Has BT Engineer installed VDSL plate correctly

Couple of weeks ago my broadband sync speed dropped off a cliff with the bad weather, its gradually got better again tho in the time it took the engineer to come out

The engineer replaced my NTE5 (was an orginal british telcom model) and tidied up the internal wiring. The noise that was present previously on the line had disappeared and it passed a 'Fast Test'

He also fitted an infinity style faceplate over the NTE5 to filter the ADSL signal.

Where he has installed this rather than connect the drop wire to the A B terminals of the NTE5 he has punched it down into the IDC internal output of the VDSL faceplate.

Is this correct ? Will it cause any issues bypassing the surge arrestor etc in the NTE5

My sync speed has increated from around 5 to 6.5 so it has made a difference

Yes it is wrong, and it means that if your ISP asks you to plug in to the test socket, you can, but nothing will happen!

Which pins has he punched down to? Than could give you problems as the filter is then not in circuit.

As for bypassing the Surge arrester - depends on which IDC pins he used.

On the VDSL faceplate there are two IDC's which I gather are for connecting non filtered extensions to (so effectively the filter is being fed backwards) - these are on the customer side

The test socket on the VDSL faceplate still works (I the direction the filter is fed from doesn't matter too much)

However I obviously can't remove the VDSL faceplate now as the NTE5 portion is just a backplate for it and not connected

The IDC pins are on the customer side of the NTE5 & vDSL faceplate, my understanding is the surge arrestor etc is on BT's side via the screw terminals on the rear of it. Effectively the engineer has fed everything from the customer pins on the faceplate

If your last sentence is what they have actually done, then it sounds wrong.

Photos are probably better than words to let people figure it out

From what you are saying there is nothing connected to the A and B on the back of the NTE5

Hi

That is exactly what has been done

As mentioned, photo's of it all pulled gently apart would be very helpful. Are you sure that the drop wire you see as terminated on the front, isn't an external extension ? Have seen some dumb things in my time, but not realising that the incoming pair goes on the rear screws/IDC terminations (dependant on the age of the NTE backplate) is evidence of an engineer in need of some serious 'coaching'.

another example of FTTC SSFP being fitted on an ADSL line ?

I took it all apart yesterday and redid it. Do have some pics if you want to look.

There are no internal extensions the engineer literally replaced the existing junction box and NTE5 with an NTE5 & faceplate

I get the impression that BT are automatically fitting the vDSL faceplate now whenever dealing with a ADSL/Telephony issue.

I'm still getting noise on the line (Hiss) with the ADSL router connected - if I 'double filter it' using a plugin microfilter aswell as the faceplate it does get quiter. I suspect there is a HR fault on the line that the engineer did not pickup yesterday or the router is faulty.

Will no doubt have to dive through O2's hoops for that now for a couple of weeks.

The 'VDSL SSFP' is all that is issued these days. I suspect they are cheaper than the old faceplates, so one (cheap) product fits all. Ideal too for the imminent arrival of self install, due to the notch out at the bottom allowing it to be fitted without dissing of existing internal extension wiring.

I'm still getting noise on the line (Hiss) with the ADSL router connected - if I 'double filter it' using a plugin microfilter aswell as the faceplate it does get quiter. I suspect there is a HR fault on the line that the engineer did not pickup yesterday or the router is faulty.

Sounds like a correct diagnosis to me.

Will no doubt have to dive through O2's hoops for that now for a couple of weeks.

Are O2 able to run a CIDT test to your kit from theirs ? This might help identify the HR as being there.