Would a shortwave mast stop my broadband connection

1jim

Hi
Half of my street has been without broadband for around 6weeks, we have had the BT guys out today who confirm that we are net getting the signal to our house but say that they can not find a fault onthe line, they noticed that someone had a shortwave mast on their roof and wondered if this was causing the interuption of to the broadband signal, now I must admit that i am sceptical as he has had the mast there for the last 5years and we have been on broadband for 18mths without any problems (i guess it may be a new mast or he may have changed the gubbins), anyway could this cause half the street to lose broadband or am i being fobbed off
thanks
jim

Zahc

I think you've answered your own question there. A short wave mast would not interfere with the cabled broadband. It might conceivably mess up a wireless network depending on the frequencies transmitted from the aerial (mast), but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't mess up the signal going to your BT plug. If you're being charged for BB and not getting it it's time to bang on some tables.
To be sure, why don't you go to the person with the mast and ask him for his freq range and to turn it off whilst you all check and see if your BB appears? I wouldn't hold my breath though:rolleyes:

1jim

I know, have banged on some desks, contacted ceo of bt, hence the engineers visiting today!!!!
the engineers said that they have known somones freeview box stop a whole block of flats broadband connection, seemed bizarre to me but i dont really know about this, they are sending out a speicialist broadband person tomorrow to give a definative verdict,
I do have wireless router but the bt men said that the connection is ok on the street but not being diverted into the homes (half the street is affected, the other half not (our street is like a "T" shape, the horizontal part is ok, the vertical part does not have broadband, the vertical part has 2 cables apparently <one for each side of the street> and both are affected), the mast is in the midle of the horizontal bar
I cant see the mast man turning it off....... however now that the BT men have said its his fault I can forsee a lynch mob

superscaper

1jim wrote:

the engineers said that they have known somones freeview box stop a whole block of flats broadband connection,

Absolute rubbish. The freeview box would have to be directly connected to the phone line and even then I don't see how it would even be possible.

I do have wireless router but the bt men said that the connection is ok on the street but not being diverted into the homes (half the street is affected, the other half not (our street is like a "T" shape, the horizontal part is ok, the vertical part does not have broadband, the vertical part has 2 cables apparently <one for each side of the street> and both are affected), the mast is in the midle of the horizontal bar
I cant see the mast man turning it off....... however now that the BT men have said its his fault I can forsee a lynch mob

The mast would have nothing to do with it, again just not possible. My specialty isn't in telecommunications but there would be no way the mast could interfere with cable even without shielding.

john_kent

Do you have cable TV in your area.

I lost my ADSL for 6 weeks and in the end , the "specialist" calime dit was becaus the underground phonelines were too near the Cable lines. Cant see it as one is copper and one fibreoptic.

Both sets of engineers argued, one went red faced and then my and my neibours ADSL was restored.

superscaper

john_kent wrote:

Do you have cable TV in your area.

I lost my ADSL for 6 weeks and in the end , the "specialist" calime dit was becaus the underground phonelines were too near the Cable lines. Cant see it as one is copper and one fibreoptic.

LOL, can't believe some of these people call themselves engineers.

john_kent

I do home PC support so could immediatley diognose that the fault was outside the home.

A customer of minehad a brand new out the box DELL and ordered Wanadoo Broadband. It tok 6 months of arguing between m and BT/Wanadoo that the fault was outsid ethe home. In the end , I paid for Bt Wholesale to send an enginner to this guys house. £150 call out and £150 if fault was within the house.

He plugged his tester into the main socket , looked at me and said. "The lines knackered outside in road"

I then bille dthem , complete with all relevant documentation for £1250 which they reluctantly paid.

redux

1jim wrote:

Half of my street has been without broadband for around 6weeks, we have had the BT guys out today who confirm that we are net getting the signal to our house but say that they can not find a fault onthe line, they noticed that someone had a shortwave mast on their roof and wondered if this was causing the interuption of to the broadband signal, now I must admit that i am sceptical as ...

I'm highly sceptical of this as well; it sounds total nonsense.

If you have had no broadband for 6 weeks, and your neighbour had been continually transmitting for that amount of time, he'd have died by now of lack of sleep.

The gear is inert when switched off, and would not be transmitting continually when in use. In fact some radio enthusiasts are listeners only, either to broadcast stations from around the world, or to utility stations or amateur radio, and receiving does not affect other equipment nearby.

Radio amateurs are careful to avoid interference to other users when transmitting, just as car ignition systems are suppressed to avoid causing radio noise, but even so the most likely problem to solve would be interference to your TV reception, which you would have noticed long ago, so clearly your neighbour has already avoided causing a nuisance if transmitting, or only receives anyway.

1jim

thanks for the replies guys, to be honest I was sceptical of the whole explanation but wanted to see if someone had any more knowledge than me on this as I wanted to be prepared for when this specialist broadband faults guy comes out today
to be honest I had no idea if the radio mast could disrupt the streets broadband connections (although it seemed a little unlikly) but as far as I am aware he has been using it for years and it has not caused a problem with the connections
thanks
Jim

1jim

john_kent wrote:

Do you have cable TV in your area.

I lost my ADSL for 6 weeks and in the end , the "specialist" calime dit was becaus the underground phonelines were too near the Cable lines. Cant see it as one is copper and one fibreoptic.

Both sets of engineers argued, one went red faced and then my and my neibours ADSL was restored.

Nope no cable in my area, we live in a village to far away for them to bother with

superscaper

1jim wrote:

thanks for the replies guys, to be honest I was sceptical of the whole explanation but wanted to see if someone had any more knowledge than me on this as I wanted to be prepared for when this specialist broadband faults guy comes out today
to be honest I had no idea if the radio mast could disrupt the streets broadband connections (although it seemed a little unlikly) but as far as I am aware he has been using it for years and it has not caused a problem with the connections
thanks
Jim

Well I'm no aerial specialist but I am an electronic engineer (should finish my doctorate soon) and I say it's a load of rubbish.