Faulty electronics between Test and Master BT socket?

Our internet speed often drops to 1/10th of what it is during the day. I can plug into the BT Master, and get the same results. However, if I plug into the BT Test socket, my speed is normal again. The results are the same regardless of whether any extensions are connected or not. Yes, I've switched ADSL filters and routers and RJ-11 cables and pretty much everything else, including testing in Windows Safe Mode. In BT's speed tests, I even got a downstream connection speed of 0 once! Typical night speed from Master socket is 330 Kbps (but variable). Typical day speed without any other changes is 3300 Kbps.

Thoughts?

ISP: Zen Internet
OS: Windows XP SP3
Router: Currently Belkin N Wireless; also with Netgear DG834G (v3)
Connected to the Test socket:
Attenuation (down/up): 65/29
SNR (down/up): 7/7
Datarate (down/up): 3668 / 792 Kbps

We need to see the stats from the normal socket when it's bad, then from the test socket straight after, then from the normal again straight after that.

Sky box not filtered?

It is possible the contacts on the faceplate are bad, easiest thing might be to get a filtered faceplate to replace the current one.

How would that account for it being OK during the day?

Perhaps I read it wrong but it looked to me like everything is OK without the faceplate but the problem is only present with the faceplate fitted, with or without extensions.

Definitely night-time only. But still OK in the test socket. Which to me suggests something affecting the ring wire, or an unfiltered/dead filter night-use device.

[cue] . Therefore your solution would probably work. [/cue]

If that 65db downstream attenuation is correct Bob, then an unfiltered Sky box is going to give you a serious case of no sync.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

We need to see the stats from the normal socket when it's bad, then from the test socket straight after, then from the normal again straight after that.

Sky box not filtered?

I'll try to get those stats to you, but probably won't be this weekend. Couldn't sleep so I'm up now, but of course it won't misbehave when I want it to!

No, we have no Sky box. The layout is:
[TEST socket -> MASTER socket] -> extension -> DSL filter
->> Belkin router (ADSL side of filter)
->> telephone (phone side of filter)

The problem occurs equally without the extension and without the telephone connected to the filter.

In reply to a post by Going_Digital:

Perhaps I read it wrong but it looked to me like everything is OK without the faceplate but the problem is only present with the faceplate fitted, with or without extensions.

True, but it's always OK during the day even with the faceplate fitted, and acts up intermittently at night.

Is the router near to something like a TV or other electronics? I gather you are getting actual disconnections and low reconnection speeds, not just throughput.

Does the line come in from a pole outside, or underground? If from a pole, does it go near a street light? Or any security lighting?

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 10-Mar-12 10:01:57)

The router isn't very near anything. It's around 2ft above my computer and printer, which is above my computer screen.

No, not getting disconnection & reconnection. The line rate stays high, but the throughput drops dramatically.

What would cause the difference between the master and test socket? The only electronics are a resistor, a capacitor and a surge arrestor. Could one of them going bad cause the problems?

does the faceplate have any connection, ie extention wiring?
and, yes, faceplates can fail, try another

Couldn't sleep so I'm up now, but of course it won't misbehave when I want it to!

working ok at 04.15
I would guess a nearby plasma tv, or cfl light, which goes off when others go to bed

edit corrected time

Edited by ggremlin (Sat 10-Mar-12 21:22:16)

In reply to a post by ggremlin:

does the faceplate have any connection, ie extention wiring?
and, yes, faceplates can fail, try another

No, the faceplate doesn't have any extension wiring connected to it. It used to, but I've removed it for testing, and I'm using a cable the plugs into the jack instead for the time being.

In reply to a post by ggremlin:

Couldn't sleep so I'm up now, but of course it won't misbehave when I want it to!

working ok at 04.15
I would guess a nearby plasma tv, or cfl light, which goes off when others go to bed

That was my guess, but I've eliminated everything inside the house. And why would it be fine when connected to the test socket?

Another puzzling thing (to me, maybe not to you) is that it's so unpredictable. We couldn't get throughput above 350 Kbps for weeks on end (at night, and yes the connection speed was around ten times that even then), and now it seems to not be acting up at all.

I don't mind getting a new faceplate. I thought I'd ask my question here first though, in case the problem was with the electronics in the test socket.

What security have you got on the wireless of your router?

Back to your opening post, once you have got the full speed back by using the test socket, does it stay high when you reconnect using the main socket? Or have you always left it in the test socket till next day?

