vdsl faceplate

olewy

Newb question.

Current broadband package; ADSL, 8Mb NGB (bband & phone bundle).
Master socket; in hall, eircom dsl faceplate with single RJ11 port. Connected to too many filters, splitters & adapters, slowing down bband speed & possibly reducing phone call audio quality.

To improve my existing bband speeds (~1.9Mbs download) I'd like to replace the existing dsl faceplate with a vdsl faceplate which would have 2 dedicated RJ45 ports (one for modem, one for phone). This would mean I could avoid using a microfilter/splitter all-in-one) which should improve bband speeds (confirmed by plugging modem directly into master socket; speed increased by 1Mbs to 3.3Mbps, line is capable of 4mb).

Maplins no longer sell vdsl faceplates. The cheapest ones on ebay are about €23 upwards with delivery. Amazon.co.uk sell them from £5 plus about £5 delivery. Does anyone know where I could get a vdsl faceplate for around €15 or less in Ireland (online or in Dublin)? I know efibre installations come with vdsl faceplates so I assumed there would be some on Adverts but none found.

Also, I'd like to switch my flat wire RJ11 cable to a Cat5/e or Cat6 cable. My current DSL modem (Technicolour model from Digiweb) has an Rj11 port and 4xRJ45 ports. Currently the RJ11 is in use (to a filter/splitter). Does anyone know if one of the RJ45 ports on the modem could used/configured instead to connect to the new vdsl faceplate on the master socket?

Thanks in advance. Any help appreciated.

ED E

Faceplate doesnt matter *that* much. Its only a slightly more robust DSL filter, nothing more. Looks a little better.


What you want to do:

• Use a cat5 cable but crimp it with RJ11 connectors. You cant use an ethernet port for your DSL line.
• Test everything: Filters stop noise, not faults. Any small shorts in any device will still be present on the line and still potentially degrade sync. Old phones are worst for this. Call your ISPs phone faults dept, connect 1 device only, get them to test and give result(tell them to tell you everything), next device and repeat, and repeat. Anything that shorts/earths, bin it.
• If you have internal sockets, take the cable off the back of the current socket and filter that too.

mass_debater

There's more to it than that, with vdsl the tech ensures the main pair goes directly to the ntu without any bridge taps and back feeds the rest of the sockets in the house. Keep an eye out for an Eir or KN van, they'll give you one if you ask

olewy

ED E wrote: »

• If you have internal sockets, take the cable off the back of the current socket and filter that too.

Thanks for that.
My understanding from my ISPs tech support guy on the phone yesterday was that the more filters in use between the master socket and the adsl modem the more potential for slower bandwidth. This was proven by plugging the adsl modem directly into the master socket (or what I believe is the master socket). If I was to filter the cable at the back of the socket as you suggest wouldn't that not introduce more likelihood of a lower bandwidth? Or else I'm not following/understanding fully (most likely). Do you have a link to any info re how to do the filtering you referred to?

I received a replacement 'adsl over pots filter' from the ISP in the post just now & it looks of better build quality at least than what I was using. I'll run speedtests online with the old & new one & see if its made a difference. I also received new flat dsl cable (rj11 at both ends) from the ISP. I'll try/test those too for any speed differences but in the near future I'll get some cat 6 cable & crimp rj11s to either end as you suggested.

olewy

mass_debater wrote: »

There's more to it than that, with vdsl the tech ensures the main pair goes directly to the ntu without any bridge taps and back feeds the rest of the sockets in the house. Keep an eye out for an Eir or KN van, they'll give you one if you ask

Thanks. It'll be by chance if I happen to come across an eir or kn van but I'll keep an eye out all the same.

olewy

Right, so there was little to no change after replacing the microfilter & dsl cable (rj11 to rj11) that Digiweb posted me.

I've had a look at MrTelephone.co.uk's video
How to increase your BROADBAND INTERNET SPEED for ADSL and VDSL
and some of his other related videos and so I'm thinking of giving the following a go to at least ensure the hardware is as good as possible, even if it doesn't make a huge speed difference;

1. New nte master socket without surge protector.
2. Vdsl faceplate for master socket
Or
Iplate for master socket (less ideal)
or
ADSL faceplate (less ideal again)
3. Cat6 twisted pair; rj45 (master socket end) & rj11 (dsl modem end)
4. RJ11 female to 2x RJ11 male adapter (for plugging both phone cables into) at master socket end.

