XTE & Master Sockets

Howdy!

Sorry if it's been asked but I have searched all over the web...

Brand new property - Just got broadband installed today. Was hoping for something faster Working on that at the moment.

Have what looks to me like an XTE outside and no master socket inside https://www.dropbox.com/sh/czid17sctxdgf2l/AAC8IkHr3...

Have been told to use filters on all of the sockets in the house.

Should the socket be replaced with a broadband accelerator or similar or will that not help?

You say no master inside, but the white Openreach picture looks very like a master socket.

What do you see if you unscrew the lower part of the front?

Whether a faceplate will help depends on how the extensions are wired, but any socket with something plugged in should have a microfilter in it as the general rule.

In reply to a post by sgrobinson:

Have what looks to me like an XTE outside

That's not an External NTE. It's a BT66 - just a simple enclosure housing a connection.

In reply to a post by sgrobinson:

and no master socket inside

You have an NTE5.

In reply to a post by sgrobinson:

Have been told to use filters on all of the sockets in the house.

Probably because you don't have a filtered faceplate installed on the NTE5.

In reply to a post by sgrobinson:

Should the socket be replaced with a broadband accelerator or similar or will that not help?

Assuming any extensions have been wired correctly from the rear of the NTE5 (builders are not generally renowned for the quality of telephone cabling) then a filtered faceplate will usually help - particularly if you connect your modem at this point instead of an extension socket.

Just to add weight to what the others have correctly said, if the pictures you have linked to are of the equipment at your property, then you do not have an external NTE, and the socket pictured IS your internal NTE.

That is an NTE5 master socket. Putting microfilters on every extension independently is not a good way and you will suffer some loss of speed unless you are very close to the exchange or cabinet (depending if you are on ADSL or VDSL). With VDSL it can be particularly bad.

A couple of bits of information would be extremely useful. One is whether you are using ADSL or VDSL (fibre to the cabinet) services. The second is the line stats information from your router/modem, and especially sync speeds, noise margin and attenuation numbers.

A good test to do is to remove the faceplate on your NTE5 master. That can be pulled clear which should isolate all the extensions. There will be a test socket visible and temporarily plug your modem/router in there as that eliminates any problems caused by domestic wiring. It gives a baseline. Again get the line stats off your modem/router and these can be compared with what you are seeing currently.

If it turns out that the domestic wiring is causing problems with your broadband speed, there are a number of things that can be done ranging from the trivial (disconnecting the ring line extension connections at the mast) to a fitting of a filtered faceplate.

If you connect your modem/router at the master, then the simplest fix is simply to but and install an Interstitial plate, which can be fitted without any wiring modifications at all (but you BB will only work from the master). There are more sophisticated solutions which can be used if you want your modem/router to be installed on an extension, although that requires more work.

This is an OR Interstitial plate. Note that it can be used to provide an unfiltered BB extension as well, but that requires a wiring modification.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GENUINE-BT-Openreach-Inters...

That's not very much like a master socket. It is a master socket.

Can you post line statistics?

You have a master (in the pictures) and the advice to use a filter at every socket is correct.

The advice to use a microfilter on every socket (or at least all the sockets in use) is correct insofar as the system working at all. However, with ADSL and, especially VDSL, there could still be a huge impact on performance. It's very easy to lose more than half of the potential throughput even on a relatively simple configuration and it can be a great deal worse than that.

*** edit ***

Here are a couple of reports on the issue. My experience was a single modest length bridged tap lost 55% of downstream speed (and that was with the ring wire disconnected).

Note these are not UK tests, but the general principles are identical save it can be worse in this country due to the separate ring line (which is rare outside the UK, but is a source of line imbalance unless filtered).

http://www.comtestnetworks.com/whitepapers/CNI%20-%2...

https://www.cyta.com.cy/mp/informational/support/fil...

Edited by deleted (Tue 19-Jul-16 13:49:11)

I totally agree with you.

In the absence of a pre-filtered socket such as MK3 socket, the advice to use a filter on every socket remains correct.

That said, I think they should get an MK3 filter, I did not suggest it, as you had already done so - but I do second that advice, and I probably should have made that much clearer.

OK - I didn't want the OP to think that putting in microfilters was sufficient to get the best out of things. It always astonishes me that OR don't issue a best practice guide to ISPs for domestic wiring on for VDSL/ADSL. The ISPs could then distribute the information to their customers.