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has anyone tryed this?improving broardband speed

symy@nufc
Posts: 295 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
just seen this has anyone tried it?
Improving your BT Line based Broadband Speed (United Kingdom)
This cure works whether you have Linux, Mac or Windows!
Modification of this type to your extension wiring is quite legal in the UK.
May 2007:

For the last few years I have had broadband based on a BT phone line. First with AOL silver (1 meg) then BT Total option 1 ("up to 8 meg").
When I went to BT Total, they supplied intelligent modems (BT 220V was provided, then I obtained a BT Home Hub from ebay. Modem intelligence means that the modems listen to the connection and determine the fastest stable speed that the exchange is happy with. The Home Hub is notoriously conservative. The alternative to managing the speed is an unstable connection which is what I got with AOL 1meg. Although I live 3 miles from the exchange and the line is rated at 1.5meg at that distance, with intelligent modems the stabilised speed always settled down to approximately 500k (half a meg). I was not happy - Not because I noticed any real slowness, because i'm not a gamer or video streamer, but it was just the principle of the thing - I paid for 8 but got only 0.5!
Part of the advice from BT is to test the modem with all the house extension cabling unplugged, with the modem in the master socket for 3 days - rather difficult without a wireless modem. This would prove that the internal wiring was indeed at fault. However neither BT nor AOL ever gave the reason for their preference for their customers to work at the bottom of the stairs where the master socket invariably lives, instead of in a sensible room. Indeed I believe it has contributed to the popularity of unnecessary wireless modems.
THE FOLLOWING CURE LIFTED MY BROADBAND SPEED FROM 461K TO 2.8MEG - SIX TIMES THE SPEED!!
Some web research I did (Google) came up with the theory that the "bell-wire" is the cause. Now the Bell Wire is the third wire (orange/white: terminal 3) used in the standard BT wiring that was introduced in the 1970's when DIY extensions became legal, and BT relaxed their monopoly on supply of phones.
From under the road or along a telegraph pole, your house is served by just TWO wires. This third "bell-wire" is generated by the BT master socket and enables actual bells on old type phones to ring using the 50 volt AC ringer signal. Modern phones have electronic ringers which do not need the bell wire. Leaving the bell wire in place creates a huge long antenna which picks up radio frequency (RF) interference all over the house. The two conductors that carry the voice and DSL signals are a "twisted pair" which carry current in opposite directions (from master socket to extension socket and back again) so the RF interference cancels itself out. The unpaired bell-wire cannot cancel out the RF.
There is also another redundant (white/orange; terminal 4) wire which has never been used by BT on simple domestic wiring. Similarly if you have 6 wire cable with a pair of green/white conductors. On standard domestic phone with broadband and ADSL filters you don't need any wires apart from the two main conductors, blue/white and white/blue on 2 and 5.
The cure is to disconnect all wires in terminals 3 and 4 at all extensions, and more especially at the master socket. This is because the bellwire will direct RF through the ringer capacitor to the BT B line. Capacitors have lower impedance for higher frequencies and pass high frequency interference straight through.
If you have the removable faceplate master socket now provided by BT, disconnect the wire(s) from the removable part. You are not allowed to fiddle with the wires in the fixed part of the master socket.
Leave just TWO WORKING CONDUCTORS on terminals 2 and 5, (white/blue and blue/white.)
If you, like me, have an old GPO phone with a bell, the ADSL filters incorporate a ringer capacitor so it will still ring. Modern phones don't need it anyway.
Master Socket (diagrams courtesy WPP)
See how the bell-wire on terminal 3 connects to BT "B" via the 1.8 mf capacitor which has a low impedence to higher frequencies.
Standard domestic BT wiring - Disconnect wires at X.
DISCONNECT ORANGE CABLES ON TERMINALS 3 AND 4!!
ONLY TERMINALS 2 AND 5 SHOULD BE USED.
That will reduce RF interference to a minimum and increase your stabilised throughput speed. BT's response
It would seem that BT may be bringing out a new faceplate
Improving your BT Line based Broadband Speed (United Kingdom)
This cure works whether you have Linux, Mac or Windows!
Modification of this type to your extension wiring is quite legal in the UK.
May 2007:

