Filtered faceplate improved speed

Possibly not unexpected for TBBers to see such headlines!

But my o2 BB speed had been slowly getting worse over the last few weeks. It would normally be 5200-4700-4500 that sort of speed and I'd tolerate it at 3600. But 2400 was taking the you know know what. Phone line is occasionally noisy so I let that clear and I didn't have the best setup see http://sdrv.ms/K5jzyf but it is capable of better.

So I called o2, who got me rebooting the router (made it worse) then connecting to the test socket - result 5400 or so. I reconnected as was and speed went down again, then the splitter into the test socket with some degradation. I had bought a ADSL Nation Filtered Faceplate, not yet fitted. So fitted that and without the wired extension reconnected and was as good as in the test socket. So I then wired the extension back and only got a tiny speed drop.

So well happy!!

What's that oblong box plugged directly into socket?

Is it a splitter or some sort of Sky Box connector?

If so, it should be after the filter not before. That's cause of your problems.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

What's that oblong box plugged directly into socket?

Is it a splitter or some sort of Sky Box connector?

If so, it should be after the filter not before. That's cause of your problems.

That is almost certainly a telephony splitter ... often found on the end of fax leads or modem leads.

Given that the ADSL is plugged into the filter on that socket it would be better to plug the extension lead that is currently direct into the socket into the filtered side of the ADSL filter. That way the OP would ensure that everything on the other end of the extension is filtered.

Even better still, get a filtered faceplate.

I have the same from Kenable. It basically replaces the NTE5 face plate with a plate that has the filter already fitted. There is a separate ADSL and Phone socket incorporated. You can also connect a filtered phone extension to back of plate at pins 2 and 5 which negates a separate filter on extension. There is also a unfiltered connection at back if you want an adsl extension. Works well and no danglies to worry about.

Assuming his wiring with the XTE-2005 is ADSL cable into the faceplate ADSL socket, phone into the socket of the extension cable, all should now be fine though . In effect he will have done what you suggest.

As a few of you have said, the original setup was clearly going to make a mess of things.

Agreed, just a little tidier with a faceplate - no more horrible dangly boxes ...

Sure, by spending money he will have improved things cosmetically, but he could have improved his actual connection just by swapping a couple of boxes.

If somebody had Sky installed and the installer fitted a splitter with attached extension lead to near the sky box from a non-filtered faceplate, then put a filter for the phone and router on the splitter and put another filter on the end of the extension lead to which a "modem type" cable is connected to the sky box would that cause any serious problems? When making up the extension + splitter for the sky box he probably wouldn't connect the bell wire...

If what you are saying is that maybe there is/was an ADSL filter at the far end of that extension cable then fair enough. (Assuming there is a Sky box there. Has that been established?). In which case the switch to an XTE-2005 shouldn't have had any significant effect on the broadband unless it was simply a dead dangly at the master, and the Sky box would no longer be talking to the internet.

It's a splitter (plug-in extension routed to another room). I did try plugging it into the filter some time ago, but plug on splitter is offset such as to prevent me getting the DSL plug into the splitter. Anyway, the ADSL Nation faceplate splitter makes a good job and I have nearly twice the speed compared to just over 24 hours ago. I don't understand why this previous setup had worked OK and occasionally at nearly the speeds shown.

And new ADSL Nation faceplate filter looks like this http://sdrv.ms/NQO8LJ so still not terribly neat as splitter messes that!. I could I suppose (If I knew which wires were which, I could do away with ugly box and hard-wire the extension (splitter) to the faceplate filter back (I already have one hard-wired extension to the only three numbered terminations.

BTW, no Sky installations.

These are the stats:
xDSL linestate up (ITU-T G.992.5; downstream: 5438 kbit/s, upstream: 1126 kbit/s; output Power Down: 19.3 dBm, Up: 12.1 dBm; line Attenuation Down: 51.5 dB, Up: 31.8 dB; snr Margin Down: 6.2 dB, Up: 5.8 dB)

Edited by rob54 (Tue 24-Jul-12 23:42:42)

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

What's that oblong box plugged directly into socket?

Is it a splitter or some sort of Sky Box connector?

If so, it should be after the filter not before. That's cause of your problems.

