Connection problems -where's the fault

<Apologies in advance if this is posted in the wrong place.>

I have had problems with my ADSL connection (pIpex) for quite some time now. Periodically, the line seems to drop out, and this is indicated by the modem/router flashing the appropriate signal informing me that there is no connection. The drop outs can last from a few minutes (sometimes recurring every five minutes or so) to anything up to five or six hours. They can generally be any time of day, though early evenings seem to be more frequent. When this happens, the telephone, which is connected to the same line, seems to work fine.

My set up is as follows: I installed a cable from my main BT point (hard-wiring it in) to a newly-installed extension socket in my spare room. From there I connect via a modem/router gateway, having just upgraded from an ISP-provided modem. The problem seems to be unaffected by this hardware change.

Also connected to the main BT socket is the house phone (via a microfilter), and until recently, the Sky digibox. The Sky box has now been unplugged permanently, and this seemed to help the problem at first, though this may have been an illusion as the service interruptions are now as bad as ever. The telephone has been replaced recently, and is now a brand new model.

I raised this with my Pipex, a while back, and they suggested that I needed to disconnect everything from the phone line and then see what happened. Having done this, the problem seems to persist.

Do I need to get the BT engineers in, or are there further tests I can do myself? Is there a possibility that the problem could be with the ISP (of course they denied that there was any chance it might be their fault).

Many thanks for any help.

Need to see your linestats. If you have an NTE5 master socket, try the router in the test socket and get linestats there too. You say you have put in an extension - what sort of cable did you use?

Thanks for the reply.

What are my linestats and how do I get them?

For the extension job, I used a kit supplied by someone selling over the internet, who provided a lot of very detailed help and seemed to know what they were doing. It was a few years back, so can't immediately recall the exact details.

I think my linestats are:

Connection Speed: 2272 (down) 288 (up)
Line Attenuation 41db (down) 15.5db (up)
Noise margin 4db (down) 3db (up)

Is that all the info you need?

For that attenuation you have a low SNR.

Do you have a phone socket which looks like this one?

If so try following these instructions to see if you get a better SNR when plugging your router into the test socket. If so some tweaking of your telephone wiring may help.

Yes, that is my main socket, from which I have taken the extension.

I'll take a look at the instructions you've provided and give it a whirl and see what happens. Example three in the link describes my set-up.

Thanks.

As SSmith says, your SNR is a bit low. You can try taking your ring wire off, it should help. But I am most interested to know what sort of cable is used on your extension.

I'm not sure that I'm happy that I opened up that master socket!

Basically, it's a bit of a dog's breakfast in there. I have four terminals numbered 2 to 5, with the following wires attached (in order, from 2 rising): (1) blue + blue/white; (2) green + orange/white; (3) brown; (4) white/blue + orange. There are two thick cables disappearing into the rear of the socket, each of which feeds some of the wires mentionedd above.

As far as I can tell, the extension cable is only connected to terminals 2 and 5.

I haven't connected via the test socket yet, as basically that would involve some major transportation of my PC system down to the kitchen, and I'm keen to put that off for as long as I can.

Is it advisable to just get an engineer in, do you think? I carefully followed the instructions when fitting the extension, but would not necessarily recognise any existing faults or problems. I get really severe service interruptions now, almost 50% of most days,and I'm not sure how much I can take!

Grateful for any help.

When you say 1, 2, 3, 4 I take it you mean 2, 3, 4, 5

In reply to:

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I haven't connected via the test socket yet, as basically that would involve some major transportation of my PC system down to the kitchen, and I'm keen to put that off for as long as I can. Is it advisable to just get an engineer in, do you think?

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If the transportation of your pc system to the kitchen is too much effort, then get an engineer in. I understand the charge is

...or indeed a management consultant

I did mean 2,3,4,5.

OK, point taken - my system is a nightmare to shift about, I was just wondering if the effort would be worth it. 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"...?