What the hell is this?

Devrij · 23 May 2012 at 12:57

As you can see, the noise on my line is quite high, so I'm thinking if it's the filter letting noise from the phone line through then I could squeeze more out of it by replacing the filter. I can't test my theory though because it's integrated into my broadband cable :confused:

I know the filter is knackered though because my line drops out for 5 mins every time someone rings the house phone and again when they hang up.

Well, I know what it is, but what is this type of broadband filter called?

The cables broke last time I messed about with it so I'm very short on spare length (the whole thing is tacked to the skirting boards all the way to the router so I don't particularly want to redo the whole thing. I'm worried that if I buggered it up again that I'd be without internet and my missus works from home so that wouldn't make her very happy :/

I haven't checked, but presumably I could just replace that weird cable with a standard modem cable and plug that into a normal filter (we actually have a spare one of those with the modem and phone ports)? If so, is it worth getting a "super-duper amazing cable" for a run of about 5m to reduce attenuation or is it all bullpoop?

Thanks for your time!

demonix · 23 May 2012 at 13:11

I haven't seen a filter like that before as the filter I have is what you should get (plus that looks like a bodge job)

Also if your line isn't in the 10 day testing phase then you should be getting at least double the downstream speed you're currently getting with a 31.5dB line attenuation.

Azuse05 · 23 May 2012 at 13:17

Assuming that's an extension cable and master socket look up the XTE-2005 faceplate and a £2 IDC tool

PistolPete · 23 May 2012 at 13:21

Azuse05 said:
Assuming that's an extension cable and master socket look up the XTE-2005 faceplate and a £2 IDC tool

This x10. Will look neater and the filter is good quality.

PhillyDee · 23 May 2012 at 13:24

Thats not a broadband filter, its an extension of the type used by Sky when they install your box and assuming you have not got a phone line there.

Devrij · 23 May 2012 at 15:08

Azuse05 said:
Assuming that's an extension cable and master socket look up the XTE-2005 faceplate and a £2 IDC tool

That sounds cool, so would I just replace the extension cable with a normal modem cable then? Presumably I'd have to bin the cable that's there now as it's got no plug on the end of it to put into the faceplate?

PhillyDee said:
Thats not a broadband filter, its an extension of the type used by Sky when they install your box and assuming you have not got a phone line there.

Ah right, so it's just a way of avoiding having to wire up plugs all the time on their part?

So if I disconnect the phone from the plug and see if this thing will reach the master socket, should I see a reduction in noise or increase in downstream?

mp260767 · 23 May 2012 at 15:09

if you unscrew the bottom section of your socket there is there another socket behind it, if there is could run a cable from the router into it.

Devrij · 23 May 2012 at 15:11

demonix said:
I haven't seen a filter like that before as the filter I have is what you should get (plus that looks like a bodge job)

Also if your line isn't in the 10 day testing phase then you should be getting at least double the downstream speed you're currently getting with a 31.5dB line attenuation.

Nope, definitely not in testing stage. So with reduced noise do you guys think I would achieve significantly better downstream?

Devrij · 23 May 2012 at 15:13

mp260767 said:
if you unscrew the bottom section of your socket there is there another socket behind it, if there is could run a cable from the router into it.

Yeah, I'll have a go, but I'm not sure if that massive plug will reach the master socket, if that's what you're on about? I think I'll have to get a proper modem cable to test this with and scrap the extension lead.

Is it worth getting a decent modem cable from the router to socket?

mp260767 · 23 May 2012 at 15:14

Devrij said:
Nope, definitely not in testing stage. So with reduced noise do you guys think I would achieve significantly better downstream?

you might not straight away, if you manage to work it and the noise reduces etc might be worth speaking to your isp as the downspeed might not pick up without a little kick, due to it having set it self up as it is due to the "poor" line quality.

Devrij said:
Yeah, I'll have a go, but I'm not sure if that massive plug will reach the master socket, if that's what you're on about? I think I'll have to get a proper modem cable to test this with and scrap the extension lead.

Is it worth getting a decent modem cable from the router to socket?

looking at the shape/size of it, you should be ok.

would be worth getting decent quality cable definately.

Devrij · 23 May 2012 at 15:24

Update!

I investigated a bit and found closer to the router was another of those extension plugs, which was then wired into your typical filter with the modem connected as well as the sky box.

I must say, it was a lot of cabling so I wonder how much attenuation was added by what must've been 10m of cheap cabling from socket to router with 3 different joins to go through. Or would it be negligible?

So, if I plugged a filter into the plug that currently sits in the faceplate and ran the phone through that, would it help? (EDIT: it did fix the connection dropping during phonecalls, noise margin has gone up to 9.9) The whole thing is a mess of a job tbh.

mp260767 · 23 May 2012 at 15:54

any chance you can just plug the typical filter you found into the faceplate and connect to that ?

all those connections would definately not help

, let alone the poor quality of cable.

when you say sky box do you mean for TV ?, if you do leave it unplugged while your try the router.

MissChief · 23 May 2012 at 15:58

put the Router directly into the master socket with the filter BEFORE this extension. You should see a dramatic boost. It's a common thing for Sky TV to be installed either before broadband or someone is unaware that the filter and Router should be in the master socket. if you can't connect wired by moving the router look at homeplugs or go wireless.

Devrij · 23 May 2012 at 16:14

I removed the sky box from the filter because I'm pretty sure it's not necessary.

So now it goes: router - filter - extension socket - cable - extension socket (with filtered phone also connected) - faceplate.

I can't move the router closer to plug it directly into the faceplate, but I could replace the "socket - cable - socket" bit with a longer modem lead, which would then allow me to put in the filtered faceplate that was suggested earlier.

MissChief · 23 May 2012 at 19:12

Ideally you want to have as short a run of any cable other then ethernet. That's why the Router should be in the master socket.

mp260767 · 23 May 2012 at 22:55

Devrij said:
So now it goes: router - filter - extension socket - cable - extension socket (with filtered phone also connected) - faceplate.

unless i've missed something that should be router - cable - extension socket - cable - filter - faceplate

as mentioned try to get the router as close to the socket as possible and keep the cable from socket to router as short as possible.

Tealc · 24 May 2012 at 09:37

I've seen massive increases from a few threads on here when they've removed their extension wiring from the equation. The best way to test this out is by removing the bottom part of your BT master socket and plugging your modem directly into the test socket. You should see a rise in Noise Margin or it will just connect faster if there is a problem with your extensions.

Ideally your modem will be sited right next to the master socket with as short a modem lead as possible. Even a few metres of flat modem lead will attenuate your signal so if you must have a long modem lead then make sure it's a proper twisted pair lead, such as Cat5e or CW1308.

demonix · 24 May 2012 at 13:35

Devrij said:
Nope, definitely not in testing stage. So with reduced noise do you guys think I would achieve significantly better downstream?

I was actually saying that with a line attenuation of 31.5dB you should be getting more then around 6Mb/s on the downstream side (I have the same line attenuation although I have a slightly lower noise margin and my downstream speed shows at just under 12Mb/s even though all the speed tests I've done shows my speed as around 10.5Mb/s).

Also the modem/router should be connected to the master socket and no splitters should be connected before the filter (so the splitter that you have connected to the master socket should be connected to the phone socket on the filter (if you can since it might cover the other socket) and the modem/router in the other).

If you can get a longer lead for going between the filter and the modem/router then it might be possible, but it might affect the speed (also you should call sky to get them to give the line a kick so to say so it can settle back to the speed I suspect your line can handle).