For the last few years I have had broadband based on a BT phone line. First with AOL silver (1 meg) then BT Total option 1 ("up to 8 meg").
When I went to BT Total, they supplied intelligent modems (BT 220V was provided, then I obtained a BT Home Hub from ebay. Modem intelligence means that the modems listen to the connection and determine the fastest stable speed that the exchange is happy with. The Home Hub is notoriously conservative. The alternative to managing the speed is an unstable connection which is what I got with AOL 1meg. Although I live 3 miles from the exchange and the line is rated at 1.5meg at that distance, with intelligent modems the stabilised speed always settled down to approximately 500k (half a meg). I was not happy - Not because I noticed any real slowness, because i'm not a gamer or video streamer, but it was just the principle of the thing - I paid for 8 but got only 0.5!
Part of the advice from BT is to test the modem with all the house extension cabling unplugged, with the modem in the master socket for 3 days - rather difficult without a wireless modem. This would prove that the internal wiring was indeed at fault. However neither BT nor AOL ever gave the reason for their preference for their customers to work at the bottom of the stairs where the master socket invariably lives, instead of in a sensible room. Indeed I believe it has contributed to the popularity of unnecessary wireless modems.
THE FOLLOWING CURE LIFTED MY BROADBAND SPEED FROM 461K TO 2.8MEG - SIX TIMES THE SPEED!!
Some web research I did (Google) came up with the theory that the "bell-wire" is the cause. Now the Bell Wire is the third wire (orange/white: terminal 3) used in the standard BT wiring that was introduced in the 1970's when DIY extensions became legal, and BT relaxed their monopoly on supply of phones.
From under the road or along a telegraph pole, your house is served by just TWO wires. This third "bell-wire" is generated by the BT master socket and enables actual bells on old type phones to ring using the 50 volt AC ringer signal. Modern phones have electronic ringers which do not need the bell wire. Leaving the bell wire in place creates a huge long antenna which picks up radio frequency (RF) interference all over the house. The two conductors that carry the voice and DSL signals are a "twisted pair" which carry current in opposite directions (from master socket to extension socket and back again) so the RF interference cancels itself out. The unpaired bell-wire cannot cancel out the RF.
There is also another redundant (white/orange; terminal 4) wire which has never been used by BT on simple domestic wiring. Similarly if you have 6 wire cable with a pair of green/white conductors. On standard domestic phone with broadband and ADSL filters you don't need any wires apart from the two main conductors, blue/white and white/blue on 2 and 5.
The cure is to disconnect all wires in terminals 3 and 4 at all extensions, and more especially at the master socket. This is because the bellwire will direct RF through the ringer capacitor to the BT B line. Capacitors have lower impedance for higher frequencies and pass high frequency interference straight through.
If you have the removable faceplate master socket now provided by BT, disconnect the wire(s) from the removable part. You are not allowed to fiddle with the wires in the fixed part of the master socket.
Leave just TWO WORKING CONDUCTORS on terminals 2 and 5, (white/blue and blue/white.)
If you, like me, have an old GPO phone with a bell, the ADSL filters incorporate a ringer capacitor so it will still ring. Modern phones don't need it anyway.
Master Socket (diagrams courtesy WPP)
See how the bell-wire on terminal 3 connects to BT "B" via the 1.8 mf capacitor which has a low impedence to higher frequencies.

Standard domestic BT wiring - Disconnect wires at X.

