Old linebox

[#1]

My linebox is one of the old 68mm square ones and at a guess, I'd say it's approx 20 years old. I was wondering if there would be anything to be gained by having a new one fitted or even getting one from ADSLNation and fitting it myself.
Regards .....

[#2]

1) You can't fit it yourself as it is against the BT rules for supply of a phone line.
2) Do you actually have any problems with your broadband connection? If not I would stay as you are.
It may improve your speeds if you are not already on an 8Mbs speed.
BT charge £25+VAT to replace a line box with a Master socket if its not as a result of a line fault. If there is a line fault then it will be replaced for free.

[#3]

In answer to 1), this raises an interesting question:
I'm on PlusNet Home Phone so, who is supplying my phone line, BT or PlusNet.
In answer to 2), I'm suffering from intermittent re-syncs and, on average, I'm probably talking about 2 or 3 per day currently but when I first got Max'd in May last year, I could go for weeks without a single re-sync. The re-sync'ing problem has got slowly worse and I've also noticed that my sync speed is slowly dropping. Up until probably a few months ago, the line would sync around about 7300Kbps but it's steadily dropped to around 6800Kbps (this is with a Netgear DG834). I took the Netgear offline a few days ago and tried a Voyager 210 and interestingly, it was sync'ing around 7300Kbps but it was re-sync'ing much more than the Netgear. I'm not sure what to make of all this and the only thing I haven't ruled out is the old linebox, hence the question.
Regards .....

[#4]

Is your downstream SNR fluctuating? This can cause sync losses and variations in DS sync speeds.
With the netgear you can use a monitor program which records line & SNR details over time on a graph which may identify low SNR as the cause or at least show if its bad during certain parts of the day.
The routerstats tool can be downloaded here.

[#5]

Yes, downstream noise margin fluctuates wildly between 9pm and 8am every day. That's the time period when I mainly get the re-syncs with the Netgear. I know this because I've been using RouterStats for yonks but thanks for mentioning it anyway. However, with the Voyager, the re-syncs can occur at virtually any time of the day or night. Something else I've noticed is that the noise margin never ever goes above 9dB with either router.
Regards .....

[#6]

Quote from: Peter

BT charge £25+VAT to replace a line box with a Master socket if its not as a result of a line fault. If there is a line fault then it will be replaced for free.

Thanks very much for that information and I decided to pursue the matter with PN with a view to having a new one fitted. Before asking for the work to be done I decided to ask for a quote first (just to be on the safe side). Here's what they've come back with (10 days later!!):

Quote

Dear ** ******, Sorry for the delay, the prices for this are £85 for the initial call out and it is then billed at £55 per hour. The price of replacing the line box would be billed seperatley to thisand would be disclosed by the enginneer who would carry out the work. Please advise us if you wish to proceed with this. Thank you Regards, **** *****

That's rip off!! 
Would a member of PN staff care to justify this extortionate quotation.
Regards .....

[#7]

Hi there,
Could you possibly confirm the ticket number where you received that response?  I'll then be able to double check things for you.

[#8]

Thanks for responding, James.
Ticket number is 22737762
Regards .....

[#9]

Hi there,
The figures that you have been quoted are actually correct.  However, if you were to develop a broadband fault on your line, caused by the linebox, then BT would be obligated to replace this.
I know it sounds like a rip off and these charges are extortionate!
I'd be interested to hear where Peter is getting his figures from.

[#10]

I'm pleased you agree that these charges are extortionate and I'm pursuing this matter further through the ticketing system.
Regards .....

[#11]

Quote from: James

I'd be interested to hear where Peter is getting his figures from.

I think he's getting his figures here.  Right at the bottom of the page.

[#12]

Martin,
We're not making a profit here.  We're quoting you what BT are charging us.

[#13]

The fact that you are not making a profit is of no consequence, but actually, you should be making a profit IMO. Also, as you're in agreement that their prices are extortionate, perhaps you should be asking them to justify their prices to you.
Regards .....

[#14]

Quote from: paulby

Quote from: James I'd be interested to hear where Peter is getting his figures from. I think he's getting his figures here.  Right at the bottom of the page.

It was actually a post on thinkbroadband but your link confirms what was posted there. It makes no mention of call out fees or per hour fees.

[#15]

Hi there,
The fees quoted are the charges as issued by BT Wholesale. They are judged to be the cost of sending a BT Openreach engineer to your premises to conduct non-essential work.
We cannot refute these charges on an individual basis.
Do you ever get any noise on the line at all? If so it may be worth going down the fault route for the voice side of things.