Faulty Master socket

I am trying to eliminate problems with my internal wiring that are preventing me from getting the best out of my connection..

If I plug my router into the test socket into the NTE5 (i.e. after removing the bottom half of the face plate) my sync shoots up to 6512. On the extension which BT put in 2 yrs ago it drops to 3700 to 4300, which is after I put in an I-Plate. There are extension wires connected to the back of the faceplate including the bellwire to terminal 3.

The problem is that if I plug the router into the master socket (on outside of face plate), I get no connection at all. So, it seems to me that there is a fault with the faceplate itself which is causing some slow down. I have googled this problem, but have found no real answer.

Is it likely that this is my problem?

Many thanks.

Remove the bell wire and see if that improves your normal sync.

Thank you.

I thought the I-Plate effectively does the same thing as removing the ring wire. I will try removing the ring wire, but my concern at the moment is that the faceplate is not working properly as indicated by the fact that the front socket doesn't work.

In reply to a post by incubus:

Is it likely that this is my problem?

90%, yes.

I would suggest you buy a filtered faceplate and then connect your extensions to that, so that any interference they seem to be causing is removed/reduced.

ADSL Nation do one which would simply replace the seemingly faulty faceplate you have.

http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php

Matt

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-Aug-09 19:48:59)

Thanks Matt.

With the face plate you have recommended, this would mean my router being connected to the master socket which is in the garage. My PCs are upstairs and run off an extension. I guess I could run a long cat 5 cable.

The good thing about the faceplate i linked - you can hard wire additional filtered and non-filtered (for use with adsl) extensions.

So, if possible, simply connect a pair (if you have any space) to the non-filtered part for ADSL, and then connect all the voice lines to the filtered part.

Shouldn't take took long and I am sure you have some spare pairs on your extension cables.

Matt

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-Aug-09 20:15:32)

Yes, the I-Plate has the same effect as removing the ring wire.

I think we need to understand why the front master socket does not work - I'm wondering if there is some scale or dirt on the copper wire connections in either the male plug that goes into the test socket or the female master socket. Can you check these two sockets very carefully and clean/wipe out the connections with a mild solvent or WD40. Also worth double checking that the copper wires in the master socket are perfectly straight and parallel
i.e. not bent/damaged and short circuiting with another wire.

In reply to a post by JoeKidd:

Can you check these two sockets very carefully and clean/wipe out the connections with a mild solvent or WD40. Also worth double checking that the copper wires in the master socket are perfectly straight and parallel
i.e. not bent/damaged and short circuiting with another wire.

Thanks for the reply. I will do the above and report back.

Well I've checked the connections and they are straight, clean etc.

I have several options but think that I will probably get the filtered ADSL Nation faceplate and test this. If this improves the sync rate on the extension to approaching that at the test socket, then I'll stick with that.

If not, I'll move my router to the garage and plug this into the adsl filtered socket and run a long cat5 cable (probably 25m) up to the room where I use the PCs and connect this to a 4 port switch and then connect all three PCs to the switch. I guess this would give me the most reliable and fastest connection although it will involve drilling holes through walls and investing in a switch and external cat5 cable.

OK, connecting an ADSL nation faceplate would make sense as currently your BT test socket works well. It is still a puzzle why you cannot get the connection at the existing master socket.

You'll need a Krone type insertion tool to re-connect the extension wires from your existing BT faceplate to the ADSL nation faceplate.
Good luck !

Thanks for the advice so far. One final thought, would it be OK to run a long RJ11 (i.e 20m or so from the filtered face plate to the router or better to use a short RJ11 to the router and then a long CAT5 from the router to a switch?

I am not sure that RJ11 is suitable for external runs (I would otherwise buy external grade CAT5)?

RJ11 describes the plug, not the cable. Cat5 cables which are not outdoor rated can degrade with the action of sunlight on the outer PVC coating.

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

RJ11 describes the plug, not the cable.

Thanks. I didn't appreciate that.

So would it make a difference in performance if I run a long exterior grade cat 5 with RJ11 plugs from the master socket in my garage to the router upstairs as opposed to having the router by the master socket and running the cat 5 from this to the router? The only reason I ask is that it would be more convenient to have the router upstairs and would avoid having to buy a 4 switch.

The usual practice is to connect the router close to the ADSL nation filtered faceplate and either wirelessly connect to PC's or use a long ethernet cable.
However, in your case I'm wondering whether Homeplugs would be a better option because you have many PC's. These transmit the ADSL signal via the 240V electric circuits in your house. So you could site the router next to the master socket and connect one of the homeplug adaptors to the router via ethernet cable and plug the adaptor into the nearest electrical socket. The other homeplug adaptor you connect elsewhere in your house into another electrical socket near your PC's and connect via ethernet cable.
I have no experience with these homeplugs but others have said that the connection is solid with no interference or drop-outs, and the connection speeds are much faster than wireless too. Maybe worth searching for Homeplug in Google to learn more - there are several brands and the only negative I see is the cost of the adaptors - around £40 - which has to be balanced against the cost of long ethernet cables and the hassle of drilling etc in your existing proposal.

As the previous poster said, the best thing to do is to have a filtered faceplate on the master phone socket, and wire the router directly to the ADSL output on that, then run Cat5 back to the PC's, or use Homeplugs (which can be expensive). As long as you're using the Cat5 for ethernet and not as a phone cable, there will be no problems up to 100 metres (328 feet) between switches and routers, and no degradation in performance.

Thanks JoeKidd and Zebedeee. I will follow your advice, but will go for cat5 rather than homeplugs.

An update...

I today removed the i-plate and instead fitted an ADSL nation xte-2005, connected the router directly to that and have run a long external grade cat5e from here to a new Linksys switch and the pcs.

It was all pretty straight-forward and I learnt how to make my own cat5e, using a rj45 crimper!

The only snag was that one of the long screws snapped in half in the BT side of the NTE5 socket, so I have one screw and some heavy duty double sided tape on the other securing the ADSL nation faceplate to the backplate !!

The router took a lot longer than usual to connect and synced at 5000, compared to 3800 earlier, before I did all this. I then turned off the router and the damn thing has synced at 3900!!! I will leave it overnight and reboot early morning to see if this improves. I know that syncing at 4pm on a Saturday is probably not going to give the best result., so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

The best time to reboot is mid-day. Hopefully you will have enough spare noise margin to avoid a re-sync overnight.

Rather good news, but no sooner had I posted an update and my router is reporting a much higher sync:

DSL Status: Up
DSL Modulation Mode: GDMT
DSL Path Mode: FAST
Downstream Rate: 6432 Kbps
Upstream Rate: 448 Kbps
Downstream Margin: 12 db
Upstream Margin: 24 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 36
Upstream Line Attenuation: 20
Downstream Transmit Power: 0
Upstream Transmit Power: 0

I guess I will need to wait a few days before BT up my profile from 2500!

Thanks to everyone for all the help and advice. This has been £71 well spent (on cable, crimper, krone tool, faceplate etc)