I understand that now... though I don't really understand why they bothered changing people sockets and faceplate's when it is basically ADSL at a closer distance.


But I will cease the gunfire at FTTC until I get chance to have a play and investigate it for myself, though I think Virgin are going to win my side before I get rolled out... We'll see what comes about I suppose

In reply to a post by troublegum:

As for whether it is illegal, is there any proof of this?

No, it's not illegal in the slightest. Interfering with the wiring before the master socket in you property is simply against the BT terms of service. This essentially means that if OR are called out for a fault and they find the issue is caused by you fiddling with this wiring they can charge you for there time.

Ultimately, if the OP is not confident with this wiring job, they should get the installer to do the work when they come to connect the service.

Paul

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

well yes but you cant run an FTTC modem or router at an extension socket.... or can you?

Worth giving it a try with no other extensions connected and the bell wire disconnected. Filtered voice could still be used from extension socket. If it's no good then CAT5 from the A&B connectors on the back of a filtered faceplate on the NTE5 to a dedicated vdsl socket (data extension kit) for the modem/router.

Edited by 4M2 (Sun 03-Aug-14 21:21:00)

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Ok, so for those of you restricted to using FTTC because of availability fair play, But personally I thought FTTC sounded rubbish in the first place but now that I learn its still over one pair and you still rely on a filter, I will not be encouraging many people to get it over virgin unless they have no choice.

If virgin offered static IP, and their got their jitter under control, I would have considered them. However my 50Mbps connection over FTTC 'feels' more responsive than my friends 60Mbps DOCSIS 3 connection from VM.
Nothing to do with cable versus FTTC, its just Virgin's consumer ISP division is run at a low price, rather than quality. Bizarre :-/

RobertoS

I'd be surprised if they don't offer the data extension cable any more, (which would cause an engineer install), but perhaps they don't.

Looking I couldn't find anything on BT about an engineer for the 40Mb unless you paid but perhaps I need to speak to them on the phone.

Thanks for all your other advice is was really helpful and quick - though I've now seen so many replies i'm suffering information overload

It's the modem position that matters, not the router....This second method could also be used on a self-install from Sky, BT or whichever, where usually a modem/router is supplied. You would need to buy an HG612 Openreach modem off eBay.

Does that cause problems as BT HH5 is both combined.

The problem with that is that he may as well just use the extension in the first place, which could be on cruddy cabling,...
The whole point of the way it is done on an engineer install, or as I described, is to eliminate the existing wiring, as even CW1308 is not good on VDSL2,

That's very much my concern. The existing wiring has 2 extensions with the 2nd being further separated between my alarm and the BB ADSL. The cable starts out runs over the mains cable (armoured cable so may not be so much of an interference issue) then after a few feet joins a BT branded 1"x 2" white box when the cable size halves for about 8' until it meets another BT branded 1"x 2" white box where it goes back to the larger wire size and slots to the separate alarm and router cables. All the time the cable run alongside alarm/power cables.

So I tend to suspect using my existing cable is simply not a starter. I'll need to run a dedicated cable - the Bt data extension cable is CW1308 isn't it not cat5?

Edited by deleted (Mon 04-Aug-14 12:11:33)

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

If an engineer comes to the install he could connect the incoming line directly to the cabling that serves extension socket and place new master socket where extension is now. and then you could just buy a blanking plate for old master socket location.All depends on your setup type though, all new builds

I have 2 main and one secondary subdivisions extensions off the existing master so I imagine that might cause me new problems. House was new build when they were still wearing suits of armour!

In reply to a post by troublegum:

You can run VDSL from an extension but there will be significant loss of sync speed. If you are capped at 40/10 and the line is capable of a lot more then this may not be a problem. But if the line is only capable of 40 in the first place then this is going to be an issue

As i'm <500m from the cabinet I should be able to get higher than 40Mb though obviously i'm not even going to consider it unless it is going to be at the top end as the cost simply won't justify it - and probably still doesn't. I suspect that even if I order 40 then this will rise over time as successive generations of fibre products ramp up the speeds and if I make a bodge of the wiring now I might be living with the consequences or need to rewire again (at my cost) later!

I think the data extension cable is CW1308, as you say, but buying it yourself you need to be very careful about the source.

Although labelled as CW1308 I believe, (with no personal experience or research - just reading posts on here by knowledgeable people), that many products may not be twisted pair, particularly the flat ones sold to go under carpets. Cat 5 is definitely superior, but possibly very cheap version of that are also suspect.

The HH5 has both a modem port for direct connection to the VDSL socket, and a WAN port for connection to a separate modem. I don't know what Sky modem/routers have wrt a WAN port.

The same could be said for cat5/ cat5e cable too though. If you go down the cat5e route, the cable should have the specification printed on the outer sheath. And make sure it's not CCA too.

Paul

Thanks for that. It confirms my suspicion, which I did state .