For items 1 and 2 above (mastersocket & faceplate);
I rarely see any Eircom or KN vans around my area as I'm at work during the day. I would hang around my local exchange & stalk that but it's obviously hit & miss timing/luck-wise. So I was thinking of buying a vdsl faceplate such as this from the same guy;
VDSL2 / ADSL BROADBAND FACEPLATE SPLITTER for NTE5 Sockets VDSL ADSL2 2015 model

The thing is;
A. Compatibility; do you think this would work on my existing eir/com master socket? (picture of my what I assume is my master socket from my hallway attached). E.g. is this one made for the UK/BT market only or would/should it still work? If not, can anyone provide a link to a compatible one online?
B. Alarm; the home alarm is monitored over the phone line (not eircom phonewatch, 3rd party). Will/would fitting this faceplate affect the operation of the house alarm?

For item 3 above (Cat6 twisted pair, RJ45 to RJ11);
I would make one myself but past attempts at DIY network cabling have been hit & miss. I could buy one online such as this;
1M CAT6 DSL LEAD CABLE for FIBRE TELEPHONE LINES like BT INFINITY FTTC VDSL

But given the postage cost does anyone know of somewhere cheaper in Ireland to source these?

For item 4 I'll trawl ebay & aliexpress.

swoofer

You are going to quite a bit of effort. Where are you located? Are you 100% sure that is the main socket? The other cable leading off it could be to an extension or from the main socket? Can you actually access the box outside your house, ie the one eircom provide. I have forgotten the abbreviation.

What I did was disconnect all cables and run a cat5e from the box outside to that box you refer to, I got it from an eircom van. I then invested in a wireless phone set up. so no filters. Its drastic but went from 4mb to 7.6.

olewy

swoofer wrote: »

You are going to quite a bit of effort. Where are you located? Are you 100% sure that is the main socket? The other cable leading off it could be to an extension or from the main socket? Can you actually access the box outside your house, ie the one eircom provide. I have forgotten the abbreviation.

What I did was disconnect all cables and run a cat5e from the box outside to that box you refer to, I got it from an eircom van. I then invested in a wireless phone set up. so no filters. Its drastic but went from 4mb to 7.6.

Thanks. The effort is all in the name of maximising the available bandwidth.
Located in north wicklow.
I'm not 100% sure its the main socket but there was a replacement phone line installed by Eircom some years back (the original line couldn't take DSL) & this was the faceplate they fitted at the time. The other sockets in the house have the old Telecom Eireann faceplates so I can only assume they are the extension sockets. From what I've read the hall is typically where the master socket is located. I'm open to correction or any info that would help me confirm its the master socket.

Unknown where the shielded cable inside the socket leads to.
I'm not 100% sure where the box is outside the house but I think I've spotted it on the front of the house before. I'll take a look in the daylight tomorrow to confirm. I think the name for the box would be the NTU but I could be mistaken.

I don't think I could run a new cat5e or cat6a cable from the outside box to the master socket without confirming the wiring/implications with the alarm installer/maintenance guy.

Re wireless phone; do you mean a single base unit with wireless handsets or VoIP over LAN?
I have a phone in the hall (Philips CD 155, 2 wireless handsets), the base unit plugs straight into the RJ11 y splitter (1xrj11 male to 3xrj11 female), black cable in the image.
Then there's also a wired phone running from the kitchen to the hall (beige cable in the image, also plugged into the same splitter). The reason we still have this kitchen phone is because the quality of the line is much clearer/louder for callers than the handsfree & it doesn't need mains power to operate (e.g. useful if there's a power outage).

Update; I unplugged the rj11 y splitter and plugged it into the 1st DSL microfilter that's coming from the master socket (so taking the 2nd DSL microfilter out of the equation). I didn't run speed tests before it but after making that change speedtests have been acceptable (~3.2Mbps). It could just be timing. The speedtests will need to be ran at various days/times to get an average. But, the change made the call quality on the handsfree phone worse (crackling). I wouldn't have expected call quality degradation but if it has increased bandwidth its welcome. I'm about to buy a replacement rj11 y splitter on ebay to rule that out. Maybe there are better solutions to prevent call quality degradation other than a splitter. Open to suggestions.

ED E

If you care about BB, disconnect your internal sockets completely for now.

Box outside is the ETU, the master socket is the NTU.

