Slow Internet

[Johnmelad]

Am not getting a lot of speed on my broadband. Have uploaded a couple of pictures of the BT box where the cable enters the property.

Can I get BT to change this at their cost? If not can I get a box and DIY it?

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• Johnmelad
• 15 Feb 2013
• 1

As you can see only the White and orange cables are attached at two screw down terminals.

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• Johnmelad
• 15 Feb 2013
• 1

 

[sparkymarka]

thats correct what was you expecting ?

 

[Spark123]

What speed are you getting? Have a look at the uswitch website and see what others are getting in your area.
Also remember - the kids are off school this week so the X-Box's will be killing the internet speed!

 

[xr4x4]

Looks fine to me, I'm guessing that's the only socket on the line?

 

[kbdiy]

Any kinks/sharp bends in the cable? The pics don't show anything untoward.

 

[Click4]

Getting BT to change the master socket above for one of the newer NTE5 boxes is said to give a very slight improvement.

The newer boxes with the bell wire filter have the BT openreach logo, rather than the old BT logo.

 

[Whitey012001]

I've had Internet speed issues in the past. You might be able to get BT to replace the main socket but as far as they are concerned they support everything up to the house including the cable. The master socket and internal wiring is your responsibility.

If you are a BT customer you could try and ask them to come and sort it, but they will probably charge you. I was will plusnet, they wanted to charge but I threatened to leave and they sent someone for free.

With regards to speed, have you unplugged everything from your network and plugged your router directly to master socket and monitored for several days? Changed the Microfilter? That's what BT will get you to do. I never got it sorted so signed up with virginmedia and now get 30mb fibre optic broadband!!!!

 

[devbias]

What is contention ratio like.
To find this out run a test on BT speed tester one at peak time 8pm at night and one at off peak time say 6am. You may find a massive difference between the two speeds. This can be where you can fight BT as the of com guide is an average of 2meg for an 8meg line but if your getting 8meg all through the small hours you could get nothing through the peak hours and still have a average of 4meg.
If this happens you can blow the average speed agreement out of the water as the contention ratio is to high on your exchange as having less than 1meg for all of the peak hours is unacceptable.

In this instance you have to produce the data from BT speediest but when you do it's possible to get a new virtual port added to ease contention at your exchange. Good look update us with your speed test results

 

[SimonH2]

The master socket and internal wiring is your responsibility.

No, the master socket is BT's and the customer is not allowed to tamper with it. Everything after the master socket is the customer's responsibility.

 

[Monkeh]

Start by getting rid of that stupid flat cable you're using.

And get BT to come out and properly install their master socket.

 

[ajstoneservices]

I had a similar problem and bt wanted £170 for open reach to come because they ran a check at their end and said it was fine.
I told them we would be cancelling our contract then because it was anything but but fine our end.
The openreach guy found a faulty external connection which he repaired and while here he replaced the master socket.

 

[SimonH2]

Try a "silence test".
There's an engineering code (which I forget now) you can dial which just turns off the dial tone and leaves the line silent. You should hear just .... silence.
Sometimes you can hear some hissing/warbling which varies with ADSL activity - especially try turning the ADSL router/modem off and on again while you listen. If you can hear anything of the ADSL signal then report that you have a noisy line and can hear the ADSL working - then you'll find someone will come out.
What happens is that joints degrade over time, and you can end up with a bad joint that acts like a diode. This then becomes like the crystal in an old crystal and whisker AM radio - demodulating the ADSL signal partially and imposing it on the audio. It wreaks havoc on the ADSL.

Another one we've had with a couple of customers at work is if there's been any sort of fault, then the exchange equipment can throttle back the sync speed to try and stabilise the connection. Sometimes the system "gets stuck" and doesn't automatically ramp the speed back up again - and you need to get your ISP to ask BT Openreach to reset the system. There's usually a palaver and they won't do this without you going through all the tests - unplug the modem, stand on your left leg, hop round three turns, and plug the modem back in (OK, so I exaggerate, but that's how it feels sometimes ).

 

[Sureitsoff?]

re the "silence test"
Quiet Line Test

Unplug any extention phones, extention cables, answer machines or fax (anything except the phone you will use to do the test!).

Plug a normal touch tone phone directly into the BT master socket.

Dial 17070, press option 2 (quiet line test)

You should hear 'Quiet Line Test' and then silence, there should be no pops, clicks, whistles, buzzing etc. If there is noise on the line, make sure it's not your phones connection to the socket (wiggle it about a bit) and that you are using the master socket. If you are sure its the line making the noise then dial BT and report the fault, they should be able to sort it out. Remember that 'mis-reporting' a fault (e.g. if it turns out to be your phone, extention cord etc.) may be charged a call-out fee by BT .