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#49987 27-Oct-2006 14:53

Does the brand of your router have an effect on your connection quality?

I have a dick smiths router, would upgrading to a D Link or some other well known brand, imporve my connection at all?

grant_k

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#49988 27-Oct-2006 15:02

Shin: Yes every phone jacks got filtered, but don't know whether there are any hard-wired splitters before ADSL modem, ADSL modem got line from wall directly.

Could ADSL modem causes lower connection rates?

That's OK then. You don't need to have Filters AND a Splitter, only one or the other.

Something is very wrong though. If the filters are working correctly, plugging in a phone should have no (or very little) effect on the connection speed of your ADSL modem.

I would suggest borrowing another type of ADSL modem to see if it makes a difference.

grant_k

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#49989 27-Oct-2006 15:06

simon_nz90: Does the brand of your router have an effect on your connection quality?

I have a dick smiths router, would upgrading to a D Link or some other well known brand, imporve my connection at all?

Possibly, you just have to try it and see.

I have had good success with Nokia (no longer sold new in NZ), 3COM and ZyXEL.

NetGear and Linksys are also good brands to use. I would suggest borrowing another brand of ADSL modem from a friend and see if your connection speed is improved.

grant_k

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#49990 27-Oct-2006 15:16

Shin: ...but don't know whether there are any hard-wired splitters before ADSL modem, ADSL modem got line from wall directly.

Here's one more suggestion for you Shin:

My sister had this kind of trouble at her house after she installed ADSL by herself. It turned out that she had connected a Filter between the line socket and the ADSL modem (hidden behind a chest of drawers with an extension cable plugged in to it. She was getting the kind of connection speed you describe. I was actually amazed that the ADSL modem connected at all!

There's a simple way to test if your ADSL modem REALLY has "got line from wall directly".

If you plug a phone into the socket where your ADSL modem is, you should hear quite a lot of hissing noises. If you don't hear the hissing, that socket has a Splitter connected somewhere in the house wiring. In this case, you will need to find where the Splitter is, and connect your modem BEFORE the splitter.

Whereas if you plug the phone into a Filtered wall socket, you should hardly hear any hissing noise at all. The difference is usually very obvious depending on what type of phone you have.

I hope that helps.

cyril7

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#49991 27-Oct-2006 15:26

The ADSL modem should be connected directly to the incoming line. All POTS devices must have a filter. Do not have more than 5filters (the less the better) across the line. If you can manipulate the house wiring around such that there is only one filter at the first jack in the house and all other lines are fed from this filter all the better.

It is not normal that the ADSL line rate should alter as POTS devices are placed on or off line if they are correctly filtered. If this is happening then I suggest that you check out where the wiring goes. Ideally keep as few stubs on the direct line.

Woops sorry just noted Grants replies no the 2nd page.
Cyril

Shin

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#49992 27-Oct-2006 15:57

Thanks Grant17 and cyril7 for help.

I'll test it as soon as market closes today and post the result.

Wish me a luck

P.S I found out that exchange is 3.8km away from my home, would it be factor that I couldn't get 3.5mbps?

grant_k

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#49995 27-Oct-2006 16:57

Shin: I found out that exchange is 3.8km away from my home, would it be factor that I couldn't get 3.5mbps?

3.8km is getting up there in terms of distance (towards the usual 5km limit of ADSL). However, your connect speed of 2208kbps is only just over the 2000kbps that Telecom uses as a lower limit for ADSL installations. So far as I know, they generally won't do the install unless you can get 2000kbps or higher. Jama or other TNZ'ers may like to correct me on this point...

Given that your distance of 3.8km is still well within the 5km limit, I would have expected you to be getting a better connect speed than 2208kbps. It leads me to suspect there is some other issue here. Again, other GZ'ers will probably have further suggestions.

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barf

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#49998 27-Oct-2006 17:53

simon_nz90: Does the brand of your router have an effect on your connection quality?

I have a dick smiths router, would upgrading to a D Link or some other well known brand, imporve my connection at all?

which dick smith router?
the DSE routers are far better than d-links

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together

sbiddle

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#50002 27-Oct-2006 19:37

barf:
simon_nz90: Does the brand of your router have an effect on your connection quality?

I have a dick smiths router, would upgrading to a D Link or some other well known brand, imporve my connection at all?

which dick smith router?
the DSE routers are far better than d-links

I would personally stay away from anything with a d-link badge on it. From personal experience the quality of many of their products is crap.

Shin

274 posts

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#50004 27-Oct-2006 19:53

Grant17:
Shin: ...but don't know whether there are any hard-wired splitters before ADSL modem, ADSL modem got line from wall directly.