Dont use speed tests as your performance metric, log into the modem at http://192.168.1.254 and get the sync rates from there, a far better way to see if the changes you make are working or not.

olewy

ED E wrote: »

If you care about BB, disconnect your internal sockets completely for now.

Box outside is the ETU, the master socket is the NTU.

Dont use speed tests as your performance metric, log into the modem at http://192.168.1.254 and get the sync rates from there, a far better way to see if the changes you make are working or not.

Thanks. All internal sockets other than the NTU/master socket have nothing plugged into them. The Technicolor Gateway currently shows Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 384 / 2.656
Which isn't great.

Full details;

Uptime: 0 days, 1:37:06

DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.1

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 384 / 2.656

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 701,94 / 86,27

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11,9 / 18,7

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31,5 / 52,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 24,0 / 3,9

System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----

Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / ALCB

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 9 / -

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 12 / -

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / -

Loss of Link (Remote): -

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 636 / -

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 14 / 538.327

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 16 / 1.179

HEC Errors (Up/Down): -6 / 1.179 / 8.350

swoofer

do you know how far you are from the exchange? And those uk sockets are not a good idea, the wiring is slightly different. Bad weather can affect speed as well. You could try disconnecting that extension cable in the eircom socket as well and reboot router. But as you have an alarm as well that is another complication.

olewy

swoofer wrote: »

do you know how far you are from the exchange? And those uk sockets are not a good idea, the wiring is slightly different. Bad weather can affect speed as well. You could try disconnecting that extension cable in the eircom socket as well and reboot router. But as you have an alarm as well that is another complication.

2KM from the exchange which my ISP told me equates for the halving of the line speed (from 8Mb to 4Mb). The thing is though that all exchanges in my county are apparently NGA/NGN enabled and all cabinets around my area are efibre ready so I would have assumed all lines would now be in the 24-100Mbps range which doesn't add up.

Re disconnecting the extension cable in the eircom socket; do you mean the white ethernet cable that's wired to the back of the faceplate? If do that then I've no phone or DSL. If you mean the first microfilter that's plugged into the master socket; I did that & it improved speed somewhat but I need the phone line for calls also.
Router has been rebooted a few times.

ED E

That line is more like 3800m, unless a crap cable is throwing the result(bad cables do that).

At the back of your socket there'll be two cables, one(usually black) from outside which is the eircom drop and another(or a set) that feed the rest of the sockets in the house. Disconnect the latter.

If the latter ISNT there, then your internals are tapped off further up and you'll need to make a bigger change.

swoofer

one last thing if you go to the speed checker on eir and put your number in it should tell you if the line is capable of fibre and you need a different modem for that. If it is, then change to e fibre and save yourself a lot of hassle as the installation guy will check all your cables. Its worth a shot.

olewy

swoofer wrote: »

one last thing if you go to the speed checker on eir and put your number in it should tell you if the line is capable of fibre and you need a different modem for that. If it is, then change to e fibre and save yourself a lot of hassle as the installation guy will check all your cables. Its worth a shot.

Line checker output on eir;

You are in an advanced broadband area

Unfortunately eir Fibre is not yet available in your area but the good news is you can still avail of our advanced broadband service. When eir Fibre arrives in your area you will be able to upgrade for free. Our current estimate for the arrival of eir Fibre in your area is: NGA_DONUT

Line Speed
You can get a maximum of 4Mb download speed

http://business.digiweb.ie/linechecker/
Exchange Code: Unknown
DSL Enabled: Yes - 4 MB
NGB Enabled: Yes - 4 MB
Fibre Enabled: No
LLU Enabled: No

When I look at http://fibrerollout.ie/where-and-when/ all cabinets in my area says "Fibre Broadband Cabinet is Live".

olewy

ED E wrote: »

That line is more like 3800m, unless a crap cable is throwing the result(bad cables do that).

At the back of your socket there'll be two cables, one(usually black) from outside which is the eircom drop and another(or a set) that feed the rest of the sockets in the house. Disconnect the latter.

If the latter ISNT there, then your internals are tapped off further up and you'll need to make a bigger change.

Re distance;
Both eir and my ISP Digiweb said I'm 2KM from my exchange and that 4mb is about right. They didn't mention cabling as a secondary issue, but I guess it wasn't in their interest to per se.

Re back of the socket;
I assume you mean remove the two screws from the socket (see attached picture) & take a look at the cabling behind to see what the white wire in the picture is attached to. I haven't done that yet, I will probably give it a go but my only reservation is the alarm because with only the faceplate of the master socket removed (per the picture) the alarm panel detects a fault at the socket until the faceplate is put back on.

