Is this down to my Internet provider?

AndyPix

You HAVE to make sure the problem doesnt exist within your own house wiring, as DOAM points out.


If it does, then openreach will charge you when they come out.


Unplug your computer and go and plug it all in near the master socket (the point where the line come into your house) .
Only then will you be able to determine if the problem is theirs, or yours.


Give up on this idea of contention causing this problem as a contention issue would NOT couse total drop outs.
First step for you : plug into the master socket and test the system.
If it works fine , you need your internal wiring sorting out (your extension to your study)
If the problem persists, then it is the extranal wiring to the CAB that is af fault, that is when you demand an engineer

System

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

But I have to have it off the second phone socket - as the main socket is in the hall by sitting room. But my computer is obviously in my study (which is at the side of the house further away from where line enters house).

DING DING DING we have a winner. I'd put money on that extension being the issue. Most of the time they are.

I had a computer for years in my last house that ran off the second phone socket with no problems.

At your last house with a different cable than the one you are currently using. You cannot use a completely physically separate installation as proof there is nothing wrong with your existing extension.

moneyistooshorttomention

So - we get to 10 days time on Sunday - so note made in my diary to check as to whether its okay by then.

Re the second phone socket - that's a new socket I had done after buying the house - so I know it's recent and guess that means it should be okay.

Basically - everything phoneline wise has been changed since I bought this house 4 years back - including the nearest bit of telephone line running to my property (they were being too mean to change it all - though I explained that, if their line coming to my property needing changing at the nearest bit because of being 1970s??, then logically the rest of that 1970s?? line does too).

So, within my house, everything is new since I bought the place. BT put in main socket. Electrician put in second socket (ie the one I actually use).

Now veering towards whether that means I'd be best to pay out (agh! darn it!) and change to fibre broadband. Would changing to fibre broadband mean they had no option but to remove all of that 1970s? phone line leading to my house and replace it with new 2010's fibre?

AndyPix

Nope ..


Even though they sell it as fibre, it is only fibre to the cabinet (in vast majority)
The cruddy old copper wires are still used between the cabinet and your premises..


If you are confident in your own houses wiring then DEMAND AN ENGINEER VISIT


Good grief

Farway

You could try a "quite line test" from your second socket. It may just give a crackle or two, you never know

DoaM

Quiet line test needs to be done with a corded, analogue phone ... not a digital (DECT) phone which has noise suppression built-in. (A suitable phone can be had from Argos for ~£5)

The extension wiring should only comprise TWO wires, connected to terminals 2 and 5 at the back of the master socket faceplate and at the extension. ANY other wires should be disconnected. (Terminal 3 - ring wire - is a common one that is fitted. This acts as an aerial that picks up noise and can really mess up data signals).

cajef

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

BT put in main socket. Electrician put in second socket (ie the one I actually use).

I bet that is the answer Electricians are not telecoms guys and often don't use the correct cable or connections in the boxes, you should have asked BT to run the extension, it worth paying to have it done correctly if you have no knowledge of how to do it yourself.

As others have stated you need to take the faceplate off your main socket and connect directly to the test socket to eliminate whether the problem is caused by that extension wiring, providing of course that he has wired it correctly to the face plate and not in the main box.

DoaM

Good point ... it's possible that the extension wire is flat, unshielded extension cable. Round 2, 4 or 6-core twisted-pair shielded cable is what should be used.

cajef

Quite often electricians will use alarm cable which is stranded core and not solid core and twisted pairs, come across it many times.

moneyistooshorttomention

The electrician did the second phone socket about the same time BT did first one - ie about 4 years ago.

My computer has been okay for about last 2-3 years. Would have thought it wouldnt be if wire was wrong one??

Had to have electrician doing it - as this is bungalow and BT guys told me recent thing to do with a BT guy having an accident in a loft meant they were told not to run wire across loft to bring it back down into my study. Instead - they said BT would run it all over the place on show through my hallway. They were the ones that suggested having an electrician do second socket - as they said they would do it the way I wanted/BT had always done in the past (ie in more aesthetically acceptable way).