Broadband speed

[#1]

Hi,

I've just switched providers from BT to Plusnet two weeks ago, and i've just received an email today to say my broadband speed is under my minimum guaranteed speed.

In the email my estimated peak time speed is: download 13 - 23Mb, upload 2.5 - 4Mb and a minimum guaranteed speed at 11.9Mb. My current line speed is 7.9Mb.

My router is connected the same way as when I was with BT, but this is not to the master socket due to location, but if speeds increase when connected to the master socket I may have a work around. When not connected to the master socket, and when I was still with BT I was getting about 11Mb download and 1.4Mb upload in a test I did just before being connected to Plusnet.

Having looked around to get some advice, I have now tried it in the master socket and below are the results compared to not being connected to the master socket.

With BT, not in the master socket: 11MB download, 1.4Mb upload. Wifi connection.

With Plusnet, not in the master socket: 7.72Mb download, 0.99Mb upload. Ethernet connection and wifi.

With Plusnet, connected to master socket: 8.26Mb download, 3.12Mb upload. Wifi connection.

I was surprised though when I connected to the test socket (I did this first) where I was given a 25.15Mb download speed, and a 5.48Mb upload speed, which both triple the current speeds i'm getting. When I put the master socket back together I got the above speed of 8.26Mb download and 3.12Mb upload.

I've tried to make this post as clear as possible, and as you may tell i'm not very knowledgeable on this subject. Hopefully someone can give me some advice on the test socket results and what to do next.

Thanks.

[#2]

@Jimothy  Welcome to the forum.

There are a couple of issues here.

If you still have a BT Smarthub 6 then use that instead of the Plusnet Hub, they work much better, Setting instructions are here. https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-the-BT-Smarthub-6-on-a-Plusnet-Account/m-p/1587673#M85...

Next you have a problem with your extension wiring. Your best performance will be obtained if you locate your router at the BT master socket. The other thing that you should do is fit a filtered faceplate to your master socket and scrap the dangly filter. You then connect all your extension cabling to the filtered output on the new filtered faceplate for your extension phones.

Filtered faceplates are available from the likes of Amazon, just search for  VDSL filtered faceplate. Note that there are two types depending on the fixed part of the master socket. One type is retained by two screws. The newer version clips on. They are not interchangeable.

Let us know if you want more help.

[#3]

Thanks for the quick reply, Baldrick.

The BT home hub I have is the homehub 4, unfortunately.

I've just a few questions to ask you, apologies if they are in anyway silly questions.

1. Is it in anyway surprising to triple the speed of my broadband by connecting directly to the test socket?

2. This is probably the first silly question, will the VDSL filtered faceplate mean i'm connected to the test socket i.e. getting the same new faster speed than when I was connected to the master socket with the faceplate put back, which is much slower?

3. The three extensions I have connected are two sky hd boxes( I don't think these phone line connections are needed anymore) and the mobile house phones which I would relocate to the master socket. So if I don't really need the extensions I can leave the router connected to the test socket with a filter and the mobile house phones?

4. Carrying on from the previous question I take it the VDSL filter faceplate would do the same job as above but neaten it all up in our hallway?

5. I think I have a bt homereach NTE5, it is split in half with a grey bt homereach logo on and it's screwed. So is this or this ok? I will do some research before I buy, but is this something a numpty could do? Like I said I may not need the extensions but are they easy to connect to this new faceplate? And is reconnecting the extensions likely to give me the same speed problems with the new faceplate?

Sorry for the slow reply back and multiple questions, and thanks again for the help, Baldrick.

[#4]

G. @Jimothy 

1. I  fitted a filtered faceplate for a friend and his speed increased from 3 to 13Mbps

2. The filtered faceplate connects the test socket directly to the router and filters off the extensions for use by extension phones. So you should get the full speed

3. If you don’t need extension cables then disconnect them. You should be able to just pull the wires out of the master socket removable faceplate. If you have more than one extension cable connected to the faceplate (a star connection) then this is bad news. If possible connect no more than one.

4, Yes but again leave the extension cables disconnected if you don’t use them, just bundle them up and leave them inside the master socket.

5. Either of these will do the job fine. If you need to fit the extension cables then it’s only two wires for the cable. These may be screw terminals or you may need a tool.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Solwise-Plastic-IDC-insertion-tool-Yellow/dp/B000LXPLTG  These simply push the wires between two blades. The faceplate includes instructions and it’s very simple

[#5]

Thanks once again for taking the time to respond to my questions, Baldrick.

Just one more question regarding question 3. Could you elaborate on why having more than one extension is bad? There is three lots of two cables in the master socket box currently.

And just to confirm this is only bad news if I connect the extensions, if I don't, no problem?

Sorry to be a pain, cheers.

I just need to decide whether to run longer cables under the carpet to be nearer the plug point, or do it properly and ring my electrician for a new plug point next to the master socket.

[#6]

@Jimothy

Why do you need to run a cable under the carpet? Is it a mains cable? Once you install a filtered faceplate you can't plug the router into an extension.