Here's one more suggestion for you Shin:

My sister had this kind of trouble at her house after she installed ADSL by herself. It turned out that she had connected a Filter between the line socket and the ADSL modem (hidden behind a chest of drawers with an extension cable plugged in to it. She was getting the kind of connection speed you describe. I was actually amazed that the ADSL modem connected at all!

There's a simple way to test if your ADSL modem REALLY has "got line from wall directly".

If you plug a phone into the socket where your ADSL modem is, you should hear quite a lot of hissing noises. If you don't hear the hissing, that socket has a Splitter connected somewhere in the house wiring. In this case, you will need to find where the Splitter is, and connect your modem BEFORE the splitter.

Whereas if you plug the phone into a Filtered wall socket, you should hardly hear any hissing noise at all. The difference is usually very obvious depending on what type of phone you have.

I hope that helps.

There is obvious hissing noise when I put the phone without filter on it but if modem is turned off, the line sound very clear. Should it always hissing even modem is turned off?

I found FAX machine causes around 400kbps difference on connection rate alone. however maximum I can get is still 20xx kbps only.

grant_k

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#50012 27-Oct-2006 21:23

Shin: There is obvious hissing noise when I put the phone without filter on it but if modem is turned off, the line sound very clear. Should it always hissing even modem is turned off?

No, that's exactly how it should be. The DSLAM at the exchange will only send the data signal if a modem is connected.

Shin: I found FAX machine causes around 400kbps difference on connection rate alone. however maximum I can get is still 20xx kbps only.

Aaaahhh... Now you're giving me some clues!

Where did you plug the fax machine?
Into a filter?
Or directly into the wall socket with the modem?

I think what is happening is that you are using the WRONG socket on the filter.

Do the filters you are using have 2 sockets?

All the filters I have seen in DSE are like this:
* One big socket (for BT plug).
* And one little socket (for RJ11 plug).

In NZ, our phones and fax machines always come with a RJ11 to BT adapter cable. But if you bought these items overseas, they will have RJ11 plugs at both ends of the phone cable.

Remember this rule:

In NZ, you must ALWAYS use the RJ11 to BT adapter cable when plugging into the filter. Otherwise, you are plugging into the DIRECT socket of the filter which is intended ONLY for an ADSL modem. Effectively, you are bypassing the filter which is why your modem's connection speed is being affected.

Please check your connections to the filter, and let me know which socket your fax machine is plugged in to.

Shin

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#50016 27-Oct-2006 21:52

Grant17:
Remember this rule:

In NZ, you must ALWAYS use the RJ11 to BT adapter cable when plugging into the filter. Otherwise, you are plugging into the DIRECT socket of the filter which is intended ONLY for an ADSL modem. Effectively, you are bypassing the filter which is why your modem's connection speed is being affected.

Please check your connections to the filter, and let me know which socket your fax machine is plugged in to.

Thanks for quick reply, well FAX machine is actually plugged in same filter where modem is plugged, so there wouldn't be any confusing. (It use RJ11 to BT cable anyway)

Anyway this FAX machine actually sensing whether phone is on or off hook, I couldn't know how-to but it shows "ext.phone uses" when someone using phone in the other rooms.

I was tried to open telephone outlet outside of house to check whether direct connection from that point would make any difference, but the outlet bolted with strange triangle bolts which I don't have tool to open it up.

Could hard wiring that line from outside(Can I hard wiring it myself? simple connect job?) to my modem may solve the problem or at least show whether problem is in the house or outside of the house?

grant_k

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#50018 27-Oct-2006 22:14

Shin: Thanks for quick reply, well FAX machine is actually plugged in same filter where modem is plugged, so there wouldn't be any confusing. (It use RJ11 to BT cable anyway)

OK, here is something else to try:

1) Unplug the RJ11 to BT cable from your fax machine and plug it into your ADSL modem in place of the standard RJ11 to RJ11 cable.

2) Now plug your ADSL modem DIRECTLY into the wall socket without using any filter.

3) Unplug anything connected to any phone socket in the other rooms.

So at this point you should have ONLY your ADSL modem connected DIRECTLY to the phone line using the RJ11 to BT cable.

What is your connection speed now?
If you can answer that question, it may give me another clue.

Shin: Anyway this FAX machine actually sensing whether phone is on or off hook, I couldn't know how-to but it shows "ext.phone uses" when someone using phone in the other rooms.

It does that by sensing the line voltage from the Telecom exchange. 48V = all phones on hook, A lower voltage (maybe around 12V) means that somebody is using one of the phones in other rooms.