Re connecting directly to the drop lead (outside wire);
If I remove the socket housing and find that the white wire in the picture is attached to a black wire (drop lead) from outside as you mention, am I correct in saying that I should then do the following;
1. Disconnect the extension lead from the drop wire (untwist the connection, taking note of which wires are currently being used)
2. Disconnect the other end of the extension lead from the back of the master socket's faceplate (i.e. the black/red and green/white twisted pairs in the picture).
3. Take any two twisted pairs of wires from the drop lead & attach them to the back of the faceplate. And then test the connection speed.
Just want to clarify.

Re;
If the latter ISNT there, then your internals are tapped off further up and you'll need to make a bigger change
By futher up do you mean somewhere else between the NTU and ETU or could there be a line issue between the ETU and the cabinet or between the cabinet and the exchange?

Re having someone check/rule out and/or replace the wiring between the ETU and NTU and extension sockets;
Can you recommend someone who can do this? We are due to get the alarm serviced in the next few weeks. I'm assuming he'd be qualified to do this for a fee?

mass_debater

Stop messing with it, that is your master socket and is also where your alarm connects and returns. Connect your modem directly to the plate left on the wall with the front disconnected and test

ED E

Excuse the MS Paint, too lazy today.



1. ALARM, send receive. CORRECT.

2. Extensions, to white cable. CORRECT.

3. The motherload. When you test with the modem into this socket (dont worry that its RJ45 not RJ11, itll fit!) your modem is DIRECT to the line and EVERYTHING else is disconnected. This gets us a "pure" reading of the line.

What your ISP is saying though is bullshít. Either you're 3.5-4Km and its a 4Mb line or you're 2KM and its a 16Mb line(Possibly capped at 7Mb in some areas).

If you drive your line back towards the post office in the centre of your town you should be able to guage what distance makes sense.

Meanwhile, connect the modem to 3 above, reboot it, let it sit for 10 mins then post your stats again and we can get an idea of how things are.

olewy

Thanks, I'm 1.8km from my post office (by road, not by as the crows fly) and I'm 750m from the nearest cabinet on http://fibrerollout.ie/where-and-when/.

Update; I phoned my ISP (Digiweb) who ran another line speed test (3.4Mbps download speed) and it showed I'm actually 3miles (4.8km) from the exchange and not 2KM as they originally advised. So they suspect the line could be running directly to the exchange rather than to a cabinet, and possibly looped a few times somehow so extending the total distance. I got the code for the exchange that came up in the test but the ISP said that could just be the code of the dslam in the exchange itself (the first 3 letters of the code are an abbreviation of my town name). Is there a database somewhere of exchange code names or a way to confirm where the actual exchange is?

So the ISP said the issue needs to be taken up with Eir. Asked the ISP if they can do that on my behalf; no, I need to contact Eir directly. So I did and Eir tech support said the line is rented from OpenEir (previously Eirom Wholesale) and that OpenEir don't deal with the public so I need to get my ISP to contact OpenEir. Mess! Back onto the ISP and they agreed to follow up with OpenEir.

Another house's line in my estate also comes up on the checker as Fibre not enabled so I suspect all 100 odd houses in the estate are 4mb max too. The ISP said there have been occasions where the only successful resolution is for all houses in the estate to sign a petition to OpenEir (Eircom Wholesale) to get the appropriate work done. I can see this being necessary. Let's see.

ED E

olewy wrote: »

So the ISP said the issue needs to be taken up with Eir. Asked the ISP if they can do that on my behalf; no, I need to contact Eir directly. So I did and Eir tech support said the line is rented from OpenEir (previously Eirom Wholesale) and that OpenEir don't deal with the public so I need to get my ISP to contact OpenEir. Mess! Back onto the ISP and they agreed to follow up with OpenEir.

Lol Digiweb are clueless. Even eir customers dont contact OpenEir directly, it all goes through the line operators helpdesk.

Even if your line bypasses the local cab(not uncommon) it still shouldnt double its travel. There are a few places where theres weird runs (I know a lad in Donegal with a 7km run despite being 1km from town, line follows a very old road) but it wouldnt be common. What you may have is your line goes the opposite direction to a different exchange. Digiweb should be able to tell you your ASAM code (ABC00 format) and those letters will correspond with your exchange on the map.