Connection problems

[Shazbat]

It seems since I bought and connected 2 digital cordless home phones last week, their presence has been affecting my 1-meg Broadband. I keep getting an error message saying "connection failed" and it then fails to redial, sometimes I need to reboot my PC and others it eventually connects when asked. Is it the phones? It's happened before during the recent thunderstorms but seems to have been more frequent since I connected my new phones up. Plus, the whole connection speed seems to have slowed right down and web pages are taking ages to open/load

[Savannah2]

I would recommend that you connect your cordless phones in another area of the house to decrease the chance that it may cause problems.

The microfilters that most service providers issue are designed to filter out higher frequencies, thereby blocking the ADSL frequencies and not the voice frequencies. According to the instructor, quite a few of the cordless devices have the same sort of filters built into them to cut down on the interference that they place on the line. Good quality phones actually do a pretty good job. But some of the filters from cheap manufactures may actually have the reverse effect on your ADSL.

In fact, any device that connects to the phone line (alarm systems, satellite dishes, game console systems, faxes and modems) have the potential to cause interference. If you suspect that there may be a problem, remove the device and see if your connection improves.

Even Christmas lights and street lights can affect your ADSL connection.

[RiffRaff]

Perhaps there's a clue in your posting....

 

A couple of weeks into the recent "heatwave", we had a couple of nights with lots of lightning, but no thunder..... got up one morning to find my wireless router was zapped, with the ADSL led flashing (rather than permanently lit)

By process of elimination, found that (both) microfilters were fine, and both my cordless phones (and 'phone line) worked as before....

Thankfully the wireless job was only "installed" last Dec, so a quick e-mail to BT (in India, unfortunately!) resulted in a free replacement router.

Incidentally, the instructions revealed that you should disconnect and UNPLUG the router if there's a storm around, so perhaps there's your cause?

[vinceallen]

try replacing your microfilters and also remove any telephone extention cables you may have

[Shazbat]

The phones are BT Studio DECT 1100. The main handset is plugged in in the living room while the internet is plugged in to a separate socket in my hall. I've unplugged the phone tonight and the web is definitely working a lot faster than it has been. In any case the handsets themselves are nowhere near the PC. My old cordless handsets were analogue and although it was pointless actually trying to conduct a telephone conversation while the PC was on (despite the fact I'm on Broadband) it didn't adversely affect my internet connection. Nothing was zapped when it was stormy the other week and it's definitely only happened in the couple of weeks since I got the digital phones. All my equipment is fine and there's nothing else to move that would interfere with the line, now that the main handset is unplugged.

[Cayenne]

You DO have filters on both sockets, don't you?

[Shazbat]

You DO have filters on both sockets, don't you?

 

Er, no. Never have. My filter is connected between my modem and the extension cable to the main socket downstairs that the PC is connected to. The phone is connected to an extension in the living room and I don't recall ever seeing an instruction to fit the filter to all sockets, just the one the internet's connected to.

 

I've now connected the extra filter I was supplied with to the extension phone socket. It's a bit late now but I'm curious to see whether it also cures the problem of the diabolical telephone line when trying to have a conversation with the PC running at the same time.

[BluePolo]

Ironically, there is a direct connection between the plug on the filter, and the socket your modem plugs into. The filter is actually between the plug and the telephone socket on the filter.

 

You don't need a filter at the modem (broadband). You would only need a filter if you were to also connect a dial-up modem as a backup, or to have a telephone at the PC.

 

The only place you need one is at a telephone (some digital phones need one, some don't), and also perhaps at your sky box...

[Cayenne]

Er, no. Never have. My filter is connected between my modem and the extension cable to the main socket downstairs that the PC is connected to. The phone is connected to an extension in the living room and I don't recall ever seeing an instruction to fit the filter to all sockets, just the one the internet's connected to.

 

I've now connected the extra filter I was supplied with to the extension phone socket. It's a bit late now but I'm curious to see whether it also cures the problem of the diabolical telephone line when trying to have a conversation with the PC running at the same time.

I would be surprised if your problem was still apparent now you have filters on both sockets.

Presuming you have an ADSL modem between your PC and the phone line, the only way you can connect it is through a filter as it has the proper socket on it. I'm not too sure what BluePolo is on about, mentioning Sky boxes. Are they different?

When I first had broadband installed, it worked just as you are reporting, low speed, connection disappearing, phones had humming on them all the time. When I put filters between all phones and the BT line as well as one for the ADSL modem, broadband started working. I've since changed the phones over to DECT digital ones and no problems were encountered afterwards.

The instructions received with the modem (a BT one) did not mention all sockets in use had to have filters but the clue was that the ISP supplied two filters. Then the penny dropped.

[Shazbat]

I don't have Sky so that's not a problem. I got 2 filters with the modem but likewise the instructions weren't exactly explicit that you had to fit them all over. I've unplugged my analogue phone which I kept plugged in with the internet connection (for if the mains fails and because my old cordless handsets were so pathetically quiet I couldn't hear them ring behind closed doors) and the other filter is now between the main handset and the extension socket. The other cordless is just a slave so only plugged into the mains. I haven't tried the phones but the internet connection definitely seems to have improved, although at 1meg still not as super duper as I'd like.

 

Ta for the help