When you see an ISP advertise using the phrase "speeds up to 8Mb" what this translates to is 'the fastest speed that your line can carry, up to 8Mb". The actual speed that you get in the end will depend entirely on the physical length of your line from the exchange to your home and the quality of your internal wiring. Here are the important things to remember when you first get speeds up to 8Mb:

1. Your first 10 days of "speeds up to 8Mb" will be a period which your line will be tested to determine what the optimium speed is that your line can carry. During this time you may experience slower speeds than expected or intermittend connection issues. Don't worry too much about it - this should resolve itself by day 11.
2. Connect using your master socket.
3. Have a microfilter fitted to every phone socket that is in use and remember to include sockets being used for FAX machines and SKY TV boxes.
4. Use a router and not a modem. If you have an option between using a USB or ETHERNET port to connect, choose the ETHERNET port everytime (especially for the Apple Mac users). Leave the router on as much as possible during the first 10 days.

Because speeds up to 8Mb can be sensitive here is some basic speed troubleshooting for speeds up to 8Mb. If you do need to call the support centre you'll be ahead of the game if you know the answers to these questions and follow these steps prior to calling in it should save you some time (and possibly a phone call).

Are you within the first 10 days of your ‘go live’ date?
When you first start your broadband with speeds up to 8Mb it’s important that you turn off your router/modem and then turn it on again. This will ensure that your router/modem will synchronise when it connects to the new faster service. The 10 day stabalisiation period will commence after you have connected at the new rate for a period greater than 15 minutes. If you do not restart your router/modem, your connection speed will remain the same as you had previously.

During the 10 day period, we recommend that you leave your router on all the time. The computer doesn’t need to be on, just the router.

During the stabilisation period you might experience slow speeds or intermittent connection issues. Should your speeds not be satisfactory by day 11 please get in touch with your ISP

Microfilters
Check that every phone socket in your house that is in use has a microfilter fitted to it. Remember to include phone sockets that are being used for Sky TV boxes and FAX machines.

Microfilters can be problematic if you are using a faulty one. Faulty microfilters will impact your speeds and you will get disconnections. To check your microfilters to see if you’ve got a faulty one, unplug everything from all phone sockets in the house, test each filter from the test port from within your master socket by connecting to the Internet. If you get a substantially lower sync using one of the filters you’ve found your faulty one and it will need to be replaced.

Master Socket
Internal wiring can influence the end speeds that you receive. If you are getting slower speeds than expected and you’re connecting from an extension socket, please move your set up to the master socket and see if your sync rates improve. If they do leave it there for three days to see if the speeds improve. If the speeds do improve it may be time to look at getting a wireless router or a very long ethernet cable.

A further step if you don’t see any improvement from your master socket is to connect from the test socket that exists within your master socket and see if the sync rates improve from that location. If the sync rates improve, please stay connected to the test socket for three days and see if your speeds improve. If your speeds do improve from the test socket but not from the master socket it is most likely that your internal wiring is causing the problem and you will need to get your local phone person out to fix it. Make sure you test out everything else first (such as microfilters) before you get the phone person in!

Hardware
Get up to date with the latest drivers or firmware for your broadband modem/router. Most hardware manufacturers have the latest drivers available on their websites for download; we recommend that you make sure that your drivers are up to date .

Apple Macintosh
I love Macs and I use one at home. If you’re a Mac user do not connect to the internet using a USB connection – treat yourself to a router that’s got an ethernet cable and use that to connect.

If you do continue to use a USB connection please be aware that we’ve seen problems with the Apple Mac and the Voyager 105 – if you’re using this combination of equiptment, please download the latest 105 drivers from our Website. Or even better; get an Ethernet router!

Speed Tests
In the instance all of the above doesn’t point towards the cause of the problem, you’ll need to get in touch with your ISP. If you're a Madasafish customer run a few speed tests at different times of day through the speed tester located in “My Account”. The speed tests that you run will become a permanent part of your account records and this will expedite the process of raising faults if you’ve done this before you call us. During the time that we’re dealing with your query I would recommend performing a speed test daily.

Change in Your Sync Speeds
If your sync rates decrease, your throughput speeds will immediately decrease too. If your sync rate increases, it will take three days for your throughput speeds to increase. Go figure.

If you see an increase in your sync rate please stay connected for three days and you should see an increase in your speeds; provided that the sync rate stays at that rate or higher.

Getting in Touch With Your ISP
If you perform all the above troubleshooting and nothing seems to appear as the immediate cause of the problem, call or email your ISP. Should you write in please make sure to include all the troubleshooting that you’ve performed as outlined above, this will mean that your ISP will be able to look at your speeds in greater depth straight away. Also, if you write to your ISP, be sure to include your username so that we can locate your account.