Although you say you don't have disconnects, have you ever checked the connection speed when things are bad? Or are you just saying you haven't noticed a disconnection? A disconnection/reconnection can take 15 seconds or sometimes even less.

Edit - had a full stop where a comma belongs.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 11-Mar-12 23:18:19)

you can get very low throughput due to errors, for example if an unfiltered Sky box is on the line it might knock the sync down from 4M to 2M but the throughput will be awful.

So if removing the extension wires fixed it that may be why - check the error counters.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

What security have you got on the wireless of your router?

WPA2, but my connection to the router is via ethernet cable, not WiFi.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Back to your opening post, once you have got the full speed back by using the test socket, does it stay high when you reconnect using the main socket? Or have you always left it in the test socket till next day?

I have to keep it in the test socket. Moving to the master socket again drops the throughput down again, although the connection speed is about the same (more than 3000Kbps).

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Although you say you don't have disconnects, have you ever checked the connection speed when things are bad? Or are you just saying you haven't noticed a disconnection? A disconnection/reconnection can take 15 seconds or sometimes even less.

Yes, I've checked the connection speed when things are bad. I've done BT speed tests then, and although the connection speed is over 3000 Kbps, the throughput is a maximum of 300 Kbps (and as I said, once it was even 0, although sadly I didn't get a prize for that feat!).

There's no way on the Belkin router to tell how long it's been connected; the Netgear did tell, so I know that it wasn't disconnecting by itself.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

you can get very low throughput due to errors, for example if an unfiltered Sky box is on the line it might knock the sync down from 4M to 2M but the throughput will be awful.

How do I check error counters on my Belkin?

In reply to a post by yarwell:

So if removing the extension wires fixed it that may be why - check the error counters.

Removing the extension wires helped slightly, but I've had them removed from the master socket for weeks now for the purpose of testing.

I'm getting slightly confused now, about the timing of how you connect/connected.

I think you are saying you are now permanently using the test socket, and there is no problem?

In which case there looks to be something odd about the faceplate, which I think has no wires attached at all, which only shows up at night. Extremely wierd.

If you replace the faceplate now, does it start going wrong again? If so, get a new one.

If not, I would suspect someone has been leaching off your wireless in the evenings, possibly a visitor to the area who has now departed. Change the password on it to something complex, or disable it if you don't need it.

In the latter case, the swapping from faceplate to test socket could have broken anything streaming, and if it was unattended you would be fine until the next evening. Way-out unlikely scenario, but I await anyone else's theory . The fact that this would have caused the problem the next evening even using the test socket is there, but then we are talking about what happened historically - re the first line of this post.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I'm getting slightly confused now, about the timing of how you connect/connected.

I think you are saying you are now permanently using the test socket, and there is no problem?

Correct

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In which case there looks to be something odd about the faceplate, which I think has no wires attached at all, which only shows up at night. Extremely wierd.

If you replace the faceplate now, does it start going wrong again? If so, get a new one.

It used to. It seems to have settled down again, though, so I'm plugged into the master socket now and it's working fine. We can't get it to misbehave any more. Maybe the source of the interference has been removed.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

If not, I would suspect someone has been leaching off your wireless in the evenings, possibly a visitor to the area who has now departed. Change the password on it to something complex, or disable it if you don't need it.

I've ruled out the wireless possibility, because the problem occurred with the wireless turned off while connected to the master socket (but no problem when connected to the test socket). I did suspect a wireless leach earlier and changed not only the wireless password but the router password.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In the latter case, the swapping from faceplate to test socket could have broken anything streaming, and if it was unattended you would be fine until the next evening. Way-out unlikely scenario, but I await anyone else's theory . The fact that this would have caused the problem the next evening even using the test socket is there, but then we are talking about what happened historically - re the first line of this post.

Good thinking...except that I'd have the problems in the early mornings too (e.g. pre-6 am). That doesn't mean someone wasn't using it then, but not likely, especially since the speed would be slow even with wireless turned off.

Amazing, how posting a problem here can magically solve it .

Let's hope it doesn't recur. Good luck.

Yes, I agree. I'll drop it now, as it hasn't been misbehaving for over a week now. During half term break it was misbehaving consistently. It's a mystery.

In reply to a post by SmallLight:

Yes, I agree. I'll drop it now, as it hasn't been misbehaving for over a week now. During half term break it was misbehaving consistently. It's a mystery.

Maybe a clue lies in that.