Thanks

The O2 box is wireless router & modem combined (I think !) - so single box at the moment.

Is it a bad idea to move it several meters away from the Mastersocket (as O2 support said) ?

It's absoultely fine - provided you use decent quality CW1308 cable to the extension. I would caution against going down the route of a 10m r11 cable - especially if branded as "high-speed broadband cable" or some other such marketing guff. They are generally quite poor quality copper and often not even twisted pair.

I was actually thinking of running this off the test socket inside the mastersocket - this gave the best performance (around 5.2 meg, mastersocket gave around 4 meg, even when disconnected from rest of house sockets).

Not sure I'm techy enough to follow your ideal setup ..

So are you proposing:

MasterSocket > ADSLFilter > RJ11 > 10m cable > RJ11 > router ?

If so make sure the cable is good quality.

Oh - as for techy - using an IDC punch down is far simpler than putting RJ style connectors on the ends of cables.

Although it is best practise to leave the modem as close to the master socket as possible, it isn't a problem if you were to extend it. Check your speeds before and after you get the extension cable if you are unsure.

Another option is to just get another wireless router (cheaper than an access point in most situations). It takes some setting up but it requires less DIY (apart from dilling necssary holes for the patch cable that will go from your modem/router to the new wireless router).

If you do get a second wireless router, you wouldn't actually use its routing function, just the switch and wireless components. You connect one of the LAN ports of the modem/router to one of the LAN ports on the new router via a straight through "patch" cable. DHCP must be disabled on the new router. Also the LAN interface needs to be given a static IP in the same subnet as the router/modem. Then you have 2 choices for the wireless. You can give the new router the same SSID and password and in theory, wireless divices will connect to the access point that has the highest signal. Otherwise, you can have a different SSID/password and set up some of your devices to connect to the access point that is nearest (obviously, you wouldn't be able to roam that way)

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

So are you proposing:

MasterSocket > ADSLFilter > RJ11 > 10m cable > RJ11 > router ?

If so make sure the cable is good quality.

Oh - as for techy - using an IDC punch down is far simpler than putting RJ style connectors on the ends of cables.

Yes, that is what I was thinking. It would mean leaving the faceplate off the mastersocket to access test socket, but that doesn't really bother me as it's hidden away in corner of the room.

Would that Maplins ADSL cable not be a good idea then ?

I guess if the performance is poor I could take it back...

I've no idea as to the quality of that particular cable - it "looks" well made. The fact it is a round cable rather than flat probably means it is twisted pair which is a good thing. The braided screening actually won't do very much at all. For cable shielding to work effectively it really needs earthing at each end. That said, it's not going to make it worse

There is such a big variance in the quality of these RJ11-RJ11 cables as there is no official standard as there is for telephony and data cabling.

As you say - give it a go and take it back if it performs badly

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

I've no idea as to the quality of that particular cable - it "looks" well made. The fact it is a round cable rather than flat probably means it is twisted pair which is a good thing. The braided screening actually won't do very much at all. For cable shielding to work effectively it really needs earthing at each end. That said, it's not going to make it worse

There is such a big variance in the quality of these RJ11-RJ11 cables as there is no official standard as there is for telephony and data cabling.

As you say - give it a go and take it back if it performs badly

Thank you for being so helpful.

Is it strange that I would want to run this permanently from the test socket ?

O2 are running a 24 hr test on the mastersocket (as I said, now isolated from the rest of the dodgy sockets in this house) - 3 dropouts in 24hrs on the previous test socket test, 6dB noise level. I can accept this if bandwidth is better than if noise level raised.

Is there any reason why the mastersocket (mm away from the test socket) would show lower performance than test socket (if isolated from the rest of the house) ?

Not strange at all - many people do the same thing as it avoids having to learn how to wire in an extension.

If there is no extension wiring cabled up to the faceplate on the master socket then theoretically the performance should be exactly the same as the test socket itself. It's just a case of how well the contacts between faceplate and test socket perform. Sometimes just a little clean of all the contacts with something like isopropyl alcohol and a cotton bud on a stick can improve things - particularly on an older socket.

There's no problem leaving the faceplate off if you don't need extension sockets - other than a bit of dust and the odd spider getting in there

Edited by deleted (Fri 23-Sep-11 15:15:35)

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

Not strange at all - many people do the same thing as it avoids having to learn how to wire in an extension.

If there is no extension wiring cabled up to the faceplate on the master socket then theoretically the performance should be exactly the same as the test socket itself. It's just a case of how well the contacts between faceplate and test socket perform. Sometimes just a little clean of all the contacts with something like isopropyl alcohol and a cotton bud on a stick can improve things - particularly on an older socket.

There's no problem leaving the faceplate off if you don't need extension sockets - other than a bit of dust and the odd spider getting in there

One last thing (I hope !).

Is bandwidth degradation more likely with long RJ11 ADSL cable than similar length cat5 cable (as O2 inferred) ?

If it's highly likely then I might go the ethernet / access point route.

However I am tempted to drop by at Maplins on the way home just try this out ...