Nope, this is definitly the master socket. It's right where the phone line comes into the house.

If you do not feel up to it, you need to find a friendly telecoms engineer and get him/her to wire it correctly. With that done some of your problems might improve.

OK so I was away for a while.

On closer inspection, the master socket is NOT the master socket, the wires are all in a big tangle, and then go to a different socket in another room. When the router is plugged into the test socket here (through a microfilter) it syncs the downstream dsl at 3.8mbit up from ~2mbit, so the internet house wiring is obviously not great, but it still disconnects when the phone rings.

What is my next course of action from here?

EDIT: also I've tried a few microfilters, so I don't think it's the microfilter.

Edited by joshd (Tue 29-Dec-09 16:27:11)

Hi, 'we' are sort of where we were before - your internal wiring needs sorting out!

Officially you might need BT to do the work.
But as things are already 'illicit' (as BT would call it!) I would be inclined to remove all the unnecessary connections and try to get your Master Socket sorted out. But remembering how things are, you might need to get someone to do this for you if you aren't happy doing the work. Ideally the NTE5 that you previously thought was the Master sounds like the one to wire up correctly - i.e. The nearest point to where the wires enter your home.

If you ask BT, they could charge £195 to fit a new NTE5 !!! Cheaper to get a new line installed ?!?

Hi joshd

This site may help you and if you need talking through anything shout.

OK, well I phoned BT, and they said that because the problem occurs when the router is plugged into the test socket, the problem is with their part of the line, and an engineer is coming to investigate.

Since the issue is not because of something my side of the master socket, I SHOULDN'T get charged a huge callout fee, and I am hoping to high hell that I don't.

(This is for the disconnection when the phone rings issue, I appreciate that the low connection speed IS the house wiring, but not what I want the engineer to sort out.)

EDIT: by the way, I think things are no longer "illicit", the master socket has simply been moved, when we used to have an ISDN setup. The test port in the other room works as expected.

EDIT2: Also, if you use a filtered faceplate that separates internet and phone right at the master socket, is this the same, "interference wise", as plugging the router directly into the test socket, or will dodgy house wiring still affect this?

Edited by joshd (Tue 29-Dec-09 22:47:43)

In reply to a post by joshd:

OK, well I phoned BT, and they said that because the problem occurs when the router is plugged into the test socket, the problem is with their part of the line, and an engineer is coming to investigate.

Since the issue is not because of something my side of the master socket, I SHOULDN'T get charged a huge callout fee, and I am hoping to high hell that I don't.

(This is for the disconnection when the phone rings issue, I appreciate that the low connection speed IS the house wiring, but not what I want the engineer to sort out.)

Make sure the BT engineer does not test on your side of the wiring. They are always looking for ways to turn a visit into a chargeable one.

In reply to a post by joshd:

EDIT: by the way, I think things are no longer "illicit", the master socket has simply been moved, when we used to have an ISDN setup. The test port in the other room works as expected.

Surprised that the old Master was left, but the BT engineer will sort out which is the true master.

In reply to a post by joshd:

EDIT2: Also, if you use a filtered faceplate that separates internet and phone right at the master socket, is this the same, "interference wise", as plugging the router directly into the test socket, or will dodgy house wiring still affect this?

Yes as it totally separates the extensions from the incoming broadband line. Remember that you will then only have broadband available at the Master socket and nowhere else in the house. One important point when you need to test, you will need to remove the Filtered faceplate and plug into the test socket behind it using a loose filter so keep a couple of spare loose filters in your test box

BT for some reason sent a line engineer instead of a broadband engineer, but I guess our ISP is not BT anyway.

He tested the line, and it is fine, and also tested the internal wiring, which is also fine.

I have now tried to get Orange to send a broadband engineer, but they are insisting on running some line test from their end first, and I have to get back to them in 48h for the results. I have tried this route before, but never got anywhere as they just said the line was "fine". Hopefully it will go better this time.

In reply to a post by joshd:

BT for some reason sent a line engineer instead of a broadband engineer, but I guess our ISP is not BT anyway.

He tested the line, and it is fine, and also tested the internal wiring, which is also fine.

I have now tried to get Orange to send a broadband engineer, but they are insisting on running some line test from their end first, and I have to get back to them in 48h for the results. I have tried this route before, but never got anywhere as they just said the line was "fine". Hopefully it will go better this time.

Those of a cynical nature might think that Orange don't want to get billed for the BB engineer's visit

Agree some ISPs do not like sending out BB engineers