Poor Extension Wiring

Bear with me.

I live in a three bedroom semi with loft conversion (4 beds in total). All of my computer, XBox equipment is in the loft.

I have located the master socket (lounge, ground floor) and have taken the bell wire out. There are 4 extension sockets around the house, one of which is in the loft.

I had connected my router to the loft extension and was getting speeds of around 4 meg which was fine. However, recently, the connection speed dropped to 2 meg for no obvious reason. I therefore popped the router downstairs to the master socket and plugged it directly in. Stats were:

Connection Speed - 7136
Line Attenuation - 15.0
SNR - 5.9

Back in the loft they were:

Connection Speed - 2368
Line Attenutation - 34.0
SNR - 6.4

So, I assume that the extension wiring in the house is absolutely awful. I have removed the bell wire and the redundant wires from the extensions around the house but this made no real difference to the loft connection speed. I dont have enough filters for all of the extension sockets in the house but would this make a difference?

If I plug the router into the lounge socket permanently, the wireless signal in the loft is poor and drops a little. I think that my options are therefore:

1. Fiddle with the extension wiring some more - any suggestions?; or
2. Use a powerline solution for the loft and place the router in the lounge.

Any hints, tips or advice?

That seems to be a dramatic drop between using test socket and using normally.

You only need filters if phone kit is plugged in. i.e. no point placing a filter at an extension if nothing is plugged into it.

Any chance of links to photos of the wiring in the master and extension sockets?

Perhaps a faulty filter or split pairs?

I could get some pics of the wiring later - it's a mess.

The extensions around the house (aside from the loft) have two spurs in each socket although the loft (which was added later than the original extensions) only has one spur.

I'd start by looking for the cause of the excessive attenuation. Check that pins 2 and 5 are wired correctly on each socket. Is the attenuation on the test socket and with the faceplate plugged in identical?. If so, I suspect a break or disconnection on the extension wiring.


You only need filters where equipment is plugged in to a socket

In reply to a post by alwall:

I'd start by looking for the cause of the excessive attenuation. Check that pins 2 and 5 are wired correctly on each socket. Is the attenuation on the test socket and with the faceplate plugged in identical?. If so, I suspect a break or disconnection on the extension wiring.


You only need filters where equipment is plugged in to a socket

Good point. I didn't notice the attenuation difference.

Plugged directly into the master socket behind the faceplate the stats are:

7616
14
8.2

Pics of wiring to follow!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/EDOlZdfxFld1Wq...

Wiring in the master socket. I'll get some pics of two of the extensions too.

You have a good line coming into the house (maximum stats for a standard ADSL interleaved line).

Try to get extension photos such that the wires connected to each terminal are clear. That allows much easier diagnosis by those that understand the wiring (not me!).

Interesting - 4 extensions and only one pair connected to the extension connection point on the master.

How are the extensions cabled up from the master? Are they daisy chained?

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/OaudNnNnG7sMLl...

One of the extensions.

The other extension in one of the bedrooms has three cables - I presume they have added the third laterly and run it up into the loft when the previous owners built the loft extension.

The other extensions are like the one picture and only have two cables.

Edit - Aside from the loft extension I should have said - that only has one cable.

Edited by deleted (Wed 18-May-11 12:04:54)