Fiddling with the ringer wire!

Hi. Having read on a few forums and sites that you can remove the ringer/ bell wire from your main BT box, to improve speed, I did just that.

Now my connection speed, rather than going up, has dropped to a quarter of what it was. I tried to put the wire back, but to no avail.

HELP! Is there a specific way of putting the wire back? I've tried and tried.

Thanks!

Post your router stats now. Do you have any record of what they were before?

DownStream Connection Speed 480 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 256 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38

I don't have a record of what they were before, sorry; but I do know that if I plug the router into the Test Socket the Downstream Speed gets to 2048 kbps.
I have panicked and just ordered a BT I-Plate!

Need the NM and attenuations also.

You need to remove bell wire.

In reply to a post by anilvij:

I don't have a record of what they were before, sorry; but I do know that if I plug the router into the Test Socket the Downstream Speed gets to 2048 kbps.

So there's something with your extension wiring.

I have panicked and just ordered a BT I-Plate!

That wont fix your wiring.

Can you post a picture on an image-hosting website, eg http://imageshack.us showing what you've changed and put a link here?

Or describe what colours are attached to which number pins?

This is where I'm at now, having removed the orange wire, a brown wire and a green wire and then re-inserting the two blues.

http://img7.imageshack.us/i/img6350x.jpg

What did you use to re-insert the blue wires?

And what is at the other end of that blue pair?

In reply to a post by anilvij:

This is where I'm at now, having removed the orange wire, a brown wire and a green wire and then re-inserting the two blues.

http://img7.imageshack.us/i/img6350x.jpg

So what pins were the orange, brown and green connected to?

Is this the same socket that the router is normally connected to, or is there another one?

It was green with the (mostly) white one and brown with the blue one. The orange one went into port 3 (I'm fairly sure about that). I kinda jammed the wires back in with a tiny screwdriver; there is one socket upstairs and the phone is working fine at the moment with the setup as pictured. I don't know what you mean by asking what was on the other end of the blue wires.. they just dissappear into the wall!

The blue wires connected to the faceplate there should be for an extension socket.

Does the socket upstairs work with the master socket faceplate unplugged as in your picture?

Oh - and using a screwdriver to re-connect IDC connections isn't a good idea as it forces the metal blades apart in the slot which can lead to a poor contact on the cable.

The upstairs socket doesn't work when the faceplate is unplugged.
What were the brown and green wires for? I just want to be able to plug my router into the master socket and achieve something near to the speed I get from the test socket...

The solid brown and green wires don't look like they are part of the standard telephone wiring. Do you have a burglar alarm that connects to the phone line perhaps?

What number connectors were the brown and green connected to?

And finally - what colours are connected at your extension socket upstairs? (Should just be blue/white and white/blue to 2 & 5 same as the back of your master socket faceplate)

In reply to a post by anilvij:

The upstairs socket doesn't work when the faceplate is unplugged.
What were the brown and green wires for? I just want to be able to plug my router into the master socket and achieve something near to the speed I get from the test socket...

All you should have done was to remove the ring wire from terminal 3 in all sockets. Suggest that you restore the other wiring to its original state using a cheap IDC insertion tool.
The whole point of the detachable faceplate is to isolate the extensions so that a test can be made from the "test socket". 2 and 5 on the faceplate should connect to 2 and 5 on your extension/s. Hopefully you noted what colours went where before you disconnected anything, as standard wiring schemes aren't always used.

Brown was on 2 and green was on 5, and I just checked the positions of the wires upstairs, its the same; with the addition of the ringer wire on 3, which I have removed. So now upstairs and downstairs is the same.

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

The solid brown and green wires don't look like they are part of the standard telephone wiring. Do you have a burglar alarm that connects to the phone line perhaps?

What number connectors were the brown and green connected to?

And finally - what colours are connected at your extension socket upstairs? (Should just be blue/white and white/blue to 2 & 5 same as the back of your master socket faceplate)

Are you sure they're solid colours. They look like they could be Green/White and Brown/White

Edited by alwall (Sat 02-Apr-11 14:47:37)

OK well if brown and green were on 2 and 5 then there must be or have been another extension connected - could be a plain socket, burglar alarm, external ringer, flashing light etc.

For testing purposes I would first disconnect the blues from the faceplate so nothing is attached to it, then put the faceplate back in the master and see what the router syncs up at. If it is still low then it is the faceplate itself that has a problem. If it remains up near 2Mbps then it is the extension wiring to the socket upstairs that is the problem.

In reply to a post by anilvij:

Brown was on 2 and green was on 5, and I just checked the positions of the wires upstairs, its the same; with the addition of the ringer wire on 3, which I have removed. So now upstairs and downstairs is the same.

So were Blue/White , White/Blue originally connected? If so to what?

I am really getting puzzled, although I massively appreciate the help! Right now, blue/white and white/blue are in the correct positions, feeding the upstairs extension. Everything else has been removed, since I am sure there is no purpose for them. So why is my broadband speed 1/4 of the speed from the test socket?

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

OK well if brown and green were on 2 and 5 then there must be or have been another extension connected - could be a plain socket, burglar alarm, external ringer, flashing light etc.

For testing purposes I would first disconnect the blues from the faceplate so nothing is attached to it, then put the faceplate back in the master and see what the router syncs up at. If it is still low then it is the faceplate itself that has a problem. If it remains up near 2Mbps then it is the extension wiring to the socket upstairs that is the problem.

I shall do this now

Look at the point in the piccy where the solid green is foremost, then scan left - you will see the usual green/white and white/green wires behind it. That foremost green doesn't have any white stripe at all.

I could be wrong, but that's how it looks to me.

In reply to a post by alwall:

In reply to a post by anilvij:

Brown was on 2 and green was on 5, and I just checked the positions of the wires upstairs, its the same; with the addition of the ringer wire on 3, which I have removed. So now upstairs and downstairs is the same.

So were Blue/White , White/Blue originally connected? If so to what?

Sorry for the confusion... Brown shared 2 with Blue/White and Green shared 5 with White/Blue

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

OK well if brown and green were on 2 and 5 then there must be or have been another extension connected - could be a plain socket, burglar alarm, external ringer, flashing light etc.

For testing purposes I would first disconnect the blues from the faceplate so nothing is attached to it, then put the faceplate back in the master and see what the router syncs up at. If it is still low then it is the faceplate itself that has a problem. If it remains up near 2Mbps then it is the extension wiring to the socket upstairs that is the problem.

Removing the blue wires brings the speed to exactly what it is out of the test socket. The problem then, is the extension. What to do!

OK - so what is plugged in to the extension socket?

And are you connecting whatever it is via a micro-filter?

Something is introducing noise on that extension wiring - it could be the extension socket itself going out, whatever is plugged into it, or even something inducing noise on the wiring - wall wart power adaptors are common culprits, along with power saving light bulbs.

I'd also recommend you invest a couple of quid in a proper IDC connection tool - that way you can be sure the connections you are making to the faceplate are fully home and sound.

e.g.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solwise-Plastic-IDC-insertio...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KRONE-Type-Punch-Telephone-I...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-40417-Punch-Down-Tool...

Hmm. Jiggling around with the two wires for a bit, making sure they were in as much as possible, seems to have done the trick. I now have my 2mb thank god. Sky promises me it will rise to over 3 in the next few days; fingers crossed.

Thank you so much for your help everyone. I feel like I've wasted your time! But at least I understand how all the connections work now.

Happy to help and glad you got it sorted. Once you understand how that spaghetti is supposed to be connected it suddenly seems very simple

Well spotted!