ADSL Max

I am having problems with dropped connections. The modem light suggests a line sync problem. The ISP assures me that there is no problem with them. They have twice sent out a BT engineer and he assures me that there is no problem with them. The diagnostic software that comes with the modem checks it out fine. This modem caused no problem with a 2 Mb connection. Because the persistent dropped connection has not reached beyond 28k Mbs.
Where can the problem lie? Is ADSL Mac an essentially unstable technology?
I will have to look at trying another modem but this is proving difficult.

Where is your modem plugged in? Do you have lots of extensions? Is everything else, eg phones, Sky boxes, 56K modems, faxes etc filtered? Do you have a new type NTE5 with a detachable face plate? If so, what happens if you connect the modem there, to the test socket behind the plate? Sorry to hit you with a bunch of questions, but we need more information to try and help you. If you can get a connection for long enough, post your line stats.

It would probably be worth investing in a router, which will puts less strain on your PC and provide additional security.

There are of course lots of things coming out of my computer. The modem connects to a splitter and the outlet is shared with one telephone. This outlet is not the main inlet point. A BT engineer has twice tested the telephone hardware and found no problem. I am not sure where the line sats can be found. When a connection is dropped, it reconnects very quickly. While it can happen at anytime it seems to happen most often in the evening.
Sorry I cannot provide you with more information.

I assume the "splitter" is a filter.

Do all the other telephones / fax machines / sky boxes / etc connect to a filter?

one modem. one telephone

Sorry if this post is in the wrong place - I am a newbie...

I have what may be a similar problem...

I am with Sky Broadband (which on the whole appears to be very good!)... I have a very simple setup - one master socket with three slave sockets (rm 1 is direct, rm 2 is slaved from rm 1 and rm 3 is direct). The only socket used is 2, this has one filter with a DECT phone and a NetGear router. With this setup, the router connects but takes it's time and connects generally at anything between 400kbs and 780kbs which I thought was reasonable considering my previous supplier only managed 512kb. However, for reasons I wont bore you with, I connected the router directly in to the master socket with all extensions disconnected and in that config, I get on average 1.3-1.4MB which for here is excellent (we are some distance from the exchange). The thing is that even if I reconnect the extensions and remove the devices, I still get the low connection speeds. In either config, I am seeing line att of ~63.5 and noise margins of ~9.8db.

I have checked the cabling and there are no shorts or anything else untowards so I can only assume electrical interference but I am at a bit of a loss... is this normal or is something wrong ? - any ideas or suggestions grately appreciated.

With an attenuation of 63.5dB, your line is going to be very susceptable to noise. You could try cutting the "ring" wire on the extension wiring at the master socket end. This should reduce noise pickup. The ring wire is the wire on terminal #3.

Edited by deleted (Wed 18-Oct-06 08:43:43)

Hi, many thanks for the reply - I'll give that a try !

Do you think that replacing the internal telephone cabling with STP would make any difference?

Edited by stickells (Wed 18-Oct-06 19:19:14)

Result !!!!! - I have disconnected terminals 3 and 4 (apparently term4 has no purpose but is normally connected for neatness ???) and with the equipment back in the study I am getting 1.4MB which as I say, for here is absolutely superb (three times my prev ISP & house just down the road)....

Sky Broadband Rocks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks zebedeee - you have made a miffed man very chuffed :-)

Glad to hear a good Max story !

Excellent. Well done.

Pin 4 is used to provide an earth on some PABX systems - so not used in a domestic installation.

Glad it worked

Just remember, you only hear the bad usually, once it's working you don't wanna sit around on a message board wasting bandwidth.

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once it's working you don't wanna sit around on a message board wasting bandwidth

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Not in my case as I do spend a lot of time on them even though I don't have a problem most of the time