Cabling advice needed

[bigblue]

Hi folks,

My main BT socket is downstairs in the living room. I have 2 sockets upstairs but have no idea of their quality as they were put in by the house builder.

When BT came to connect us (first connection, new build house) the engineer said the upstairs sockets weren't capable of supporting broadband when he arrived but he'd "put them right". No idea whether he was talking out of his backside or was looking for a bung !

I currently have my router (BT hub) at the end of a 10m RJ11 cable, which is connected to one of the upstairs sockets. It's allegedly connecting at 4m/b but it's running around 2.5m/b at best and considerably slower at worst.

Would I be better moving the hub to the downstairs main socket and running a longer ethernet cable to the pc ? If so which cable ? Cat 6 ?

Help !

Any and all advice gratefully received !

[Supercharged]

If it's a new build the cable should be CAT6

Try it downstairs and see what speed you get... i doubt you'll see any difference, it will most likely be external factors like your physical distance from the exchange...

What about adding a wireless card to your PC?

[bigblue]

Thanks for the reply

I'm not too far from the exchange, about 2 miles, although I know the wiring doesn't necessarily take a path straight to my door

Knowing the housebuilders we had, and the corners they cut, I'd faint with shock if they used decent cabling for the upstairs sockets.

I kinda hoped that a Cat6 cable from the original BT socket would carry things better than a 10m RJ11 extension from an additional socket.

I was thinking of a wireless card but as we've an electrician due out I thought I'd put in the wires while the place was a mess anyway. I thought wired would be better ?

Or would there be any sense in getting a BT engineer to have a look ? They're on the estate a lot, I could have a sneaky word

[abeacock]

If you can get them to test it out for free then do it, but I'm not sure it would be worth a call out fee.

BT did some tests on my line recently (disconnect problem) and they were able to test the signal quality from the master socket and the upstairs socket, as well as at the end of a very long extension lead that feeds my ADSL modem.

Another thing to try would be some line speed tests from your PC when the router is plugged in the various sockets around the house - http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=93862

[ultim8um]

I would purchase a long enough piece of CAT 5e and some RJ45's and crimp myself a temporary cable. Place the router downstairs and test it.

If it is significantly better then use the cable you have just made as a replacement between the two existing boxes / sockets (obviously after removing the RJ45's!!!)

[bigblue]

I can't really do anything about the extension points as they were done by the builders and all wiring is in-wall. I'm not technically proficient enough to start messing about with them

My only real options are to run a cable from downstairs or stay as is. Or go wireless, which is a whole other set of questions...

I've ordered a 15m patch cable and will try the hub hooked up to my main socket. As speeds are dropping daily (despite my exchange seemingly being ok) it's looking more likely I'll be on narking to BT shortly

Thanks for all the advice so far, much appreciated !

[jamin]

Cable installed by the builders for phone extensions will be standard 2 or 3 pair (cat 3) same stuff that all phone extensions are cabled with even by BT. I doubt the builders would have used cat 6 unless there are rj45 outlets in the house and even then it would have been cat 5 at best cat 5e. Do you have rj45 outlets in the house? No? I didn't think so.

If the phone sockets were put in by builders, chances are they are all masters or all slaves, BT would have come in and corrected this (I hope!) as it can cause probs.

Best thing to try is undo the 2 small screws and remove the bottom half of the master, this "should" if things have been wired correctly, disconnect all of the extensions. Plug the router directly into the socket revealed behind then check your speed, if there is no difference, your internal wiring is not at fault.

[torched_geek]

Being 2 miles away from the exchange..
Limits your Internet at 2mb at current technology (Mines actually limited at 1mb due to our rubbish exchange. =/)
Also make sure that the Patch cable isn't longer then 10meters..
Because then the data transfer changed rapidly after that point.

[bigblue]

jamin: Regards wiring, this is more along the lines of what I was expecting. Having a look at the master socket was the last option but one I'll need to do. Just need to wait for a cable I've ordered to save me lugging the pc downstairs !

torched geek: I thought that too, but BT say I should get around 4m/b and the first few days I connected I was getting over 3m/b (seemingly) reliably. First connection was 4.5 m/b but I'm guessing this was a bit of a false dawn.

I know BT have a "settling in" period" but it's now well past that and still getting slower ! I could accept being limited to 2m/b if it wasn't for the fact that a week ago I could connect at 3m/b happily

My exchange has no problems at the mo, when the exchange was listed as underperforming my connection was far quicker

[Re-Invented]

Also make sure that the Patch cable isn't longer then 10meters..
Because then the data transfer changed rapidly after that point.

but it wont affect him that much because even if he is on a 8mb connection and the router is 100mb then its gonna take a hell of a lot to degrade it down that far.

So a 15m cat5e cable will be fine

Lee

[Re-Invented]

I dont know how BT's Hub still rates but last i remeber it was pretty shoddy so try a differnet router

Lee

[torched_geek]

but it wont affect him that much because even if he is on a 8mb connection and the router is 100mb then its gonna take a hell of a lot to degrade it down that far.

So a 15m cat5e cable will be fine

Lee

Not only the amount of data it transfers can lower though...
The rate at which it sends packets does also. Although you are right, if he is using the BT Router/Hub, it's not worth the plastic and metal it's made out of...

It's a usefull paperweight, however.

[bigblue]

I am indeed using the infamous hub.

Thought I'd give it a try for a bit as a mate has one and it seemed to work well for him.

I'll have a go at hooking up the 15m cable (when it arrives) to the master socket and if I have no joy I'll maybe try a different router.

Thanks again for all the help

[bigblue]

Just an update and a few more questions if I could trouble you very, very nice people again

Got a 15m patch cable, hooked my router up to the master socket and found out that, as suspected, the internal extensions in the house aren't up to much.

Connected to the master, the connection is listed as being almost twice as fast, though in practice nowt has changed as seemingly I have to be running happily for 3 days before the wonderful "rate-adaptive technology" will allow it to speed up

So this means I now have to run a cable from the living room to the bedroom. Or... Would a wireless card for the pc be an option ? Is wireless noticeably much slower than wired ?

I have rather a lot of HD media on the PC which should be going to the downstairs TV when all this is resolved. Am I right in thinking the HD video is kinda at the limits of what can be delivered wirelessly ?

Ta again for any advice !

[toolsong]

This page is an absolutely fantastic resource

http://www.readman.dsl.pipex.com/oth...ecatwiring.htm

[bigblue]

Cheers for that toolsong

Very informative. A lot of it is probably beyond my skill (or confidence) levels though

Still dunno whether to order a wireless card for my pc to try it or whether just to bite the bullet and send for the engineer.