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Better ADSL connection ?


djohn
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For anyone who is having problems attaining good speed results or downloads, or living at max distance from the exchange and not receiving a good clean signal then this might help. They are £17 but could be worth the money.

As you will probably know, looking at your master socket it is for most people a white square box with 2 screws that when removed allows the bottom section of the plate to come away from the rest of the socket. You'll then see that this plate has a male connector on it that plugs into a female socket inside the box.

We normally use a Passive filter that hangs from this face plate to connect our modems/routers into one slot and the telephone into the second slot. This company sells replaceable faceplate's that have two sockets already built in with an "Active" filter, [better than Passive] Just remove the existing face plate and replace with this new one. Its legal to do so as long as you do not interfere with the wiring behind the master socket itself.

Not only does it look much neater than having a micro filter hanging from the socket but works to a much better standard. Full details are included on the site of how to replace and if required you can also take all your phone extensions throughout your home from the rear of this new face plate and then there is no need to use micro filters at each extension as they are already filtered at the new face plate.

Combine one of these with a good quality router instead of a USB modem and you will see an improvement in your connection.It may be small or it can be a large improvement depending on how good your connection is at the moment. :)

BT ADSL Face Plate

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I'm using the speedtouch 330 USB modem for my 2 Mb connection r4may and I live only 800 metres from the exchange. I get excellent line stats with attenuation and signal to noise ratio but simply because of the neatness I've just ordered one. I get 1970 kbps when connected direct to the exchange bypassing my ISP connection so it will be interesting to see if it improves.

It will only be a little as the current speed is so good, but my exchange is going to Max at the end of march which means I'll be on an 8 Mb connection and the S/N ratio will deteriorate because of this, the new face plate might just stabilise it, I will be changing to a router as well which will take some load off the CPU and give a slightly better connection than the modem.

Most of the exchanges will be regraded by the end of March with the remainder by the end of the year, only about 150 are not being done out of over 5000, so most people will be able to achieve these connections of 8 Mb, although the actual speed will depend on how far you live from the exchange. Those living up to 2.5 K away should still see speeds of round the 5 to 6 Mb and anyone living up to 3.5 k away will, or should still get a good 2 to 3 Mb. :)

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Those living up to 2.5 K away should still see speeds of round the 5 to 6 Mb and anyone living up to 3.5 k away will, or should still get a good 2 to 3 Mb.

If this is true (and I sincerely hope it is) then I should be able to get twice the speed that I am on now and finally be able to upgrade to 2 Mb?

According to http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php I am 2.86 km from the exchange but as this is straight line distance, it is probably considerably more.

I am quietly confident of me being able to upgrade over the next few months B)

I may buy that BT Faceplate as it says on the website that it is easy to fit so I may chance it.

Thanks for passing on the info Djohn.

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I've ordered one Curly even though I don't really need it as I'm only 800 metres from the exchange. I will report back on how successful or otherwise, it is. Also try this exchange checker as it will inform you if your exchange is on the list for the upgrade. Just tap your phone number in and it will give details of your exchange and the date of upgrade. Exchange upgrade checker.

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Just tap your phone number in and it will give details of your exchange and the date of upgrade. Exchange upgrade checker.

Thanks Djohn.

When I typed my telephone number into the Exchange upgrade checker I got:

Upgrade Status

Status: Red

BT are planning on enabling this exchange for Max DSL products.

Currently, they have given an estimated date of 31/03/06 for this.

Please note: This is the default date from BT and may change.

So it seems that my exchange is on the upgrade list and fortunately isn't one of the unlucky 150 exchanges.

Also I don't have to wait too long either as the upgrade is planned in around a months time but, obviously, the plans can be delayed as mentioned in the Upgrade Status notes above.

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Yes, if your on that list then your not one of the unlucky ones. I have the full list somewhere of the 150 exchanges that will not get the 8 Gb service. I'll have a look for it later and post a link.

PS: here it is, more than I thought, 287 in total. There are only 6 pages to check if your not sure about your exchange. Exchanges not being regraded to Max 8 Mb

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PS: here it is, more than I thought, 287 in total. There are only 6 pages to check if your not sure about your exchange. Exchanges not being regraded to Max 8 Mb

I have looked at the list and I notice that those Exchanges are all in rural areas of the UK so perhaps it isn't economically viable for BT to upgrade them, at least not in the short term?

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I'm using the speedtouch 330 USB modem for my 2 Mb connection r4may and I live only 800 metres from the exchange. I get excellent line stats with attenuation and signal to noise ratio but simply because of the neatness I've just ordered one. I get 1970 kbps when connected direct to the exchange bypassing my ISP connection so it will be interesting to see if it improves.

