Slow ADSL. Microfilters?

[oilman]

I have been using a router to connect to ADSL for a couple of years. If I take it to a friends house on another exchange, I get the same connection speed as his kit, around 2.5M downstream.

On my line I get today 160k!!!!! This is worse than yesterday which was 224k. I have just reset the connection as suggested by Demon.

Do the microfilters have any effect on this? Filters here claim to offer improved performance, but with all filters I have tried, I have seen no difference.

Is there any common speed problem around?

The computer is a G5 Mac running OSX 10.4

 

[TheOriginalTonkaToy]

If you think your microfilters are to blame, disconnect them all and see if the speed improves. If it does, replace them one at a time until the problem comes back, and that'll be the faulty one.

All microfilters do is remove the high frequency ADSL signal from the phone line so that phones work without interference.

 

[Softus]

oilman, does your router provide attenuation and SNR figures? If so, what are values at the moment?

Physical factors to consider are:

1. Quality of termination at the telephone sockets.
2. Quality of line between exchange and your house.
3. Distance from exchange to your house.
4. Any 'dead leg' extensions inside the house.

An experiment worth doing is to take a known good microfilter (e.g. from your friends house) and connect that at the master socket, with all other extensions disconnected. If you still get a low bit rate then the problem is upstream of your master socket, and you can ask the ISP to get BT in to fault-find it.

If you get a high bit rate at the master socket, then re-attach extensions one by one until it degrades.
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BTW, @ the other poster, microfilters are two-fold - to provide a clean ADSL signal and to crackle-free telephony.

 

[TheOriginalTonkaToy]

Nothing to do with crackles at all. Microfilters prevent the high frequency ADSL signal from interfering with voice telephony. Yes they do also prevent handsets from degrading the ADSL line too which is why I suggested that the OP remove all microfilters, leaving only the ADSL equipment connected and test to see if the speed improves.

 

[Softus]

Nothing to do with crackles at all. Microfilters prevent the high frequency ADSL signal from interfering with voice telephony.

OK. Please define the nature and effect of that interference. Is it audible? If not, then how does it interfere? If it is, then what does it sound like?

Yes they do also prevent handsets from degrading the ADSL line too

I know they do - I already pointed that out to you.

...which is why I suggested that the OP remove all microfilters, leaving only the ADSL equipment connected and test to see if the speed improves.

That isn't a very useful experiment.

 

[disinfo]

As already stated, remove all of your extentions and test in the master socket. To disconnect the extentions take the two screws out of your NTE5 master box and pull off the face plate, plug your router / modem into the exposed socket.

Other things you can look into (google) are;

disconnecting the ring wire

replacing the cable between your drop line and master socket with Cat 6 cable (naughty, but ok if you do it properly)

 

[TheOriginalTonkaToy]

Nothing to do with crackles at all. Microfilters prevent the high frequency ADSL signal from interfering with voice telephony.

OK. Please define the nature and effect of that interference. Is it audible? If not, then how does it interfere? If it is, then what does it sound like?

High frequency noise. Not crackles. Give it a listen yourself.

Yes they do also prevent handsets from degrading the ADSL line too

I know they do - I already pointed that out to you.

You pointed nothing out that I didn't already know.

...which is why I suggested that the OP remove all microfilters, leaving only the ADSL equipment connected and test to see if the speed improves.

That isn't a very useful experiment.

Tosh. If there's a faulty microfilter then the connection speed will improve when they are disconnected. Reintroducing them one at a time will show which, if any is faulty. It's a simple test that eliminates ONE factor, i.e microfilters. After you've eliminated ONE factor, you start to eliminate others.

Mind you, with some 18 years of IT experience, much of it in networking and some 10 years of electronics R&D before that, what would I know eh?

Don't bother replying because I'm not going to argue with you.

 

[TheOriginalTonkaToy]

And I apologise to the OP for the thread deteriorating in this way. I hope you get your problem sorted quickly

 

[oilman]

No problem. The speed has risen to 320k downstream (after rebooting the router), and tomorrow I will connect to the master socket and see what happens.

 

[Softus]

High frequency noise. Not crackles.

In that case you've heard the ADSL signal, not any interference. Well done.

You pointed nothing out that I didn't already know.

Well in that case I don't know why you told me something that I already knew.

That isn't a very useful experiment.

Tosh.

That's another word for 'not a very useful experiment', I suppose, so I'm happy to regard your idea as "tosh".

If there's a faulty microfilter then the connection speed will improve when they are disconnected.

There isn't a faulty microfilter in my experiment, because I stipulated a "known good microfilter". You need to read words and understand them.

Reintroducing them one at a time will show which, if any is faulty. It's a simple test that eliminates ONE factor, i.e microfilters. After you've eliminated ONE factor, you start to eliminate others.

If you prefer to go about it the long way, then yes, but there are quicker and simpler ways.

Mind you, with some 18 years of IT experience, much of it in networking and some 10 years of electronics R&D before that, what would I know eh?

Well, since you ask, and since you want to measure knowledge by years of experience, then you must know less than I do. However, although I have more years in the industry than you, I've never felt the need to parade it front of someone with whom I'm claiming not to be arguing.

 

[Igorian]

As Softus said, posting the signal details would provide a good starting point. Most routers will provide these details on the DSL status page.

There are a lot of ropey filters out there though.