Ok here is a summary of what I have done at my girlfriends over the weekend, initially I unplugged the new handset base and unplugged it from the splitter. The line stats didnt improve. I then started with the extension socket in her room and only left wires 2 and 5 connected, no improvement. I then went into the other room where there was another extension, this extension is fed from the master socket in the lounge, and the wire for the upstairs socket is also on this faceplace, I did the same thing and disconnected all the wires leaving 2 and 5 connected. No improvement. Lastly I went into the lounge where the master socket is, disconnected all cables except 2 and 5, no improvement again. Amongst resetting the router over the course of this hour or so time, the SNR did go back up to about 7.5DB and connected at 4096 like previously but there was no reason for this at all. So I think we can now rule out the new phones, but the weird thing I dont understand is why is this now a problem I plugged the router into the master socket and it was the same, I was a little naughty and did check the wiring was all fine at the back of the faceplate, which it was.

There is a couple of other things though, but I dont think they are causing the problem as like I say everything was fine till the new handsets came. In the hallway there is one of those old fashioned bell ringers for people hard of hearing so they know the phone is ringing, i dont know how you would disconnect this but I dont think that is a problem. The cable outside enters the house just next to the main door, there is a little white box, it just has wiring inside, looks fine to me though.

May it be worth giving the connection several days to see if anything improves and if it doesnt, contact Sky? another thing which seems odd, is that their upload rate is very low, 415kbps.

Here are the line stats, SNR currently at 100%:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3092 kbps 415 kbps
Line Attenuation 54.0 db 33.7 db
Noise Margin 7.4 db 10.4 db

Here are my line stats just to compare (my SNR margin is manually set at 1% and my connection is just as stable as when it is set at 100% lol):

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3936 kbps 768 kbps
Line Attenuation 57.0 db 31.5 db
Noise Margin 6.3 db 13.0 db

In reply to a post by Adam86:

Ok here is a summary of what I have done at my girlfriends over the weekend, initially I unplugged the new handset base and unplugged it from the splitter. The line stats didnt improve. I then started with the extension socket in her room and only left wires 2 and 5 connected, no improvement. I then went into the other room where there was another extension, this extension is fed from the master socket in the lounge, and the wire for the upstairs socket is also on this faceplace, I did the same thing and disconnected all the wires leaving 2 and 5 connected. No improvement. Lastly I went into the lounge where the master socket is, disconnected all cables except 2 and 5, no improvement again. Amongst resetting the router over the course of this hour or so time, the SNR did go back up to about 7.5DB and connected at 4096 like previously but there was no reason for this at all. So I think we can now rule out the new phones, but the weird thing I dont understand is why is this now a problem I plugged the router into the master socket and it was the same, I was a little naughty and did check the wiring was all fine at the back of the faceplate, which it was.

There is a couple of other things though, but I dont think they are causing the problem as like I say everything was fine till the new handsets came. In the hallway there is one of those old fashioned bell ringers for people hard of hearing so they know the phone is ringing, i dont know how you would disconnect this but I dont think that is a problem. The cable outside enters the house just next to the main door, there is a little white box, it just has wiring inside, looks fine to me though.

May it be worth giving the connection several days to see if anything improves and if it doesnt, contact Sky? another thing which seems odd, is that their upload rate is very low, 415kbps.

Here are the line stats, SNR currently at 100%:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3092 kbps 415 kbps
Line Attenuation 54.0 db 33.7 db
Noise Margin 7.4 db 10.4 db

Here are my line stats just to compare (my SNR margin is manually set at 1% and my connection is just as stable as when it is set at 100% lol):

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3936 kbps 768 kbps
Line Attenuation 57.0 db 31.5 db
Noise Margin 6.3 db 13.0 db

Bumping the above, can anyone help?

Also my girlfriends parents have said that they dont want the device in the hallway connected anymore, I dont know what the proper name is for it, but its a white box with 2 screws and a bell is underneath it which makes it so old people can hear the phone ringing.

Is this BT property or can it be safelyt removed?

Dont know where we lie with this line as it is Sky Talk and Sky Broadband.

Ringers and especially external ringers (workshops, large properties etc) used to be a speciality of BT.

Going back to GPO days and before the liberation of the introduction of the socket these would be BT supplied and therefore rented equipment.
If it does date to that time and is BT property it might show up on the phone bill in which case getting it removed would be a saving to boot.

If the wires can't be traced back to an extension or the user side of the master socket then it sounds like a BT engineer might be needed to keep things legal and above board.

can anyone help?

Did you try the test socket ?

In reply to a post by yarwell:

can anyone help?

Did you try the test socket ?

Yes, SNR is still 7.4, much lower than previously, was about 13/14 before.

Think I will call Sky Broadband tonight and ask them to look into, when we called them about 3 weeks ago to be put onto the unlimited package the chap on the phone did some line diags and said it should be able to get 6mbps and that he would reconfigure it, so I'm wondering if thats kicked in and caused more trouble than its worth.

Definatley something not right somewhere cause upload should be higher than 415kbps shouldnt it?

the snr isn't a useful indicator on a variable rate service unless you also quote the sync speed

The bell is something I would try and get removed unless it's really needed. Does it still ring if you remove the front part of the NTE?

In reply to a post by yarwell:

the snr isn't a useful indicator on a variable rate service unless you also quote the sync speed

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3174 kbps 415 kbps

These are the current speeds, before it used to connect at a higher rate with a higher SNR.

In reply to a post by shtu:

The bell is something I would try and get removed unless it's really needed. Does it still ring if you remove the front part of the NTE?

Didnt think of that! I'll try tonight if I get a chance when I go around.