House Wiring Nightmare

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DravidDavid

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#114998 9-Mar-2013 18:35

Hey guys,

I've recently moved in to a new property in Massey. I knew fully upon moving in that the internet connection would be piss poor based on our landlord's connection, but after moving in and inspecting the house wiring...I think I know why it is poor.

Modem stats with default settings only yielded 0.5Mb/s downstream and 0.2Mb/s upstream. I tweaked the SNR a bit and now I get between 1.5Mb/s and 2.1Mb/s down but only 0.1Mb/s up.

Overview of house wiring:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8540256149/in/photostream/lightbox/

Wiring job underneath house for main jack-point. I believe it is so messy as it was split off to another jack further down:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8540266397/in/photostream/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8540280643/in/photostream/lightbox/

cable from my ETP on its way to shed in between our house and the landlord's house:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8541350182/in/photostream/lightbox/

Second ETP mounted to pole above shed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8540284441/in/photostream/lightbox/

Cable terminated at landlord's house. It runs down the side and under the house:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8541361934/in/photostream/lightbox/

Cable taped up just before going underneath the house:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56917591@N02/8541356790/in/photostream

---------------------------------------

It is all far from ideal. That is for sure. I'm not even sure if getting someone to install a splitter and run a dedicated cable will improve my situation. The problem may actually be more at the landlord's house. There is a wicked hum on the phone line, which I think is at my end.

What I found strange, was that adjusting SNR at my house made a huge difference. The landlord's modem gets 1.5Mb/s on a regular Belkin modem. I took my modem up there to see what more I could push out of it, and to my surprise, it was the same regardless of what setting I had it on.

It could possibly be due to the fact that I am connected to a wholesale line and the landlord is on UCLL perhaps.

I wanted to post this to maybe get some suggestions from the community out there. The landlord isn't scared to let me drill holes and pay with wiring, which is a GREAT bonus and even offered to contribute to the repair/clean up.

Modem stats coming soon :)

cyril7

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#777450 9-Mar-2013 18:40

Hi, nothing to unusual there, today I dealt with a property where the line sprouted legs and ran off to another property with similar levels of workmanship, anyway the property is just on 2km from the exchange, managed to get the line rate from just over 3Mb/s to just on 13Mb/s by simply rationalising what was there and making it good.

Cyril

Goosey

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#777451 9-Mar-2013 18:45

As per above... get the wiring sorted out in full and get yourself a master splitter/filter.

DravidDavid

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#777452 9-Mar-2013 18:47

cyril7: Hi, nothing to unusual there, today I dealt with a property where the line sprouted legs and ran off to another property with similar levels of workmanship, anyway the property is just on 2km from the exchange, managed to get the line rate from just over 3Mb/s to just on 13Mb/s by simply rationalising what was there and making it good.

Cyril

Unfortunately we are quite a bit further out than 2K's. According to pre-qual, max is 2.8Mb/s theoretical.

I still think a splitter will help, since I'm only getting 1.8 on average. Luckily, there is a lot of crawl space underneath the house to re-wire it.

DravidDavid

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#777480 9-Mar-2013 20:40

cyril7: Hi, nothing to unusual there, today I dealt with a property where the line sprouted legs and ran off to another property with similar levels of workmanship, anyway the property is just on 2km from the exchange, managed to get the line rate from just over 3Mb/s to just on 13Mb/s by simply rationalising what was there and making it good.

Cyril

Just wondering Cyril,

Was the other property connected in a similar way to mine, with two joiners in the middle before reaching the next property and finally reaching the telephone poll? If so, did you strengthen/tidy the connections there? I think the ETP at the shed in between our houses could also be a problem.

cyril7

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#777507 9-Mar-2013 22:14

Hi, have you considered that there are multiple joints between the exchange and property in any connection. One thing that can help is to ensure that the pairs once unsheathed at any point maintain their twist and dont splay.

Cyril

lucky015

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#777526 9-Mar-2013 23:11

DravidDavid:
cyril7: Hi, nothing to unusual there, today I dealt with a property where the line sprouted legs and ran off to another property with similar levels of workmanship, anyway the property is just on 2km from the exchange, managed to get the line rate from just over 3Mb/s to just on 13Mb/s by simply rationalising what was there and making it good.

Cyril

Unfortunately we are quite a bit further out than 2K's. According to pre-qual, max is 2.8Mb/s theoretical.

I still think a splitter will help, since I'm only getting 1.8 on average. Luckily, there is a lot of crawl space underneath the house to re-wire it.

I wouldn't let that put you off entirely but testing from as far up the line as you can is certainly a good start.

