Orcon's Gold plan. The bundled phone line quality!

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon's Gold plan. The bundled phone line quality!

NZRobin

161 posts

Master Geek

#21888 10-May-2008 02:19

Well after rewiring the phone and broadband with cat5e and installing a splitter with the kind advise of cyril7 and others I experienced an slight improvement with the broadband. One problem was that I'd lose Internet connection but with what was basically bell cable from the demarc point to the router i couldn't be sure whether it was Ihug, the copper-line or my home so i decided on the rewiring and a new modem/router. Up to the present there have been no further dropouts all though it is still a little too soon to be sure. But... one constant that hadn't changed was that my phone would pick up a constant hash from the modem. Turn off the modem and voila a lovely clear phone line. Turn on the modem, wait for the clicking as it connects to settle down and then a constant background hash could be heard (like an old fashion overseas phone call). I had hoped that the Telecom approved splitter might have cured it as I had placed the splitter as close to the demarc point as I could get. Changing the phone to a line based phone instead of our normal wireless system made no difference. I was all set to ask for some advise but then today we changed over to Orcon Gold and as well as faster Internet browsing we also got a nice clear line. So if anyone is considering going to Orcon's LLU plan and has wondered what the bundled home-line is like.... well it's good!

grala

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#129811 10-May-2008 08:09

Hey I just set up my Orcon Gold, and I'm still getting terrible noise on my unbundled phone. Any ideas where Im going wrong here? Im using an Orcon modem as well.

NZRobin

161 posts

Master Geek

#129977 11-May-2008 00:55

It's very annoying in 2008 to get anything other than a perfectly clear line! I've yet to find out what the actual cause is. As I mentioned in my post I'd gotten to the point of investing in the best practise option, that is, cat5e cable for all cabling from as close to the demarc point as possible. Using a proper Telecom approved in-line filter/splitter which ever you'd like to call it, instead of the cheap outlet ones. This even though at present I only have one phone outlet. Have you tried everything I did to narrow down possible causes, such as using a different phone in the jack, and unplugging all other devices such as fax machines and phones in other parts of your home to see if this makes any difference. Does the noise actually go away when you turn of the modem. Have you tried turning off all electrical devises in the home with the modem on to see if this cures the problem in case the cause is feed back into the power line the modem uses. If this cures the problem then I would turn the electrical devise on one at a time to find which is causing the problem. Regardless it needn't be said not to turn off the fridge-freezer indefinitely ;-(. In my case nothing made any difference, even using the Orcon home hub on my old Ihug plan. It only came right when my Orcon Gold account came live. Maybe when changing me over at the exchange they also put me onto a new improved part of the system that somehow isolated the problem, I just don't know.
Perhaps if you get no joy here you could ask as a general question in the Telecom forum or contact the Orcon help line. Reading other posts it sounds as if others may have had the same problem so maybe I was just lucky, although technically of course luck has nothing to do with it.

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#129989 11-May-2008 09:02

NZRobin: ...In my case nothing made any difference, even using the Orcon home hub on my old Ihug plan. It only came right when my Orcon Gold account came live. Maybe when changing me over at the exchange they also put me onto a new improved part of the system that somehow isolated the problem, I just don't know.

The whole point of LLU is that it allows you to be disconnected from Telecom's equipment at the exchange, and instead be connected to gear installed by another provider; in your case Orcon.

The only piece of Telecom-supplied equipment which you are still using is the copper cable pair between you and the exchange, and no doubt some interconnects in various roadside cabinets along the way.

The fact that the noise disappeared when you switched to Orcon's LLU connection indicates that the port you were originally using in Telecom's DSLAM/ISAM was faulty. Normally a faulty port will cause issues with slow speed or disconnections on your ADSL service. But in this case, it sounds as though the POTS/DSL multiplexing circuitry was faulty. Possibly something as simple as a faulty inductor or capacitor in the passive filter, if that's what they use. I'm not familiar with the innards of a DSLAM/ISAM but it was probably some minute faulty component which was causing this issue.

Anyway, it's not your problem any more. Have some sympathy for the next unsuspecting subscriber who gets connected to that port

NZRobin

161 posts

Master Geek

#130023 11-May-2008 15:09

Anyway, it's not your problem any more. Have some sympathy for the next unsuspecting subscriber who gets connected to that port

Indeed I do, having put up with the problem for such a long time. If the likely problem is as you suggest then Telecoms equipment appears to be causing similar problems for others and for who knows how long. mine had caused problems for years and I initially blamed it on the cordless phones that I was using and changed for newer models at least twice.