Telephone wiring queery

[AlanHo]

A friend too far away for me to visit and help - is not able to get his Pipex broadband working.

He is currently on BT Dial-up and is trying to change to Pipex broadband.

He has been told that the problem is because he does not have a filter on every extension socket. He has 10 sockets but only 3 have phones/Sky/computer plugged into them.

Does he really need filters on the 7 sockets not in use...?

I'm not clued up on BT line broadband because I am a cable user.

[-pops-]

A domestic BT phone line is limited as to the number of devices it can service. I think it is 4 but it is certainly less than ten.

So, has the system ever had ten working phones on the line? Is there a booster/amplifier fitted?

ADSL equipment is best fitted to the first available socket after the BT input to the premises.

Remember that the filters are for the telephones, not the computer equipment. The filters remove the high frequency digital signal to allow the analogue signal free access. The broadband router/modem etc should work quite well without a filter.

[AlanHo]

A domestic BT phone line is limited as to the number of devices it can service. I think it is 4 but it is certainly less than ten.

So, has the system ever had ten working phones on the line? Is there a booster/amplifier fitted?

ADSL equipment is best fitted to the first available socket after the BT input to the premises.

Remember that the filters are for the telephones, not the computer equipment. The filters remove the high frequency digital signal to allow the analogue signal free access. The broadband router/modem etc should work quite well without a filter.

He had his house built about 10 years ago when wireless phones were few and far between. Hence he had telephone sockets provided in each room. I don't know how many phones he used - but he mentioned that he has a booster in the basement. He has disposed of all his old phones and climbed into the twenty first century with DECT phones around the house. I suspect the booster is still connected.

He told me that the only sockets in use feed the DECT base station, his SKY box and one analogue wired phone for use if the electricity supply fails (which it does with some frequency where he lives and the DECT phone does not function)

Your comment about the computer needing to be plugged into the master socket may well provide the clue to his problems - I will Email him with the suggestion.

You did not directly address my question - but by inference seem to be indicating that filters on unused sockets are, as I thought, not needed. I cannot understand why Pipex have told him to fit 10 filters - perhaps he has misunderstood their advice.

[-pops-]

Filters are passive components and, if unconnected, don't do anything or go anywhere. There is no point in installing them on redundant outlets.

If there is a booster, the ADSL must be connected before that. Also, people often complain about incompatibilities of ADSL with DECT phones although, when I had one before I got my BT Home Hub, I didn't have any problems with it.

[-pops-]

I would rarely trust the advice given by these customer call centres. They work from a script and if the query does not match anything on the script, they may make up something on the spot. Remember that these people usually work on a maximum number of calls basis and it is in their interest to get rid of you and on to the next punter as quickly as they can.