I did speak to a chap on the phone but he didn't really offer me much more help than repeating the same old the speed may go up and down for stability reasons. As you mention.

That's OK so far as it goes but if my line is that unstable, I had it drop to 18Mb after posting las night, wouldn't you think they would look into the reasons why? I know many people in my area would kill for the speeds I get but I'm paying for it is it not reasonable to expect it.

Btw. Just had another look at the cabling. I'm not even sure it qualifies as UTP. The external sheathing is very loose and it appears untwisted though it is admittedly difficult to tell and it seems unlikely I suppose. Even my own cheap 5m cat 5 is better than that.

Maybe a pic would help? Does it have any labels/markings on them? If so, what does it say?

OK. Good idea.

Firstly, the cable is plain white, no markings at all and around 3-4mm in diameter.

This is the master socket with the telephone attached and the fibre cable exiting from the rear.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/dunnykin/9306254741/

This is the cable itself.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/dunnykin/9309038312/

This is the cover plate.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/dunnykin/9306255169/

These are connections to external wiring - where does that muck come from?

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/dunnykin/9309038840/

This is the box the ethernet terminates at as fitted by the engineer. A standard flat "telephone" cable connects the modem to this.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/dunnykin/9309039278/

Not that this box is not attached to the wall or anything else.


Hope that helps?!


One further thing. I have read the Huawei HG612 is a better modem than the ECI one I have and that it syncs higher. If this is true, is it worth buying one to replace my own.

My thanks for your indulgence.

In reply to a post by Opabinia:

One further thing. I have read the Huawei HG612 is a better modem than the ECI one I have and that it syncs higher. If this is true, is it worth buying one to replace my own.

My thanks for your indulgence.

Not always. My cabinet is Huawei and I actually get faster downstream speeds using an ECI modem! There will be production variations between units and that can affect a connection so you might be better off or you might not..

to the OP , your pic 2 looks like phone cable not cat5 / ethernet cable.

Strange setup Master socket does not appear to be an NTE. Wonter if the extension cable is causing the speed issues. If it was me i would be tempted to to remove the extension and change the socket with the 2nd one shown in your picture as this looks to be an NTE socket and then plug the FTTC modem next to the master socket and run Cat5e or Cat6 to the router

OK, so the installer has used standard internal telephone cabling. Sent the signal down to the NTE on the orange /blue pair, and then back to the 'old' NTE on the green/brown. This practice, 'back-ending', is frowned upon, but in fairness, I have never seen it cause an issue.

The area around the crimps looks dirty, but the crimps themselves look clean, a bit of damp nearby maybe. Was there not a cover on the crimps ? It all smacks of a poorly done job.

If you remove the two screws from the socket you picture here, and then gently slide the lower portion out, does this then kill dial tone on ALL the sockets in the property ?

Thank you everyone.

Zarjaz, that takes me back a bit.

Thanks to everyone for the trouble they have taken to read, look and answer. I appreciate it.

Having taken the time to look more closely during the photo taking it does look like a poor job. I don't know a whole lot about it and I wasn't present when the installer called. It is good to here that my suspicions that it was not proper ethernet cabling seem vindicated.

In answer to your question yes if I remove front part of the box as you asked the phone does go off. Is that significant?

jaime543 - would it simply be a case of removing the cover from the terminating box and fitting it on the master socket then? Is that the best course of action? How would I attach standard cat5/ethernet cable to the box to provide a feed to the modem?

Thanks for the info regarding the Huawei modem too. MHC.

This is all looking a bit slap-dash and a continuation of the palaver we had get Openreach and BT to sort it all out. They failed to turn up for the initial installation appointment and then cancelled the installation entirely all without bothering to let us know. In addition, they disconnected my adsl 4 weeks before the installation appointment, neglected to warn me and I ended up having to pay my previous and better supplier because I had requested a cease nearer the time.

You have to laugh...apparently.