Prequals *can* be pretty conservative, For example mine states 14Mbps max and I've had sync of 19Mbps on my line, Would get a fair bit better if I replaced the cable coming into the house but its a rental property up a rather long driveway so I don't see that happening.

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coffeebaron

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#777545 10-Mar-2013 00:46

Sing out if you want some help. Fick me a PM too with your exact address and I'll see what info I can't dig up on the area. Most of Massey area should be quite well cabinetised.

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DravidDavid

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#777546 10-Mar-2013 00:50

coffeebaron: Sing out if you want some help. Fick me a PM too with your exact address and I'll see what info I can't dig up on the area. Most of Massey area should be quite well cabinetised.

You're the person I've had in mind all along to fix this mess, haha!

Massey is well cabinetised indeed. Unfortunately, I'm in a dead zone. :(

InstallerUFB

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#777552 10-Mar-2013 07:28

If your line is completely seperate from your landlords line eg one cable from the road for you and one cable from the roadside for him - then Chorus are responseible for the maintainence of that line all the way to your house and should put it right regardless of its path under his house.

If the line goes to an ETP on your landlords house (shares one cable) and then on to that Aerial line up to your house - then it could be that it can be treated as 'internal wireing' after the demarcation point and therefore your's and/or your RSP's (retail service provider) to pay to have it put right.

Either way the tape jnt, the second ETP and the tapped in joint and all potential points of problems for POTS issuses before you even look at what problems they can cause to DSL services -

DravidDavid

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#777601 10-Mar-2013 12:17

InstallerUFB: If your line is completely seperate from your landlords line eg one cable from the road for you and one cable from the roadside for him - then Chorus are responseible for the maintainence of that line all the way to your house and should put it right regardless of its path under his house.

If the line goes to an ETP on your landlords house (shares one cable) and then on to that Aerial line up to your house - then it could be that it can be treated as 'internal wireing' after the demarcation point and therefore your's and/or your RSP's (retail service provider) to pay to have it put right.

Either way the tape jnt, the second ETP and the tapped in joint and all potential points of problems for POTS issuses before you even look at what problems they can cause to DSL services -

Hi Chorus,

Its a single line as depicted above. The line comes in from the telephone poll, runs underneath the landlord's house, is taped together before running up to the roof of his, down to an ETP mounted on a shed between our two houses and then connects at my house.

However, our address is not one that has been unofficially tacked on. Both lines are separate, landlord has services and so do I with two different phone numbers. So they are treated separately, yet use the same cable.

Its confusing. I thought the second ETP may end up being treated as house wiring. Not sure who put it up there, but I have wiring and maintenance. Will that still cover it?

InstallerUFB

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#777624 10-Mar-2013 13:45

DravidDavid:
InstallerUFB: If your line is completely seperate from your landlords line eg one cable from the road for you and one cable from the roadside for him - then Chorus are responseible for the maintainence of that line all the way to your house and should put it right regardless of its path under his house.

If the line goes to an ETP on your landlords house (shares one cable) and then on to that Aerial line up to your house - then it could be that it can be treated as 'internal wireing' after the demarcation point and therefore your's and/or your RSP's (retail service provider) to pay to have it put right.

Either way the tape jnt, the second ETP and the tapped in joint and all potential points of problems for POTS issuses before you even look at what problems they can cause to DSL services -

Hi Chorus,

Its a single line as depicted above. The line comes in from the telephone poll, runs underneath the landlord's house, is taped together before running up to the roof of his, down to an ETP mounted on a shed between our two houses and then connects at my house.

However, our address is not one that has been unofficially tacked on. Both lines are separate, landlord has services and so do I with two different phone numbers. So they are treated separately, yet use the same cable.

Its confusing. I thought the second ETP may end up being treated as house wiring. Not sure who put it up there, but I have wiring and maintenance. Will that still cover it?

Ok so your line goes to a seperate address (not a flat or second building on your landlords property) ? - as i commented before it's route doesnt matter but wether at some point it is combined into the same two pair service cable, as your landlord's line, and therefore wether or not it gets treated as a Chorus network cable or not (if its combined then the official network end is the first etp on the landlord's House)

The taped up joint looks like a homemade jnt (in saying that it could have been put in by a lazy faultman who didnt care and thought that he/she wouldnt be found out)

The ETP up on the piece of 4x2 most likely was put in by a service tech when the line has been broken - the installation of such was common practice for many years to cover joints on poles etc - it is not a chorus acceptable practice anymore - there should be no joints or a purpose made closure installed (I would suggest that the span of service lead was to long & low so it has been broken at some stage and put up and joined on the 4x2)

BTW Wireing and Maintenance only covers repairs to faulty internal wireing due to fare ware and tear and not bad workmanship of someone working on your wireing or damge caused to your wireing by someone