In reply to:

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For example, if the problem is indeed with the extension, am I likely to be able to resolve this easily, or will the next step be "call for an engineer"...?

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There are things to try, but only if you have established that the problem lies between the NTE5 and your extension socket. To do that, well you know what you need to do.

No need to shift the PC - just shift the router, and buy a long ethernet cable to connect the router to the PC.

First, thanks pitnicker and zebedee for your help so far. I have successfully migrated my PC to the kitchen, which has given me a further opportunity to a bit of dusting and tidying.

I am in the test socket, and my line stats now read:

Conn Speed 2272(d) 288(u)
Line Att 11(d) 3.5(u)
Noise margin 31(d) 26(u)

For comparison, here are my earlier linestats from the extension:

Conn Speed 2272(d) 288(u)
Line Att 41(d) 15.5(u)
Noise margin 4(d) 3(u)

While you guys are filing your pipes and mulling over the dark mysteries cotained within these figures, I intend to stay connected to the test socket for a few hours, just in case there are any further things I can do while I am here. I would be grateful if someone could let me know if there is any further information I should obtain while I am connected to the test socket, before I go back upstairs. Many thanks.

The figures you have at the test socket i.e. attenuation 11 (lower being better) and SNR 31 (higher being better) are much better then your extension figures. They would seem to indicate you may have a problem with your internal wiring.

Look here

http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php

edited to add:

Looking through the previous posts I see the link has already been given.

Edited by deleted (Wed 18-Apr-07 11:47:40)

Thanks John. Without fully understanding the figures myself, it does look as if the extension could be causing the problem.

Any ideas about how to tackle this? As in, the likeliest place for a fault? As far as I can tell, I have wired up to the master socket correctly, used good quality cable, etc. Does the nature of the fault itself (intermittent loss of service) provide any clues?

Again, very grateful for any help - the support to date has been very helpful.

To me it seems likely that something in the internal wiring is causing the problem. I'm not an electrical engineer but the rise in attenuation and the drop in SNR Margin seem to be too high to be accounted for by a short length of extension cable. I haven't re-read the whole post but my first thought is to check for loose or poor connections at either end of the extension cabling.

Your noise margin at 4 dB at the extension is quite low. During the evening this figure tends to get lower and lower and may be the cause of your disconnections, especially as you seem to notice them in the early evening.

Edited by deleted (Wed 18-Apr-07 12:32:08)

Do you only have 1 extension?

With a rise like this in your ATT (there's more resistance) it looks more like poor quality cabling (what cable did you use to connect new socket to master?), poor quality sockets or bad connections between your master socket & the extension.

You said earlier that connectors 2, 3, 4 & 5 were being used, you could disconnect wires 3 and 4. This may increase your SNR a little, which may help with the disconnects, but I don't think that this would solve the rise in ATT.
As you are only on a fixed 2M service this may be OK to solve the immediate problem but if your line gets Max'd you may have to come back to solve this problem.

Agree with John - it has to be a problem with your extension cabling, that rise in attenuation and drop in SNR margin are huge.

As well as checking the actual connections as he says, have you routed it close to anything electro-magnetic? Like a radio, TV, microwave, phone charger/base station. Or parallel to an electric power cable (straight across should be ok, alongside can be disastrous).

Thanks all for the helpful replies.

I conclude from this that the problem is with my hard-wired extension. I've checked both ends of it, and the connections at the terminals seem fine. I used what I believe is the correct (highest) standard of cabling - it's basically the thickness of a mains power cable, and thicker than the cable that a detachable extension uses.

I don't think the cabling route takes it too close to any major e-m sources, and I think it is isolated from any close contact with mains cables.

I'd say that there has been a gradual degradation in the connection, to the extent that it is now almost 50%, generally at its worst in the afternoon and early evening. It usually recovers by about 9pm.

I'd be very grateful for any tips on what to try now. Should I try using a regular extension from the main socket (i.e. non hard-wired), or would an expert be likely to tidy up the problem with the hard-wired extension?

Further advice greatly appreciated.

I would try your suggestion of a longish ordinary extension cable and check the sync, attenuation, and margin figures again.