Shin: I was tried to open telephone outlet outside of house to check whether direct connection from that point would make any difference, but the outlet bolted with strange triangle bolts which I don't have tool to open it up.

Could hard wiring that line from outside(Can I hard wiring it myself? simple connect job?) to my modem may solve the problem or at least show whether problem is in the house or outside of the house?

You need a special type of screwdriver which you may be able to find from DSE or via the following web sites:

http://www.rs-components.co.nz/
or:
http://www.farnell.com/nz/

Both of these companies have thousands of products and it's not always easy to find what you want. So try DSE first, but if you don't have any luck, try those web sites above. Another possibility is:

http://www.jaycar.co.nz/

If you manage to get inside the box, then you will need to figure out which wires come from the street, and which wires go inside your house. Cut the wires and then connect your modem directly to the wires from the street using an RJ11 to crocodile clip adapter cable (you will probably have to make this yourself). See if that makes any difference. If it does, then the problem is with the wiring inside your house. If it doesn't, I guess you are stuck as the problem will be with the line to the exchange.

WARNING: If you cut the wires and then can't figure out how to join them up again, Telecom will charge you a call-out fee probably around $100 or more to come and fix it. So... Be careful!!! Write down which colours go where BEFORE you cut any wires. And then be careful to join them up properly afterwards using strip connectors or something similar.

P.S. Telecom put those special screws on there for a reason... To keep out people who don't know what they are doing. So unless you are confident to tackle this job, I would say it's best to leave that box alone.

Shin

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#50022 27-Oct-2006 23:08

Grant17:
1) Unplug the RJ11 to BT cable from your fax machine and plug it into your ADSL modem in place of the standard RJ11 to RJ11 cable.

2) Now plug your ADSL modem DIRECTLY into the wall socket without using any filter.

3) Unplug anything connected to any phone socket in the other rooms.

So at this point you should have ONLY your ADSL modem connected DIRECTLY to the phone line using the RJ11 to BT cable.

What is your connection speed now?
If you can answer that question, it may give me another clue.

Now I got best score 2368kbps

Attenuation	31.0dB	63.0dB
Connection rate	2368 Kbps	160 Kbps

Well, it's still far away from 3.5mbps and while searching my house, I found this (photo below)

Must be buglar alarm unit, but what is these lines for(data, aux, etc)? is it hooked with phone line and could affect ADSL signal strenth? if so could you figure out which line should I cut?
(No, house is not monitored by any security company)

alarm photo

Many thanks!

grant_k

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#50024 27-Oct-2006 23:32

Shin: Now I got best score 2368kbps

That's another improvement. It looks to me as if that filter is faulty, or not compatible with your modem for some reason. Whatever, it is not doing the job it is supposed to do so I would suggest:

1) Plug your ADSL modem directly into a 2-way phone adapter plugged into that wall socket (you will need another RJ11 to BT adapter cable -- probably your modem was supplied with one).
2) Get another filter and plug it into the empty half of the 2-way adapter.
3) Plug your fax machine into the BT socket on the filter.

Now check the connection speed on your ADSL modem. Is it still 2368kbps?

Shin: Must be buglar alarm unit, but what is these lines for(data, aux, etc)? is it hooked with phone line and could affect ADSL signal strenth? if so could you figure out which line should I cut?
(No, house is not monitored by any security company)

I used to design Burglar Alarm Units a few years ago, so I'm quite familiar with similar circuit boards to the one you have.

It doesn't look to me as if your system has a dialler, but if it does, the wires would be DATA and the next one above it which I can't read from the photo. AUX OUT has an End-of-Line resistor connected to it so is probably for driving an Outdoor Siren.

The other possibility is that DATA connects to a remote keypad (probably by your front door).

One way to find out whether those wires are connected to your phone line would be to connect a multimeter between the Yellow DATA wire and the Blue wire. Check the voltage. If it's 48V with all the phones on the hook, then you are almost certainly looking at a phone connection. To be sure, ask somebody else to lift a phone off the hook. If the voltage drops, then you have definitely found the phone connections. If this is the case, it will be quite safe to disconnect them, just do it one wire at a time and cover the end in tape.

By doing this, your Burglar Alarm will be unable to dial out on the phone line with a warning message. However, if you buy an ADSL Splitter with bare end connections, you would be able to solve this problem if it matters to you.

Of course, you may well find that those wires go to a keypad by the front door, in which case it won't be necessary to disconnect them at all.

Let me know what you find.

P.S. These posts are getting quite long, and are not really related to the original topic, so Mauricio or one of the other moderators may tell us to move them somewhere else.

To the moderators:
1) Are you worried about this?
2) If so, what is the most appropriate forum to place these posts in?

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