BT phone cable or bell wire?

[woolyhead 15]

I once worked in a company doing development of telephone exchanges for BT. At one point during TXE4 development we needed to know the characteristic impedance of that ordinary, loosely twisted, outdoor  telephone cable that comes into our homes and BT couldn't tell us what it was. So we had to do the necessary measurements ourselves.  It was then that I realised that this cable was pretty poor stuff electrically over short distances. Years later I wanted an extension to my house phone in one of the bedrooms and I had a length of ordinary bell wire available in my cupboard and knowing what poor stuff the outdoor BT cable is I decided  to use bell wire instead. This wiring is about 100 feet long and I still get a good internet speed.  Just thought someone might like to know.

[Top Cats Hat 10]

If you plug your router directly into your master BT box you can increase your internet speed by up to 30% (depending on the wiring to any extension boxes).

 

I did this a while back and got a 20% increase in speed despite the cable to my extension box being no more than 5 metres long, in good condition and reasonably well terminated at both ends. 😉

[DeZeus 11]

BT won't be very pleased if everyone does that!

Glad I'm on Yorkshire Cables...

Fibre

 

 

[woolyhead 15]

On ‎25‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 16:52, DeZeus said:

BT won't be very pleased if everyone does that!

Glad I'm on Yorkshire Cables...

Fibre

What are you referring to? My use of bell wire? In the past, BT did once send a man to find out why my internet was as slow as it then was. He looked askance at my bell wire and my joints and gave me a good length of BT indoor cable and suggested I replace my jointed bell wire with it. But the problem with my speed turned out to be a corroded wall socket and when it was replaced the speed went right up. I left the bell wire alone and it has been OK ever since. Why would BT be displeased by bell wire?

 

 

 

[DeZeus 11]

I was referring to if everyone on BT cured their slow internet, that way, by using the Master Socket,

Was thinking BT capacity may be compromised  possibly unable to cope? With the faster traffic via everyone.

(my poor attempt at humour)

[RollingJ 1,974]

10 hours ago, DeZeus said:

I was referring to if everyone on BT cured their slow internet, that way, by using the Master Socket,

Was thinking BT capacity may be compromised  possibly unable to cope? With the faster traffic via everyone.

(my poor attempt at humour)

DeZeus - It is always recommended to use the master socket for your internet connection, extra cabling introduces more 'noise'.

[Resident 1,180]

Shielded ethernet cable with RJ11 plugs here. 

My master socket is in an awkward place but has both phone and RJ11 socket. 

 

Internet speeds are spot on and near max of my Internet package give or take 1mb. (when testing via cable connected device) 

[RollingJ 1,974]

5 minutes ago, Resident said:

Shielded ethernet cable with RJ11 plugs here. 

My master socket is in an awkward place but has both phone and RJ11 socket. 

 

Internet speeds are spot on and near max of my Internet package give or take 1mb. (when testing via cable connected device) 

That's how I was set up until late last year, with exactly the same kind of results. Changed to a Mk.5 socket (repositioned) in an attempt to cure a slight problem.

[Resident 1,180]

9 hours ago, RollingJ said:

That's how I was set up until late last year, with exactly the same kind of results. Changed to a Mk.5 socket (repositioned) in an attempt to cure a slight problem.

This a reinstall after renovation. Phone line was only up outside wall.  OpenReach decided the new socket needed to be on the wall behind my front door (when open) , nowhere near power sockets or anything. 

 

I had requested that it be sited where it was before, at the top of the stairs a foot away from the nearest power socket, which would have provided an ideal spot for the Q router I have but they said no. 

[RollingJ 1,974]

41 minutes ago, Resident said:

This a reinstall after renovation. Phone line was only up outside wall.  OpenReach decided the new socket needed to be on the wall behind my front door (when open) , nowhere near power sockets or anything. 

 

I had requested that it be sited where it was before, at the top of the stairs a foot away from the nearest power socket, which would have provided an ideal spot for the Q router I have but they said no. 

You had a rubbish engineer, then. Those I have had out for line faults have all been really helpful. In fact,the one who repositioned and replaced mine shouldn't have, as his remit was to investigate a high SNR/varying connection speed issue, which, sadly,this action has not resolved.

Edited January 29, 2019 by RollingJ

[Resident 1,180]

4 hours ago, RollingJ said:

You had a rubbish engineer, then. Those I have had out for line faults have all been really helpful. In fact,the one who repositioned and replaced mine shouldn't have, as his remit was to investigate a high SNR/varying connection speed issue, which, sadly,this action has not resolved.

I suppose so. It's not really bothered me. I needed switches anyway because I have a total of 9 wired devices around my house and only 2 ports on the router & I've cabled into all the rooms that required. The router plus 3 of those wired devices also act as WiFi access points, router and 2 of the APs are upstairs so connection around the house is ridiculously good. Except for next the microwave, go near that it dies, whether it's in use or not. 

[ez8004 10]

Disconnect your ring wire. You don’t need it and it effectively acts like an antenna which introduces noise. I did this and my speeds became equivalent to plugging into the master socket directly.  

Edited February 6, 2019 by ez8004