jim Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I have been having some problems with my internet access - the speed suddenly dropped last week from just under 2mb to 0.2mb. I'm on BT Broadband so emailed them and got a reply to check out the router, filters etc., which I did and emailed back saying no improvement. I got a further reply to say that they had done a line check and there was a fault between the exchange and my premises. They had passed the matter to the line faults department to take up. Meanwhile, the speed has gone back up to 0.9mb, which is only half the speed I should be getting. Last night I got a call from them (in India) asking me to carry out one further check before they called out the engineers. They told me to connect the router to the master BT socket instead of the extension that I currently use and check the speed for the next 3 days. I have to remove the cover from the master socket and plug the DSL line into the "test" socket that sits underneath it. They say that the connection speed will return to normal if I do this. Short of moving my whole PC setup from one end of the house to another, if I am to do this I will have to buy around 20 metres of cable to plug it in! My question is - will it work? And if so, can any of you experts tell me how? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Get yourself a wireless router and plug into your master socket. Then a USB adapter or PCMCIA card (latter depends if you have a slot) for your laptop/desktop. Do away with those wires once and for all http://www.zen.co.uk/broadband/buyhardw ... x?page=451 Think of the wireless router as the TV transmitter and the PCMCIA card or USB adaptor as your roof top aerial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Hadn't thought of the wireless option. Good suggestion. Might have other benefits when using work laptop as well as desktop too. What about this business of re-gaining the lost speed ? Think it will work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Funnily enough, just today my neighbour completed his wireless set-up, he wanted to plug his wireless router into the upstairs extension (not master) socket but it couldn't get an internet connection which the jobbers at Sky Broadband suggested plugging it into master and it worked. He has a USB adapter upstairs now and it works fine. That was a slight aside, but the point is how would it help to have a 20m cable if the probably less than 20m cable running to the extension socket didn't carry enough signal? Whether a 20m RJ45 network cable would fare any better - who can say, but it might Don't be put off going wireless, its **** easy to set up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 That was a slight aside, but the point is how would it help to have a 20m cable if the probably less than 20m cable running to the extension socket didn't carry enough signal? Whether a 20m RJ45 network cable would fare any better - who can say, but it might If I understood the helpdesk guy, he meant me to try this as a temporary measure until the access speed increased. This baffles me. What I really don't get is why suddenly the speed has reduced when I have been using the extension socket for 3 years quite happily, and nothinh else has been changed recently? Don't be put off going wireless, its **** easy to set up But not cheap, if those on the site you linked are anything to go by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 But not cheap, if those on the site you linked are anything to go by. You won't realise until you've tried it, particularly with the laptop. I'm wireless at work & home - its fantastic. Have used the netgear stuff (plus its what we have in the office) and its decent kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prescience Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 But not cheap, if those on the site you linked are anything to go by. You won't realise until you've tried it, particularly with the laptop. I'm wireless at work & home - its fantastic. Have used the netgear stuff (plus its what we have in the office) and its decent kit. Jim, I am sure you can source the components more cheaply, I only posted that link up as an example and because Zen are my ISP and they are first rate and the Customer Service is excellent. Andy, I agree and as I work from home I don't mind paying a bit extra for good, reliable gear with excellent CS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 if you do go wireless then make doubley sure thats it's secure as i can walk round my neighbouring street, sony PSP in hand and pickup lots of un-secured networks from peoples houses, free net surfing, illegal i know There is of course many secure ones as well but i still don't trust them, think i'll stick with me wires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 if you do go wireless then make doubley sure thats it's secure as i can walk round my neighbouring street, sony PSP in hand and pickup lots of un-secured networks from peoples houses, free net surfing, illegal i know There is of course many secure ones as well but i still don't trust them, think i'll stick with me wires I found the same with my wireless connection, went back to a wired connection to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I totally ditched BT all together with similar faults on the 2mb service, after about a million calls to various places on earth they sent an engineer to check the line. He told me my line could not sustain a 2mb service, so they dropped it to 1mb.............. I then dropped them to a 0mb service and switched to NTL 10mb service and hardwired my router to 2 computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 The saga continues. I plugged my work laptop into the master socket and even tried the "test" socket for a while at the weekend. Trouble is when you do that, you cut off all the rest of the phones in the house! Anyway, on Sunday I got a call from BT faults department to say that they had changed some settings and that I should get faster speeds soon. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes, the download speed shot up to around 3.0mbps!! I monitored it for a couple of hours and it hovered around 2.5 - 3.0mbps. By the evening, though, it had droppped back below 1.0mbps and has been around 0.5 mbps today. I have been back on to BT faults and the latest is that I will hear from an engineer in the next 24-48 hours. I'm not holding my breath.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 The saga continues. I plugged my work laptop into the master socket and even tried the "test" socket for a while at the weekend. Trouble is when you do that, you cut off all the rest of the phones in the house! Anyway, on Sunday I got a call from BT faults department to say that they had changed some settings and that I should get faster speeds soon. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes, the download speed shot up to around 3.0mbps!! I monitored it for a couple of hours and it hovered around 2.5 - 3.0mbps. By the evening, though, it had droppped back below 1.0mbps and has been around 0.5 mbps today. I have been back on to BT faults and the latest is that I will hear from an engineer in the next 24-48 hours. I'm not holding my breath.... Get away from them as soon as you can would be my advice mate. When I moved into my place I placed an order with BT for the phone line & also internet as I figured it would be easier to get it done by the same place. After 10 days of BT being completely useless (in other words their normal level of service) I cancelled the order and went back to freeserve (ok, yes it was wanadoo then and now orange but its still freeserve to me. Just like opal fruits will always be opal fruits!!). They aren't the cheapest but I've never had any problems with them and great speed too. Plus the wireless box they give you is good and you can plug a phone in and get free calls at certain times. Gonna look at sky broadband at review time though cos it seems a decent deal. There's also somewhere else round Manchester claiming upto 32meg speed but don't know much else other than that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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