Hmm, internet via test socket only?

Hmm, internet via test socket only?

Author
Discussion

Jezzerh

Original Poster:

816 posts

121 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
quotequote all
Strange one this, could use some opinions. Few weeks ago our (orange/EE) broadband started randomly dropping out or slowing right down to 0.1mbps where we normally got about 6 Mbps.

The router was always plugged into a second socket in the lounge with a filter. EE made us plug into the test socket for a few days but the problem persisted.

Had openreach out and he replaced the master socket and messed about at the exchange and then we were getting 12 Mbps even when the router was back plugged into the second socket.

Now it's gone all slow again so I called EE and they said to plug it back into the test socket for a few days. All was well, speed and stability were fine. Went to change back to the second socket today and the box will not connect to the internet at all.

Tried new filters and different phone cables, nothing works. Plugged it back into the test socket and it's fine!

I could leave it plugged in there permanently but I also plug my sky box and xbox into the router so it needs to go back into the lounge really. Also the faceplate hanging off the master socket doesn't look great!

There's nothing plugged into any other phone sockets in the house at all.

What could be causing this and why would it start suddenly?


bimsb6

8,034 posts

220 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
quotequote all
Have you got a service specific front plate fitted at the master ? I.e a socket that has 2 ports one for the router and one for the phone if so it has the filter built in and your extn is filtered so no broadband available on the extn .

Dogwatch

6,222 posts

221 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
quotequote all
The test socket simply makes a direct connection to the incoming phone line and cuts out all the household extension wiring.

If you are getting good results from the test socket and rubbish results from the household circuit the problem is with something somewhere in the house.

Only thing to do is follow BT procedure of disconnecting everything from every socket and re-connecting one item at a time until the problem re-appears. You know the modem works which would seem to eliminate that.

igiveup

2,875 posts

281 months

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
quotequote all
Check you socket to see if the Bell wire is still connected

More details on how to sort it yourself here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq/sections/radsl.h...

Dave_ST220

10,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
The bell wire wouldn't suddenly cause the issue. First off for best speeds get yourself a vDSL faceplate. Secondly post up a picture of the faceplate you are removing to access the test socket. Is there any wiring attached to it?

Dave_ST220

10,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
bimsb6 said:
Have you got a service specific front plate fitted at the master ? I.e a socket that has 2 ports one for the router and one for the phone if so it has the filter built in and your extn is filtered so no broadband available on the extn .
That would depend on where the extension is wired to.

bimsb6

8,034 posts

220 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Dave_ST220 said:
That would depend on where the extension is wired to.
A vdsl faceplate wouldn't help his extn

Jezzerh

Original Poster:

816 posts

121 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for replying guys. The are three sockets in the house. The landline phone is plugged into the master socket. There is nothing else in any of the others, and the only thing that was plugged in was the router. So nothing's changed there.

Here's a pic of the master socket. As I said, the openreach guy only put it in a few weeks ago and everything was fine up until a few days ago.


Dave_ST220

10,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
bimsb6 said:
Dave_ST220 said:
That would depend on where the extension is wired to.
A vdsl faceplate wouldn't help his extn
I didn't say it would! You said an extension wouldn't work for BB if you have a SSFP which is incorrect.

Dave_ST220

10,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
OK, you have extension wiring. Plug that faceplate back in, do you have dial tone at the master socket? Then try the extensions for dial tone?

ETA, who wired up the extension sockets? Not the normal wiring scheme, maybe they thought there was a fault on that wiring & switched to the spare pairs??

Edited by Dave_ST220 on Thursday 24th April 08:32

probedb

824 posts

218 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
I was going to suggest checking the wiring but that looks like the extensions aren't wired onto the test socket unlike mine in my flat! Which meant using the test socket made no difference what-so-ever.

kerplunk

7,052 posts

205 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
If the faults internal (which is what it sounds like) it could be on any part of the wiring even on extensions you arent using so minimize the wiring as much as possible. Couple of things to try:

First, pull off that green wire - you dont need that, and at the other end on the 2nd socket too (it should be on pin 3 at that end).

If the 2nd socket really is the 2nd socket (ie next in line from the master socket) and you don't use the 3rd socket, disconnect the pair of wires going to the 3rd socket (on pin 2 & 5) at the 2nd socket to eliminate it. (If you're lucky the pair to the 3rd socket will be on top of the pair from the master socket and you can just pull it out of the terminations. If youre unlucky and the wires to the 3rd socket are underneath, and you don't have an insertion tool to be able to re-insert the wires, snip off the pair going to the 3rd socket close the termination with some scissors).

