ADSL broadband line drops out - is fibre optic better?

Will_d

espresso wrote: »

You should check that the Blue/White on 2 and the White/Blue on 5 are connected securely and remove the Orange/White from 3 which is redundant. Note that the conductor inside the PVC insulation is a single core tinned copper wire, which can sometimes break at the point of connection to the socket terminal.

Thanks for that. I'll attempt to carry out this check later on this evening.

Fingers crossed I don't break it.

penrhyn

The odd thing is that despite the electronics in the socket being that of a Master, the fact that it has three wires connecting to it means that it is being used as an extension, the master socket must be elsewhere.

kwikbreaks

Will_d wrote: »

Fingers crossed I don't break it.

There is a proper tool for pushing the wire into the jaws in the connector block. Don't be tempted to push it in with any metal tool or you'll mess up the connector blade. At a pinch you could probably get away with pushing it in using a credit card.

Where do the wires in the connectors actually go to? Are they just long lengths of wire that come out of the black insulated wire we can see in the picture.

penrhyn

Indeed its a Krone Tool, I liberated one from work when I retired!

Cheap plastic ones are obtainable.

Will_d

penrhyn wrote: »

The odd thing is that despite the electronics in the socket being that of a Master, the fact that it has three wires connecting to it means that it is being used as an extension, the master socket must be elsewhere.

It used to be my grandparents' house, and at various stages (decades ago) the downstairs phone was in a cubbyhole under the stairs and then in the kitchen. How, when and why the phone (and 'master' socket) ended up in the bay window of the living room are questions I can't answer.

But, yes, it would appear that the present master socket may not be the original master socket.

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Where do the wires in the connectors actually go to? Are they just long lengths of wire that come out of the black insulated wire we can see in the picture.

As for the wires behind the faceplate, I'm not sure where they go or even what they're for. The cables in the first picture, if that's what you're referring to, lead to the phone and modem respectively.

I don't have the implement you've both described but my cousin is an electrician, so I'll ask him.

macman

Trace the circuit back to the actual master socket. That's what you should be connecting your router to, and testing from.

kwikbreaks

I was just asking about the wires that are pushed into the connectors. In the picture they just disappear in the bottom of the mounting box and I wanted to know if they were indeed the wires in the black cable that is visible or if there is more there than the picture is showing.

It could be that someone is using an old master as an extension socket or it could be they just moved it - without knowing what wires there are there it difficult to be sure.

Will_d

macman wrote: »

Trace the circuit back to the actual master socket. That's what you should be connecting your router to, and testing from.

I'm afraid I don't know where the original master socket is. It's definitely not in the kitchen and the cubbyhole under the stairs is virtually inaccessible.

However, hopefully my cousin will come round this evening to test the fixedness of the wires. If need be, I'm prepared to call out a telephony engineer to get to the bottom of this.

Obviously, I'm glad that the connection has improved dramatically since opening up the phone socket, but I'm equally frustrated that the underlying problem remains elusive.