ADSL Speed Issues, BT Redcare GSM & Line Quality

I have seen a few posts on here regarding similar topics but wondered if anyone can advise me what has happened to my ADSL service over the last 6 months. I will break this down as best a possible :-

1) August 06 - left Pipex 2mb service as they refused to upgrade exisiting customers to up to 8mb service.
2) Went to Sky Broadband LLU - download speeds rose to around 5Mb - happy with this.
3) September 06 - Installed an ADT alarm system with BT Redcare GSM
4) Nov 06 - Sky cancelled my service for a reason they were never able to tell me. They could not reinstate the service due to "an incompatible product on my line" Neither BT or Sky between them could tell me what this product was although now suspect it was Redcare.
5) Nov 06 - Had enough of Sky's Customer service and joined Eclipse Internet up to 8meg service. (I didnt research properly !!) Received synch speed of 4 mbs
6) In early Dec my BT line developed a fault - lost voice calls and had just over dial up internet speed. BT fixed the line outside my home, but the ADSL returned & eventually synched at only 2.5 Mb - a loss of 1.5 Mb.
7) Follwing this repair almost weekly I was being contacted by the alarm company to say there was a fault with my line. They sent engineers who blamed BT.
8) Jan 07 - BT came out and ran line checks in the house and said no prob with line - it was the Redcare unit & alarm system. In the meantime I changed Eclipse for Entanet (Vivaciti ) as my provider.
9) Back came ADT who replaced the Redcare GSM unit but still the line kept going into "fault"
10) ADT then contacted BT Redcare for probably the 3rd or 4th time and determined there was a jumper issue and my line was not set to be able to receive ADSL & Redcare signals and they were conflicting with each other causing signal drop outs. BT fixed this at the Exchange but my line speed rose only fractionally but not enough to synch ADSL any higher.
11) ADT returned to my property and I asked them if the Alarm was filtered correctly. The guy removed the hardwired filter as Redcare said it was not needed and my line stats dropped to 1500 kbs when he removed it. I told him to put it back on and the speed rose back up to 3700 kbs on my router stats - the highest I'd seen it for months. However when he placed the filter back inside the alarm box the ADSL returned to 3300 kbs.

This is where it stands and I draw the conclusion that when BT fixed my line back in December - the line quality deterioted. Also that that the Redcare signal is still in some way affecting my ADSL despite filters but these are only guesses.

My speedtest stats are :
IP profile for your line is - 2500 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 3104 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 2344 kbps

Router stats : -

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3104 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 43 db 12 db
Noise Margin 9 db 21 db

I am 1.5 kilometres from the Croydon Exchange which is showing as Red status at present.

The Line Attenuation seems really high yet I can only assume the Redcare is causing this but unfortunately I have nothing to compare this to prior to the problems starting.

I am thinking of getting a brand new BT line installed just for broadband to seperate it from the Redcare completely but am unsure if this is going to improve anything. Any help or advice would be really appreciated.


A couple of side issues : -

1) Could my Redcare GSM signal be interferring with my ADSL wireless signal as I temporarily placed my router near my alarm box a while back and the alarm company called to say my GSM had gone down. Coincidence ?

2) I am also unsure as to why the BT Wholesale checker indicated last Summer I could receive Up to 4.5 Meg ADSL service but re-running it now states only 2 Meg. Any ideas ??

Thanks & apologies for the essay but this situation is making me tear my hair out.

Your ADT alarm system, is it a Galaxy 2?

I have a Galaxy 2 and it interferes with my wireless router somehow. A friend has just had an ADT alarm system fitted today with a Galaxy 2. If they turn the power to the alarm system on he loses broadband, but if they turn the alarm off (and disconnect the internal backup battery) then broadband returns.

Edited by Airfoxuk (Wed 11-Apr-07 20:02:02)

Redcare is now compatible with ADSL (they apparently run on different frequencies) - however, not sure why you have a filter (assuming it is an adsl filter) on the redcare connection, we were told for our office that this is definitely not required & the redcare gets hardwired into the back of the main socket. You would need a filter from adt if they were using a dial up rather than redcare system. You do however need filters for the ordinary phone lines and NOTE if you try to use a modem eg fax/laptp dial up, then you also need a different separate splitter/filter system (costs about

the OP had Redcare GSM which I assume uses a mobile (GSM) connection ? I installed broadband on a Redcare line and filtered the Redcare and everything else. I was assured it wasn't necessary but as it was a long line I wasn't taking the risk of having any unfiltered kit adding to the noise level. It didn't actually seem to make any difference in the end.

In reply to:

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which I assume uses a mobile (GSM) connection

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I don't think, but am not 100% sure, that Redcare does a mobile version.

I was playing "guess the acronym"

I won....

http://www.redcare.bt.com/security/products/gsm.htm

"redcare gsm combines a secure redcare landline connection with a GSM radio backup path. In the event of a line cut it enables alarm systems to be monitored by the radio path.

If the BT landline fails, the ARC will receive a communication failure message. The GSM path will continue to communicate with the alarm receiving centre, sending any subsequent alarms.

redcare gsm is capable of sending a confirmed activation if either the primary landline or secondary radio path is lost, regardless of which one is lost first."

Yes Phil, I have GSM in my works lappy...just hadn't come across this before ...Why not make it all mobile, that'd be a few more spares for Openreach....

In reply to:

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Why not make it all mobile

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indeed, GSM jammers are less likely to be in the toolkit of the average burglar than a pair of wirecutters. The USO may mean there is more wired cover than O2 GSM cover.

Then use Vodaphone Thats what we all switched too...much better.

Phil - the GSM element is simply a backup path, the alarm uses standard Redcare tones over the phone line for its primary signaling.