ONLY TERMINALS 2 AND 5 SHOULD BE USED.
That will reduce RF interference to a minimum and increase your stabilised throughput speed. BT's response
It would seem that BT may be bringing out a new faceplate
dont drink and drive:beer: :beer:
come on the toon!!
come on the toon!!
0
Comments
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Mess with the Master socket and you will end up paying for it if you end up causing yourself problems. You should never touch the master socket and you should certainly never tamper with the wiring in it.0
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Not to mention that the explanation above doesn't make sense - if the 'bell wire' is hooked up in the master socket, there is no chance that it'll create "a huge RF antenna" as it'll be rather short in the first place and thus tuned to high frequency that are less likely to cause a problem in the first place as their penetration is not that great.
Oh, the cables from the junction box make a far better antenna because they're longer...0 -
A LOT of websites recommend doing the above and say it cuts out a lot of CRC errors! I was planning on doing it next weekend...[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]0 -
MercilessKiller wrote: »A LOT of websites recommend doing the above and say it cuts out a lot of CRC errors! I was planning on doing it next weekend...
Indeed they do, and it does work.0 -
Well I've been getting loads of CRC errors on my router so will definitely give it a try. Its been well recommended on the sky user forums anyway.
There are lots of known problems fixed by this, but none created...
Its jsut you gotta be SO careful when doing it. I'll be using tweezers to pull out the wire for example as indeed if something went wrong, tis costly.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]0 -
can you let us know if it works?dont drink and drive:beer: :beer:
come on the toon!!0 -
This most definately works. If your broadband is getting a lower syncronisation speed than BT state your line will support then it is most likely due to internal extensions to the line.
It is not true that you should never touch the master socket (NTE5). You are allowed to remove the lower panel and change wiring from the panel to extensions etc. You are not however allowed to tamper with other wiring behind this/in the top part of the socket/heading into the top part of the socket as it is owned by BT.
If you remove the lower plate you will see a standard BT socket inside (to the right) into which you can plug you broadband connection for testing. When you are connecting in this way no extensions are connected and it is very likely that you will get a higher broadband syncronisation speed.
When I first did this my broadband sync went from around 256k (IP profile of 130Kbps) to 3002k immediately (IP Profile increased to 2.5Mbps after a few days).
(BT had always reported that the line would support up to 3Mbps).
The next step after doing this test is to disconnect the unnecessary wires as stated in the first post. It may also be worth replacing the lower panel with one which includes an ADSL filter for best results.0 -
Yup, sure does work. Slightly easier howto - http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php“I look like Spiderman at a funeral”~ Karl Pilkington0
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I am on a line that I have been told will support a MAXIMUM of 5MB. I got my broadband installed by an engineer way back when BTinternet were first BETA testing. Back then I was getting the 512Kbs service then I got to test the 1MB service. A year later they asked if I would let them put me on a MAX speed trial. All this meant was BT would crank up speeds every day by 512 and then I had to let them know If I could sync. I managed to get 4.8 max.
2 Weeks later BT came out and re-fitted my master socket with a newer type that has some sort of internal circuit board. I could then sync at 6 MB no problem. After the test I was reduced to the 1MB service I was paying for.
2 years after that because of prices I left and went to Easynet LLU. My modem can sync at 12886kbs but I reduce it to 11240kbps to maintain a steady connection when the network is busy so basically I can get 12Mb on my line. My only problem is I want to go to Sky but they have said because my line says it will only support 5MB then thats what they will cap it to. they wont try and cap it at the 12Mb easynet do even though they are the same company.0 -
Not to mention that the explanation above doesn't make sense - if the 'bell wire' is hooked up in the master socket, there is no chance that it'll create "a huge RF antenna" as it'll be rather short in the first place and thus tuned to high frequency that are less likely to cause a problem in the first place as their penetration is not that great.
Oh, the cables from the junction box make a far better antenna because they're longer...
Actually it you who does not understand the explanation. If you can be bothered to read this thread from a couple of months ago, starting at post #1046 by harryhound following my suggestions. You will see that a small improvement in his signal to noise ratio, has resulted in a speed improvement of approximately 38% by post #1081. This improvement was simply due to disconnecting the imbalanced bell wire from pin 3.
:rolleyes::doh: Blue text on this forum usually signifies hyperlinks, so click on them!..:wall:0
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