Will an I-Plate make any difference?

[Izak]

So you are also fitting a filtered faceplate? If you don't, you will still need filters on all the sockets in use.

Provided you are getting a good quality twisted pair cable it should be fine. Some of the cables listed as 'high speed' are little more than flat telephone cable with RJ11 plugs on the ends.

Don't worry too much about upsetting DLM, if it does leave you with a lower speed than necessary, it can be manually configured to its best rate.

The extension circuits in our house just plug into the master socket rather than being wired in so there will be a microfilter plugged directly into the master socket, the extension circuit will then plug into the 'Phone' socket' and the ADSL line will run from the same filter upstairs to the router.

I've ordered the ADSL line from Amazon Marketplace, it has gold plated connectors and has several excellent reviews from customers,

[Isitme]

The extension circuits in our house just plug into the master socket

That's fine. The only improvement you could make is using a good quality filter instead of the ones supplied by Sky. Some of these are very poor. ADSL Nation LTD. or if you have an NTE5 box, a filtered faceplate. ADSL Nation LTD.

[Izak]

Thanks for everybody's replies to this thread.

I've bought a 10m ADSL cable and we fitted it up today, running it from a filter plugged directly into the master socket and then upstairs to the router.

While Sky have already completed the line testing and we are set at 9.0 Mbps, the noise margin on the router has increased from 8db to 15db which according to a thread on this site is good (the higher the better).

All other extensions (including the one the router was originally plugged into) are filtered directly at the master socket now which also means we can now use our Photosmart printer as a fax machine! Beforehand it was on the same extension circuit as the router and every time I attempted to plug the Photosmart into the phone line, the router would lose sync (even though everything was filtered). However, now the router is no longer on that extension, it doesn't affect the internet!

I think we might get one of those Filtered Faceplates from ADSLNation and that'll hopefully improve quality too and well as tidy up our window sill where the master socket is.

[Scubbie]

While Sky have already completed the line testing and we are set at 9.0 Mbps, the noise margin on the router has increased from 8db to 15db which according to a thread on this site is good (the higher the better).

Could you post all your statistic please? This can mean a few different things.

If it is a good thing, then a simple phone call to Sky will get you connection improved.

[Izak]

Could you post all your statistic please? This can mean a few different things.

If it is a good thing, then a simple phone call to Sky will get you connection improved.

The router stats are as below: The noise margin has gone down to 14db tonight though:



As you notice, the router has only been up for 10 hours, this is because, when I connected the new line, the router went a bit funny and I couldn't access anything including the router setup. So I restarted it, the first time its been rebooted in 12 days.

I've also done a Ping Test:



And The Speed Test:



On MySky, it states the following after the Line Testing Completed:

Line connection testing completed on 26/05/2011

Download Speed
Your connection has been set to a download speed of up to
9.0Mb (9216Kb)

Upload Speed
Your connection has been set to an upload speed of up to
1.3Mb (1312Kb)

[Scubbie]

A drop in the noise margin at different times of the day is perfectly normal.

I would be inclined to give Sky a friendly phone call now.

Explain that you have been busy and made some changes to your internal wiring which has improved your connection.

Ask if they can increase your connection speed.

Some individuals don't know how to do this and may be tell you that they can't do anything. Others will pass you through to a manager.

You do have room for improvement now so give them a call.

[Izak]

A drop in the noise margin at different times of the day is perfectly normal.

I would be inclined to give Sky a friendly phone call now.

Explain that you have been busy and made some changes to your internal wiring which has improved your connection.

Ask if they can increase your connection speed.

Some individuals don't know how to do this and may be tell you that they can't do anything. Others will pass you through to a manager.

You do have room for improvement now so give them a call.

Thanks for your reply, I'll try doing that (or get my brother to do it as he is the account holder and works for Sky).

Do you think it'll be wise to get a filtered face plate too? Our current master socket is around 23 years old. The one at ADSLNation seems quite good

[Isitme]

Do you think it'll be wise to get a filtered face plate too? Our current master socket is around 23 years old. The one at ADSLNation seems quite good

If your socket is that old it may not be an NTE5 which you need to fit a filtered faceplate. If you have the older type you would need to fit a new line box as well, like this - NTE5 BT Openreach Type Socket (NTE5A with bellwire filter)

Fitting and using a filtered faceplate will give you the best your line can provide. One thing to check is that all your phone sockets are running through the master. In some older installations there is a junction box before the master which supplies other sockets. This can cause problems.

[Izak]

If your socket is that old it may not be an NTE5 which you need to fit a filtered faceplate. If you have the older type you would need to fit a new line box as well, like this - NTE5 BT Openreach Type Socket (NTE5A with bellwire filter)

Fitting and using a filtered faceplate will give you the best your line can provide. One thing to check is that all your phone sockets are running through the master. In some older installations there is a junction box before the master which supplies other sockets. This can cause problems.

Thanks for your reply. The master socket is a NTE5 and has a split faceplate.

I've been reading the filtered faceplate guide on this site and have had a look at the ADSLNation one and also the Austin Taylor one.

One thing that has puzzled me though. The ADSLNation faceplate states it has a phone socket and RJ11 socket whereas the Austin Taylor one states it has a phone socket and RJ11/RJ45 socket. (http://www.austin-taylor.co.uk/datasheets/splitter.pdf). If I'm not mistaken, isn't a RJ45 an Ethernet connector? How can one socket support both connectors when the RJ11 is considerably smaller?

[Isitme]

Although they do not say it, the ADSLNation socket will also accept a RJ45 plug. I think most faceplate filters will, although I could be wrong.