http://img266.imageshack.us/i/mastere.jpg (Master)
http://img833.imageshack.us/i/img00005201101051854.jpg (Extension 1)
http://img714.imageshack.us/i/img00008201101051859.jpg (Extension 2)

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Jan-11 22:23:12)

That looks a mess, I only have wire 2 and 5 in use
No idea why you have so many wires doubled up on your extensions and using all connectors
The more i look at your master the more it looks like some one has used electrical cable to wire up one of your extensions

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Jan-11 23:16:26)

Based on those pics, I would go with Roberto's advice above:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Re phone noise, if you disconnect all broadband equipment, then plug a phone into the master and try the quiet line test. 17070 Option 2. Preferably use a corded phone not a DECT one.

If you have a definite noise on that test then report it to your phone provider. Do not mention broadband, just that there is noise on your phone line.

If an engineer has to visit to fix a noise fault he should fit a new NTE5 master socket to replace the old one you have and this should be free of charge.

See if you can swing a free NTE5 installation. If the engineer is that good, ask him to take a peek at the extensions too, and see what his opinion of them is. The advice should be free too.

With regards your question of at which point the wiring become yours, it's quite simple. All the wiring into the master socket from outside of the house is BT's. Any extension wiring is your own. It's illegal to change the faceplate yourself (many do though). If a replacement doesn't have a BT logo, it's not legal in BT's view.

Personally if the BT replacement charge was less than £100 I would pay. If it were more, I would do it myself. That's me though.

While you have the opportunity, consider any wiring you might want to have removed, or if you want to have a faceplate (assuming you get a new NTE5 master put in). You can filter the broadband via the faceplate, so that extentions do not require seperate filtering (I'm guessing you have to do this with your current setup, based on the current master plate. You might have a few options. Have a think about your ideal setup and post it, and see if it's possible. Easier to plan it before you get BT involved.

you can remove any wires except 2 and 5.worst that can happen is yo may lose and old phones ability to ring.

correct me if i am wrong but both your extensions have 2 pairs attached to them, therefore you must have another extension socket somewhere which you are unaware off.

the odd one out being the wht/blue wht/orange

id suggest following that and tracing where it goes first

In reply to a post by andyboygsi:

you can remove any wires except 2 and 5.worst that can happen is yo may lose and old phones ability to ring.

correct me if i am wrong but both your extensions have 2 pairs attached to them, therefore you must have another extension socket somewhere which you are unaware off.

?
Perhaps both the extensions have a spur attached, not just one?

Also what is a green wire doing attached to either T2 or T5 in the master? (I can't tell which it is as I can't see the numbers, but you will know). It doesn't seem to go anywhere. It looks to be part of the grey-sheath cable, the one on the one "above" it in the photo being from the white-sheathed.

The green(s) in Ext 1 could also be from two cables, or may be from one and detached/twisted away.

OK, I've pulled everything in my master and all 3 extension sockets (I didn't mention one before) that isn't on terminal 2 or 5, there has been a slight increase in connection speed, approximately 250k. I have also worked out what is causing the noise on the line, one of my extension sockets actually seems to run on an extension lead that was previously permanently plugged into the master. Removing this gets rid of most of the noise on the line (still a very faint hum) but my connection speed doesnt seem to change whether it's plugged in or not. I am currently connected at 2176k even though this extension was plugged in to the master, on the previous reset it was unplugged and the connection was 1984k.

I wonder if my router's reported SNR is extremely inaccurate, it seems to jump around constantly, it seemed to connect at 15db just now but in the few minutes I've been writing this it has been every number between 10 and 15db when I have checked it. Because of this it's extremely hard to know what the exchange has my target SNR set at but I presume it must be 12db or 15db, could I ask Demon or BT to lower it?

For most line noise margin should be fairly steady during daylight, then drop over a while at dusk, and have bigger variances then and through the night, gradually returning to day-time "normal" during dawn.

The margin falls because the actual noise rises. Because the noise is higher, and connection made during dusk >> dawn will be lower than a daytime one. The margin is reset to the exchange figure at each re-sync, but the noise is the noise is the noise at the time.

Avoid anything approaching ten re-syncs in an hour!

However the expected night-time margin fall is a lot less than 6dB, otherwise the default connection-time setting would be higher than 6dB. So you do still seem to have excess noise somewhere.

What do you mean by this: "one of my extension sockets actually seems to run on an extension lead that was previously permanently plugged into the master"? Do you mean the plug was cut off the end and the wires inserted through the side?

Any idea what that green wire I mentioned earlier does? And any explanation for the extra wires at the extensions? If you think about it, each should have one pair going to the master, though it is possible to daisy-chain one off another. Even given that setup, there should be one at the end of the chain with just one pair. (Pair = T2 and T5, I'm ignoring T3 and others).

I did the following to get the speeds I get.

Cut the bell wire - eventually installed a face plate filter.

Checked the chipset on my router and matched it to the one in the exchange. I had a Netgear DG834GT running on dgteam firmware with a tweakable SNR. That died so I now have a DG834PN. This gained me a meg.

My line used to run at 3.1Mb. It now runs at 5.6Mb (stable at 3db SNR) and I can wind it upto 7.1Mb during the day on a 2db SNR. Winding it up is not beneficial on BT but on an LLU service it would be.

My line attenuation is 49db down 27db up.


Hope this helps.

I think the target SNR margin has probably been increased, most likely due to previous bad line quality and disconnections.

What I meant was that the master had an extension cable plugged into it (the master was behind some filing cabinets I had to move) and when I unplugged this cable the audible noise on the line was quieter and one of the extensions didn't work.

AFAIK the only sockets that exist are the master, two extensions, this third extension that appears to plug into the master and we also have a burglar alarm that somehow connects to the alarm though I'm not sure how.

The photos I uploaded were of the master, extension 1 always works and extension 2 is the one that appears to be connected to a cable that plugs into the master. There is also another extension socket that was installed with our extension that I didn't upload a photo of. Here it is:

http://img529.imageshack.us/i/ext3.jpg

Is that an ADSL2+ router, my router is only a normal ADSL one yet my exchange has been upgraded, would that offer an improvement on a line as poor as mine. Did you get that router free with any particular provider, it looks like Sky used to provider a Netgear one, do they still?

Edited by deleted (Thu 06-Jan-11 18:08:39)