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I still don't really know how to tell if the cable is stranded - if it's important, perhaps you could let me know how I can determine this.

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It is not whether the cable is stranded [to avoid earlier confusion about the cable appears to be multi-stranded, i.e. there are a number of smaller, different coloured wires inside it ] It is whether the conductor within 1 wire is stranded or solid. To establish this, it is normal to strip a small piece of insulation and look.

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I can't immediately try a phone on the extension, as the socket is a vertical rather than horizontal one (sorry, don't know correct terms), and I don't have an adpater handy. Now that I think of it, I seem to remember opting for an installation kit that would be dedictaed ADSL, and not be wired for telephone use. Or something like that. Does that give any clues?

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Yes. You've wired it wrong and got 30dB more attenuation and 27dB less noise margin. Report back how it should be wired and how you have wired it.

Or more likely to be successful, get a secondary BT socket, wire that as your extension faceplate and try with a dangly filter and report back the attenuation and noise margin

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The wiring colours are blue and white/blue, which are connected to the top right hand terminal and the one beneath it, both numbered "1".

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Do you mean blue/white and white/blue?

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I may have resolved the problem another way, as I have just discovered a second master terminal, which must have been used for a second line in to the property at some stage. Had assumed it was a redundant extension, but it turns out that it's a master socket and much closer to the PC. If I can switch my number from existing socket to this one, I could be laughing What are the odds it won't be that easy...?

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No. You would have to move your PC again. Seriously, it's a lot of trouble to go to for what appears to be a simple wiring error

Thanks, this is really helpful, however I'm still struggling to understand exactly what I should do. It would be a big help if you could clarify:

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You've wired it wrong and got 30dB more attenuation and 27dB less noise margin. Report back how it should be wired and how you have wired it.

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If you say I've wired it wrong, how do you know this, and wouldn't you also therefore know how it should be wired...?

I can't confirm how it should be wired, as the original instructions are probably irretrievable now, and I've searched on the web in vain for the supplier - he may still be out there somewhere but I haven't found him yet. I plan to keep trying. However, I'm pretty certain that I would have followed the instructions correctly. As I've described, I have wired it with the blue (it is just blue as far as I can see) to the top right hand terminal, and the white/blue to the one below it. Both have the number (1) next to them, with a blue background, and then a white/blue background behind the numbers, suggesting that they are in fact correctly wired.

The cable: in addition to the blue and white/blue wires mentioned it contains, green and white/green, brown and white/brown and orange and white/orange. They are twisted together in pairs and there are no other wires inside the cable.

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Or more likely to be successful, get a secondary BT socket, wire that as your extension faceplate and try with a dangly filter and report back the attenuation and noise margin

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I'm a bit lost here, as I don't understand what this would achieve. Are you suggesting that I get a regular extension socket, and then connect this in place of where the current one is, wiring it identically, and then connect via a microfiter? I don't see how that would vary any of the existing factors?

I'm pretty certain now that the set up was decsribed as ADSL only, as in I couldn't run a telephone from the extension.

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Your solution (2) seems a possibility - if I understand correctly, you're proposing that I relocate the modem next to the master socket, and then run a long Cat5 ethernet cable up to the PC. Is that right?

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Spot on ! You can buy pre-made ethernet cables in different lengths, and many independent computer shops will make cables up to order.

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{me}: You've wired it wrong and got 30dB more attenuation and 27dB less noise margin. Report back how it should be wired and how you have wired it.
{you}: If you say I've wired it wrong, how do you know this, and wouldn't you also therefore know how it should be wired...?

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Apart from a bit of confusion about whether the cores are blue/white & white/blue or blue & white/blue, you seem to have the same pair at both ends. OK, the cable might be broken, but with 30dB more attenuation, it looks to me like what you do have is running on crosstalk. I would have no idea how it should be wired, because I don't know what connector you are using

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As I've described, I have wired it with the blue (it is just blue as far as I can see) to the top right hand terminal, and the white/blue to the one below it. Both have the number (1) next to them, with a blue background, and then a white/blue background behind the numbers, suggesting that they are in fact correctly wired.

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A reasonable but not necessarily valid assumption. There are several traps for the unwary

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The cable: in addition to the blue and white/blue wires mentioned it contains, green and white/green, brown and white/brown and orange and white/orange. They are twisted together in pairs and there are no other wires inside the cable.

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CAT 5 UTP cable, as it says, is a fair assumption.

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{me}: Or more likely to be successful, get a secondary BT socket, wire that as your extension faceplate and try with a dangly filter and report back the attenuation and noise margin
{you}: I'm a bit lost here, as I don't understand what this would achieve. Are you suggesting that I get a regular extension socket, and then connect this in place of where the current one is, wiring it identically, and then connect via a microfiter? I don't see how that would vary any of the existing factors?

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It overcomes the fact that you have lost the instructions and that neither of us know what connector you are using. It gives us a connection which is known rather than one which is unknown. It removes the uncertainty of how you connect it, and it will allow you to plug in a phone and hear dial tone if it is wired correctly, or not if the cable is broken.

OK - I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.