Having thought about it a bit more you will probably get away with the extensions being star connected if they are all connected to the filtered phone extension output from the filtered faceplate. If your incoming cable is star connected it can slow your speed. If there has to be extension cables on the incoming unfiltered telephone line they should be connected in series (daisy chained).

If the cables are not connected to the faceplate then they are irrelevant. If extensions to your Sky boxes are no longer requied then leave them disconnected. 

If you really want to locate your router at one of the extension positions then leave the set up as it is but remove the other two extension cables from the master socket and give it a try. It might fix your problem. One final point, I assume that you are aware that with your current set up you must have a filter connected to every extension that is being used?

[#7]

Don't forget to remove the ring wire!

[#8]

You've misunderstood me, Baldrick.

The master socket is at the front door where there are no plug points for the router and my wireless home phone hub to be plugged in. There is currently a plug point at the other end of the hallway, so I was going to plug the router and phone into the plug sockets there and then route the internet and phone cables under the carpet to the master socket.

Due to my mothers stairlift already being plugged in there i'm think the best option is to get my electrician to put in a new plug socket next to the master socket, therefore no need to route the cables under the carpet and it will be a better place for the router next to the master socket.

Yes we have filters on all the extensions, it will be nice to get rid of the unsightly filter at the front door.

I'm still surprised to have gone from 7Mbps download and 1Mbps upload this morning, to up to 25Mbps and 5.5Mbps as of now by just plugging into the test socket.

Thanks for taking the time to advise me and point me in the right direction, Baldrick.

If this thread can be left open by whoever is in charge of that, I will report back probably next week to confirm this has worked and kept these new much faster (for semi rural Lancashire) speeds.

[#9]

Oh Browni, just when I thought I had a handle on this 😀. Ring wire?

If I disconnect the extension cable and don't reconnect it to the new faceplate, I take that takes care of the ring wire?

That link explains ring wire to me, and i'll have a full read of that link tomorrow, thanks for that.

[#10]

@Jimothy 

If you don't connect the extensions then you can forget about the ring wire.

There might be three wires connected on extension cables. White/blue, blue/white and orange/white. The orange/white is the bell wire which is no longer used and should be left disconnected as it can affect broadband speed, you should only connect the blue and white pair these days.

[#11]

Thanks for your post @Jimothy and apologies for the delayed staff response. I've tested your line today and while the tests are showing your router getting a speed of 29.9mbps still, presumably with your router still in the test sockets, we're also seeing what's known as a bridge tap on the line.

A bridge tap is most commonly caused by star-wiring that is an ancient way of wiring up a property which means that there's not one single master socket, so it looks like either using the test socket hasn't disconnected everything internal or the bridge tap may be caused by a fault outside.

It may be worth keeping an eye on your connection with the router in the test socket and if you experience any problems, I'd recommend reporting a fault to us at http://faults.plus.net so we can arrange an engineer visit to get that sorted for you.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

[#12]

Hi Anoush,

Thanks for taking the time to respond, and for testing my line, and yes we're still connected to the test socket.

Our house was built in the 1920's, so the wiring may well be old and use star wiring.

Having just switched to Plusnet I only have experience of the last two weeks, I have noticed the odd disconnection from the internet but this has been sporadic and has come back almost immediately, so as of now i'm not too concerned.

I've been waiting for a wireless connector to come to connect an upstairs sky tv box to the on demand service having previously used an ethernet connection when the router was upstairs. Now this has come, and works, i'm going to go ahead and order the filtered faceplate Baldrick recommended upthread to get rid of the filter and test socket connection i've got now.

I take it that the filtered faceplate will still be recommended after the test results on the line?

Also, can you keep this thread open and i'll come back to it in the coming weeks to confirm everything is ok with the connection after fitting the filtered faceplate, and if there has been any connection issues due to the bridge tap.

Thanks.

[#13]

Thanks for getting back to me @Jimothy 

I don't think (I could be wrong though) that a filtered faceplate will resolve the bridge tap issue if it is star-wiring, because in theory using the test socket should have disconnected all internal wiring but often it doesn't in these instances. 

It may be worth posting up photos of all phone sockets you have and we may be able to advise further.

This thread should in theory remain open indefinitely although I believe it may get automatically locked after about a year or so of inactivity. In the foreseeable future it should be all good to respond back here.

[#14]

I'll order the filtered faceplate because it will at least mean I can tidy up the master socket in my hallway by not needing the filter and i'll also then  be able to reconnect a faceplate to the master socket.

The reason for starting this thread, Anoush, was because before connecting the router to the test socket in the master socket, we were getting speeds of 7Mbps connected to an extension, and a minor speed increase when connected to the master socket. As we're now getting speeds of over of 25Mbps connected to the test socket in the master socket i'm very happy and a little surprised we are getting these much better speeds.

The bridge tap issue doesn't seem to be causing any major problems, so i'll suck it and see how it goes and refer to this thread if I do have any problems with the connection in the near future.

Thanks for your help.

[#15]

@Jimothy 

When you are plugged in to your test socket are all your extensions dead?

The only reason I ask is because bridge taps can occur outside of your property, especially on older lines that were around in the days of party lines. If you have problems in the future then this should again be identified and possibly sorted then.