Which socket is the fastest?

We have just had a BT junction box replaced by a new master socket. I thought the new master socket must produce the fastest broadband speed. Strangely speed tests at the master socket produce download speeds of about 4,500 kbps, whereas the socket I was using before which is fed by a liine which leaves the master socket, goes outside the house and then re-enters the house again, is producing download speeds of about 5,500 kbps. The upload speeds at the master socket were slightly faster than the second socket.

The tests have been conducted on the Think Broadband speed tester, and some of them with the same ethernet cable and router cable from both sockets. I am puzzled!

Petera

Edited by deleted (Tue 24-Jul-12 15:02:29)

Don't rely on speedtest data

Compare the router statistics at each of the sockets.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Don't rely on speedtest data

Compare the router statistics at each of the sockets.

Thanks very much for your comments. Howeverthe router statistics seem to confirm the speedtest data.

Attached to the master socket bandwidth down/up is 5043 / 712 compared with 6760 / 718 in secondary socket.

SNR 13.5 / 15 compared to 11.5 / 15.1 in secondary socket

Attenuation 36 / 17.5 compared to 35 / 17.7

So the mystery remains!

Petera

Photos of the two sockets please . Upload them somewhere and post the link.

How the wiring from the outside enters the property and each socket is wired up is key. It may simply be that there is a bad noise source close to the master socket

Thank you very much for all your replies. I have not been able to upload photos of the sockets - but the new master socket is an NTE5 and the secondary socket is an older socket fitted by BT about 2004.

Thank you, Mr Saffron, for the interference suggestion. As far as I can see there are no electrical items nearby.

I have now also tested using the test socket, which unsurprisingly produces the best speed of all - 6673 kbps down and 578 up (router stats 8192/704). However the master socket still produces 4578 / 578 (router 5548 / 696) and the secondary socket produced 5529 / 552 (router stats 6692 / 689).

I suppose the figures point to a fault in my internal wiring - but I have tried disconnecting an extension line I thought might be at fault with no material difference. Would it be worth replacing the faceplate on the NTE5 in case that is at fault? On the other hand it would only produce about an extra 1 mbps so probably not worthwhile.