It will only be a little as the current speed is so good, but my exchange is going to Max at the end of march which means I'll be on an 8 Mb connection and the S/N ratio will deteriorate because of this, the new face plate might just stabilise it, I will be changing to a router as well which will take some load off the CPU and give a slightly better connection than the modem.

Most of the exchanges will be regraded by the end of March with the remainder by the end of the year, only about 150 are not being done out of over 5000, so most people will be able to achieve these connections of 8 Mb, although the actual speed will depend on how far you live from the exchange. Those living up to 2.5 K away should still see speeds of round the 5 to 6 Mb and anyone living up to 3.5 k away will, or should still get a good 2 to 3 Mb. :)

So do I use the speedtouch 330 USB modem, but I am on the edge of the line network and can only get 1.2Mb but it doesn't bother me as it is fast enough for most of my requirements. BT May upgrade the line network sometime

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but I am on the edge of the line network and can only get 1.2Mb but it doesn't bother me as it is fast enough for most of my requirements. BT May upgrade the line network sometime

I am like you and am hoping that when BT upgrades my exchange to Max DSL, I will be able to upgrade my speed to 2 Mb but I'm not holding my breath!

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It will depend to an extent on which ISP we are with Curly. At the moment exchanges are enabled as "up to" 2 Mb connection and its up to your ISP to give you what they think your line will sync at rather than BT making the decision except in cases where your so far from the exchange that your line noise is so poor it will not support more than x speed, then BT step in and set the max.

New "Max 8 Mb Rate adaptive" that is being introduced to all except a few exchanges will be different in the way it works. Rather than your ISP or BT setting a limit, it will automatically adapt to the rate your line will take. This means those people who are restricted to 1 Mb at the moment may see their speed go up to 1.5 or 2 Mb if the S/N ratio will allow it and those on 2 Mb will see speeds of 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 or any combination right up to a max of 8 mb though you would need to live inside the exchange itself to get the full 8 Mb. :blink: Distance from exchange to master socket in dwelling is also being increased from 3.5 k to 5.5 k, and this is why you may see a slight increase if your living at the end of the current 3.5 k limit.

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It will depend to an extent on which ISP we are with Curly. At the moment exchanges are enabled as "up to" 2 Mb connection and its up to your ISP to give you what they think your line will sync at rather than BT making the decision except in cases where your so far from the exchange that your line noise is so poor it will not support more than x speed, then BT step in and set the max.

New "Max 8 Mb Rate adaptive" that is being introduced to all except a few exchanges will be different in the way it works. Rather than your ISP or BT setting a limit, it will automatically adapt to the rate your line will take. This means those people who are restricted to 1 Mb at the moment may see their speed go up to 1.5 or 2 Mb if the S/N ratio will allow it and those on 2 Mb will see speeds of 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 or any combination right up to a max of 8 mb though you would need to live inside the exchange itself to get the full 8 Mb. :blink: Distance from exchange to master socket in dwelling is also being increased from 3.5 k to 5.5 k, and this is why you may see a slight increase if your living at the end of the current 3.5 k limit.

That's interesting. Thanks. djohn.

Thos.

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It will depend to an extent on which ISP we are with Curly. At the moment exchanges are enabled as "up to" 2 Mb connection and its up to your ISP to give you what they think your line will sync at rather than BT making the decision except in cases where your so far from the exchange that your line noise is so poor it will not support more than x speed, then BT step in and set the max.

I didn't know this as in the e-mail that I had back from AOL a while back, it gave the impression that BT made all the decisions about speed of service :huh:

New "Max 8 Mb Rate adaptive" that is being introduced to all except a few exchanges will be different in the way it works. Rather than your ISP or BT setting a limit, it will automatically adapt to the rate your line will take. This means those people who are restricted to 1 Mb at the moment may see their speed go up to 1.5 or 2 Mb if the S/N ratio will allow it and those on 2 Mb will see speeds of 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 or any combination right up to a max of 8 mb.

I didn't know that a 1.5 Mb service was possible with the new 'rate adaptive' services.

If true, this means that I may be able to get a 1.5 Mb service even if 2 Mb isn't possible.

Distance from exchange to master socket in dwelling is also being increased from 3.5 k to 5.5 k, and this is why you may see a slight increase if your living at the end of the current 3.5 k limit.

I wonder if there is a website where you can type in your telephone number and postcode and it can then tell you how long your telephone line actually is as opposed to the straight line distance?

I know that I am 2.86 km from my exchange but as most telephone lines don't enter your house in a direct straight line from the exchange, my telephone line could be considerably longer than this but I have no way of knowing.

p.s. Chris often says to me to "Move house" but this seems a bit extreme just to get a faster broadband service :lol:

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