That is almost certainly a telephony splitter ... often found on the end of fax leads or modem leads.

Yeh it was originally fitted for a modem.

I was just using a Sky box as an example of what could be at the end of an extension. I've seen that setup done by Sky installers and thought it would be much neater to use a filtered faceplate and wire the Sky box to the back of it, then just have the phone and the router connected to the front phone and adsl sockets. It would be neater and could perhaps improve broadband throughput speed?

Actually how many extensions can one connect to the back of a filtered faceplate, perhaps just a maximum of two? Also is it true that only a maximum of 3 filtered devices, e.g. 2 phones and a Sky box, can be operated from a single phone line?

Edited by 4M2 (Wed 25-Jul-12 01:17:24)

In reply to a post by 4M2:

I was just using a Sky box as an example of what could be at the end of an extension. I've seen that setup done by Sky installers and thought it would be much neater to use a filtered faceplate and wire the Sky box to the back of it, then just have the phone and the router connected to the front phone and asdl sockets. It would be neater and could perhaps improve broadband throughput speed?

Actually how many extensions can one connect to the back of a filtered faceplate, perhaps just a maximum of two? Also is it true that only a maximum of 3 filtered devices, e.g. 2 phones and a Sky box, can be operated from a single phone line?

A Krone/ADC IDC connector is designed to take two wire and no more. Some of the cheap imitations will only take one before the is a possibility of a connection failing.


You can have as many telephony devices as you like on a line. However, the specification for a UK line - as originally defined by BT, gives a maximum REN (Ring Equivalence Number) of 4. Every device should have a REN value, originally there were just 5 normal classifications - 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 with 3 and 4 as exceptional values but now they can be in 0.1 increments. If the total REN is greater than 4 there is no guarantee that the ring generator in the exchange will provide enough power to initiate ringing.

In reply to a post by MHC:

A Krone/ADC IDC connector is designed to take two wire and no more. Some of the cheap imitations will only take one before the is a possibility of a connection failing.


You can have as many telephony devices as you like on a line. However, the specification for a UK line - as originally defined by BT, gives a maximum REN (Ring Equivalence Number) of 4. Every device should have a REN value, originally there were just 5 normal classifications - 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 with 3 and 4 as exceptional values but now they can be in 0.1 increments. If the total REN is greater than 4 there is no guarantee that the ring generator in the exchange will provide enough power to initiate ringing.

Thanks for that MHC - that's the first time I've heard about REN values and the exchange ring generator

By using a filtered faceplate you have now effectively filtered that splitter extension.

If there wasn't an unfiltered device connected to the end of that front extension then it's possible that the micro filter that you were using was beginning to fail.

In reply to a post by rob54:

It's a splitter (plug-in extension routed to another room). I did try plugging it into the filter some time ago, but plug on splitter is offset such as to prevent me getting the DSL plug into the splitter. Anyway, the ADSL Nation faceplate splitter makes a good job and I have nearly twice the speed compared to just over 24 hours ago. I don't understand why this previous setup had worked OK and occasionally at nearly the speeds shown.

And new ADSL Nation faceplate filter looks like this http://sdrv.ms/NQO8LJ so still not terribly neat as splitter messes that!. I could I suppose (If I knew which wires were which, I could do away with ugly box and hard-wire the extension (splitter) to the faceplate filter back (I already have one hard-wired extension to the only three numbered terminations.

BTW, no Sky installations.

These are the stats:
xDSL linestate up (ITU-T G.992.5; downstream: 5438 kbit/s, upstream: 1126 kbit/s; output Power Down: 19.3 dBm, Up: 12.1 dBm; line Attenuation Down: 51.5 dB, Up: 31.8 dB; snr Margin Down: 6.2 dB, Up: 5.8 dB)

Oh yeh - I forgot to ask - do I still need the micro-filters at phone extensions (one hard wired to the faceplate back, and one 'plug-in' splitter)? I seem to recall reading these are no longer necessary with a filtered faceplate. The extensions are quieter (no hissing) and still quiet after filter is removed from the easiest to get to one is taken out.

With a filtered faceplate in place you do not need any dangly filters unless someone has been naughty and connected extension wiring incorrectly in the NTE5.

So it should be fine (and tidier)!