Re-fit the frontplate at the master socket, plug a phone into the 2nd socket (via a filter) press any digit to stop the dial tone and listen - does it sound clean or can you hear bacon frying? Clean - re-try the router in the 2nd socket.

Its slightly ominous that the pair used for the extension wiring is the orange pair and not pair 1 (blue) - this could indicate a previous problem with the cabling (or may not) which has now got worse and the cable may need replacing.

Edited by kerplunk on Thursday 24th April 13:37

FlossyThePig

4,083 posts

242 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
probedb said:
I was going to suggest checking the wiring but that looks like the extensions aren't wired onto the test socket unlike mine in my flat! Which meant using the test socket made no difference what-so-ever.
My understanding is there should only be two wires connected internally to the master socket, BT wires coming in and connected by BT. The rest of the system then plugs into the test socket via the user accessible faceplate, as in the picture above.

Some people have been known to replace the old master point (no socket) with a new style master socket and wire it incorrectly.


kerplunk

7,052 posts

205 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
FlossyThePig said:
My understanding is there should only be two wires connected internally to the master socket, BT wires coming in and connected by BT. The rest of the system then plugs into the test socket via the user accessible faceplate, as in the picture above.
Correct - the picture is how it should look.

Jezzerh

Original Poster:

816 posts

121 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Okay, excuse the technophobia, but could someone summarise that for me?! I do appreciate the replies but if I'm reading correctly, one post says yank out the green wire and another says it looks okay.

Anyway, I plugged a wired handset into the master socket and the second socket and got a strong dial tone and complete silence when I pressed down the receiver.

Then, I plugged the router into the (original) second socket and you won't believe this but it connected immediately and is now working perfectly giving 12 Mbps again! WTF!

Fingers crossed it keeps working!

bimsb6

8,034 posts

220 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Dave_ST220 said:
OK, you have extension wiring. Plug that faceplate back in, do you have dial tone at the master socket? Then try the extensions for dial tone?

ETA, who wired up the extension sockets? Not the normal wiring scheme, maybe they thought there was a fault on that wiring & switched to the spare pairs??

Edited by Dave_ST220 on Thursday 24th April 08:32
More likely it's been backwired from the nte , the white/blue will be on the back part of the nte with the extns backfed down the oranges to wherever , possibly the bt101 if fed u/g then cabled on to the extn , current practice is to remove backwiring as it messes with the broadband .

Dave_ST220

10,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Could be, the OP could verify, but as it's now working again wait & see........

kerplunk

7,052 posts

205 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Jezzerh said:
Okay, excuse the technophobia, but could someone summarise that for me?! I do appreciate the replies but if I'm reading correctly, one post says yank out the green wire and another says it looks okay.

Anyway, I plugged a wired handset into the master socket and the second socket and got a strong dial tone and complete silence when I pressed down the receiver.

Then, I plugged the router into the (original) second socket and you won't believe this but it connected immediately and is now working perfectly giving 12 Mbps again! WTF!

Fingers crossed it keeps working!
Disconnecting the bell wire (the green in this case) can improve BB speeds but wouldn't normally account for such a drastic speed reduction as you experienced. That's with a 'good' cable though. If the cable is compromised in some way it could potentially be having a larger effect, so as its not needed (unless you have antique phones) minimize it's potential to interfere by disconnecting.

Dave_ST220

10,288 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Plenty of phones still use the bell wire so do it properly & get a VDSL faceplate. You then have the added bonus or REIN filters too smile (if the latest version)

kerplunk

7,052 posts

205 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Dave_ST220 said:
Plenty of phones still use the bell wire so do it properly & get a VDSL faceplate. You then have the added bonus or REIN filters too smile (if the latest version)
A VDSL faceplate would make the 2nd socket voice-only wouldnt it? Unless youre thinking of making 2nd socket the master and back-wiring to the other socket...

OP has already stated they don't use the 2nd socket for telephone and any phone will still work in the master so eliminating the bell wire is a simple thing to try which might fix the problem - a contact between the bell wire and the line pair could be knackering the BB connection everytime the phone rings.