VDSL Faceplate Mk1 Vs Mk3

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Jez

Jez

Jez

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I am due to go live with a wires only FTTC service tomorrow (7th).

I currently have a self fitted Mk1 VDSL openreach filtered faceplate which i use with my ADSL2+, i found it an improvement over plug in filters at the time.

The question is, should i source and replace this Mk1 VDSL faceplate with a Mk3? I see that they are around £10 on eBay.

I am struggling to find out whether there is actually any difference technically and therefore whether i should bother.

If anybody has any practical experience of this, it would be interesting :)
 
There are minor internal differences. A Google image search will find comparison pictures.

I did look into this and the differences reported were either zero or so small they weren't worth worrying about or statistically significant.
 
The difference between the MK1 and MK2/3 is the addition of an RF filter to try to reduce effects of Repetative Electrical Impulse Noise (REIN). The MK3 improves on the filter a bit by adding a few extra turns of wire on the coil.

On my line, moving from a MK1 to a MK3 had no impact on sync speeds, but has reduced the number of "errored seconds" on my line, as I do suffer from some RF interference issues.

So, if you are suffering from radio interference on your line, a MK3 may be worth investing in. If not, I wouldn't bother.
 
Hi guys, thanks for the replies, very useful :)

How is it best to monitor the significance of REIN and RF on my line? Are certain lines in certain conditions unduly affected on a consistent basis?
 
If your line is stable and you are not getting disconnections at particular times of day then probably you are OK.

To delve further, you would need to monitor the error rates on your line for 24 hours or more and look for spikes in error rates. You can also use a MW radio tuned to around 600 KHz to locate sources of interference near your router. If you see error spikes at the same time as your radio gives some popping or buzzing sounds then you have a REIN problem.

Probably best to go to one of the specialist Web sites that deal with broadband as there's a lot of material out there to explore, including software to allow continuous line monitoring graphs to be generated.

One big problem is that the standard BT modems won't allow you to monitor the line stats - so you need to install modified firmware to get them.

Overall, it's quite a lot of effort that's really only justified if you are getting significant problems, like periodic resyncs (as I was).
 
I already have a flashed HG612 which i will likely use once i go live so i can monitor the line if needs be.

Thanks kindly for the replies, very insightful and i will certainly not bother changing it for the time being in this case :)
 
An update to this; went live today and the line seems stable with an attainable rate of 92-93mbit down/26-27mbit up. This has exceeded all expectation considering my 500m loop to the cabinet.

Looks as though i will be leaving that Mk1 filter alone :)
 
I have a MK3 but not fitted it yet but most likey will tomorrow, I would be interested what the difference will be.
 
Are you moving from a Mk1? Did you have any specific reason for changing or were you like me? (I nearly bought one for the sake of it). :)
 
Phwoar, nice speed!

I'm on a stable 18/1 adsl2+ connection, fibre has just been enabled. But I've still got 11 months of free connection.

Can't be bothered to upgrade yet. I live 80 meters from the exchange :D
 
As stated, if you don't have sudden loss of sync or DLM kicking in then a Mk3 will do nothing for you over the Mk1.
 
bledd. said:
Phwoar, nice speed!

I'm on a stable 18/1 adsl2+ connection, fibre has just been enabled. But I've still got 11 months of free connection.

Can't be bothered to upgrade yet. I live 80 meters from the exchange :D
Click to expand...

Compared with the eternity of single figure rural high attenuation adsl indeed the bandwidth is ridiculous :)

Thanks guys, I will leave the mk1 alone then, it's not lost sync since it went live and all of the stats seem stable so I'd say it seems fine :)
 
Jez said:
Are you moving from a Mk1? Did you have any specific reason for changing or were you like me? (I nearly bought one for the sake of it). :)
Click to expand...

Moving from an MK2 to see if my snr goes up and it drops to 5db on the down when it used to be on 7db and higher recently. The mk3 is supposed to hand rein better
 
well my findings are far from good, I decided to put it on today and its screwed up my net. My noise downstream margin fluctuates from 3.4db to 6.6db within seconds so its now back to the MK2 and a call to sky so they can reset my DLM as I want my 38mb back.
 
Oh wow :(

This is surely a duff filter rather than a mk3 filters being bad thing though?

Edit: I am certainly leaving my Mk1 alone now. My 500m loop has held a full rate (80/20) sync solidly since install 7 days ago now (it has not dropped once). Dont touch what isnt broken etc :)
 
well I think I have really upset the cabinet as my speed has not come back up, sky contacted openreach and they allegedly remote reset the port... Well its not and still at 34mb :( The mk2 filter is staying on! just need to get an engineer to remote reset the port now to get my speed back, moral here is if its not broken dont mess with it.
 
Haha agreed. I wont be touching mine. Thanks for your replies to the topic and I hope you get yours sorted :)
 
Jez said:
Haha agreed. I wont be touching mine. Thanks for your replies to the topic and I hope you get yours sorted :)
Click to expand...


Engineer visit is set for saturday between 8 and 1 so my connection should be back to normal then. latency on uk games servers is now 60ms plus! interleaving has really thought there was a fault.
 
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