Problem with my internal set up?

Hi everyone,

I only just joined so "Hi", I hope this is the right forum for my post??

Previously I was running my router from an extension and getting approx 2.4mb download speed, I tried this weekend to run it straight from the master socket in a different room and it give me a speed of 6.1mb I drove to maplins straight away and bought 17m of four core cable and some RJ11 ends, drilled holes in a couple of walls (much to my girlfriends disappointment) and got my router setup with a cable from the maser socket late last night. ran a speed test, 6mb...awesome.

I was running all these test straight from the test socket inside the master socket, when I put it all back together again I go back to speeds of 2.4mb...any idea what's causing this? Is it likely to be something on my network? A malfunctioning ADSL filter? My landline? Some internal wiring? I'd really like to get it sorted as I could use the extra bandwidth.

Cheers
Ross

The usual reasons for what you're seeing: -

1. A missing ADSL filter. Have you got one in every single phone socket with a device connected, including faxes, Sky boxes, etc.?
2. Ring wire bringing in noise (even though you may be in the front of the master socket, the ring wire is still connected to all extension sockets and can badly affect your speed). Try removing the ring wire (connection 3 in each socket - in fact, only 2 & 5 are actually needed).

Also make sure you either don't connect the ring wire in your 17 metre DIY extension, or stick the ADSL filter at the master socket.
Better still; put the router at the master socket and use 17m of CAT5 cable to extend the Ethernet from the router, rather than extending the phone wire.

get one of these for the master socket.

It isolates your extension wiring from the ADSL signal and vice versa. Plug your new long extension into the ADSL socket.

In reply to a post by adebov:

Better still; put the router at the master socket and use 17m of CAT5 cable to extend the Ethernet from the router, rather than extending the phone wire.

That was my first choice too however I have 4 devices all running CAT5 cables and it would have meant 4 cables routed through a couple of rooms, 1 thin cable I can get away with across the tops of door frames and skirting boards but 4 chunky ones would have required trunking or something more serious.

I'm all filtered up yeah, wasn't aware of the ring wire noise issue, I'll use a filter to split the signal from the master socket fo now (that's effectively what the faceplate does right?) but I'll order one of those fancy ones for sure.

Thanks guys,
Ross

As said, fit a face plate filter, then for the networking use powerline adaptors, wire free, and splendid.

In reply to a post by Rossatron:

wasn't aware of the ring wire noise issue, I'll use a filter to split the signal from the master socket fo now (that's effectively what the faceplate does right?)

Not quite; unless you use a filtered face-plate (or one of BT's iPlate things - or whatever they're called), or you remove the ring wire, it will still be connected.
Even though the ADSL & voice will be filtered by plugging an ADSL micro-filter into the front of the master socket, the ADSL will still be connected to every single socket in the house and will still be affected by the ring wire.

The only way to resolve this is to take mine, Phil's or Zarjaz's suggestions;
Either....
1) Remove the ring wire in all sockets (better still, do this and connect the router at the master socket).
2) Fit an iPlate (which does little more than cuts the ring wire for you).
3) Fit an ADSL filtered face-plate.

Again, all options will work just that bit faster if you site your router at the master socket and either use CAT5 cables to carry the Ethernet, or power-plug networking.

In my case I went for option 3 (plus siting the router at the master socket) and went from 1.6Mbps (on ADSL1) to around 3.5-4Mbps (again ADSL1), which is now boosted to 4.5-5Mbps by the switch to ADSL2.