Kind regards,
Samara
Madasafish Customer Care

Hi Samara

Thanks for this really useful posting about the process involved in signing up to an ISP.

If anyone has any other questions to ask Samara please feel free to send her a message or post a new thread.

Cheers

Jason

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Jason Lloyd
moneysupermarket.com
0800 298 5770

" We're here to help you find the best deal and avoid the pitfalls through sharing knowledge and experiences."

Note on Microfilters and related issues.

1.The function of a microfilter is to separate the higher frequency "broadband signal" from the normal low frequency "telephone" signals that travel along your phone line. This "broadband" signal, once seperated, is then connected via a seperate connetion to your modem, or modem router.

2. When your phone line enters your premises from outside , it is intially terminated at the "Network Termination point" which is your "Master socket". Normally, the master socket can be indentified by the fact that it has a lower rectangular part / plate , held by two screws, which can be "legally" removed by you to facilitate internal "DIY" wiring to additional / extension phone sockets by means of the push down connectors that are found on the back of this removable plate.

IF you remove this plate, you will see that it plugs into a recess which is in fact a socket identical in nature to a normal telephone socket ........... NOW if you plug something into THIS socket, the IMPORTANT THING TO REALISE is that ALL other wiring in your premises has been disconnected (assuming that no one has done "illegal" wiring by connecting "behind" the master sokcet.!!)

SO - when you connect a microfilter at this socket - you are connecting it DIRECTLY to Bt's Network Nermination and Test point (NTTP) , and ALL other wiring is disconnected/eliminated from this "installation".

NOW - What you need to be aware of is: There is a high probability that internal phone wiring, particularly poorly installed DIY wiring, will pick up noise / interference from mains wiring, electronic devices such as TV's, Fax's, thermostats etc etc, AND,
..... if your broadband set up now appears to work more reliably when connected as discussed to the NTTP , then it's almost certainly / probably due to the fact you've now "eliminated" this noise that was coming from your internal wiring.
(This is because this "noise" "interferes" or "competes with" with the "wanted" broadband signal separated by the microfilter - and consequently reduces the ability of your modem to reliably "hear" the broadband signal - known as "noise margin" )

Note - when the modem "hears" the broadband or "ADSL" signal, it "locks" onto it, and is then said to be "in Sync" (syncronisation) and this is usually indicated by the "ADSL" lamp going from flashing - to "steady".
If the ADSL lamp is seen to keep going back intermittently to "flashing" then it indicates that the modem is struggling to "hear" the signal - possibly because of noise presence

(Many good modem /routers will allow you to test this "noise margin" figure, and then you can actually see the improvement that you have obtained by connection directly to the "NTTP" (Note - the figure (in Db's) goes UP as the situation improves)

The other test your modem should show is "line loss" (in Db's) , which is effectively a indication of the "received strength" of the broadband signal reaching you from the exchange. (Note: The higher the line loss figure - the weaker your signal is)
That is: the longer your phone line is from the exchange, the more the broadband signal is weakened. - AND - of course - if the signal's weak becuase you're a long way from the exchange, then the noise picked up from your end is more likely to cause problems - because it's more likely to be similar in level to the wanted signal --- i.e. it's just like trying to hear a quiet voice in a room full of noisy partygoers!!!

So It's improved - BUT - what do you do now??? ......... IF you put the master socket back as it was - then the problem's back again !! - no matter how many microfilters you place elswhere - becuase it's the wiring picking up the noise - and microfilters won't stop that ... because they are on the "wrong side" of the wiring which is picking up the offending noise!!!

The solution is that you replace the master socket lower "plate" by a similar looking component, which includes an inbuilt microfilter. This is called an "NTE5" filter plate, and this device not only performs the function of a microfilter, - but - ALSO, and perhaps more importantly - ISOLATES the remainder of the internal wiring - because ALL of this wiring is now connected to an identicall push down connector strip which means that it's now the "other side of the integral faceplate filter" - and hence the noise still being picked up from your internal wiring is now "isolated"

This filter plate has two sockets, one for a phone/fax etc, and the other for your modem / modem-router
IT DOES mean however that your modem / modem router has to be connected at this point, i.e. the master socket, but that's a small price to pay for a more reliable connection !! - AND - you DONT need any microfilters elsewhere on extension phone sockets !

For more help and advice - read my other posts

Regards

Eric-isp

Wow! Eric-isp, that is a lot of really good advice!

I like your style - particularly the analogy:

"Because it's more likely to be similar in level to the wanted signal --- i.e. it's just like trying to hear a quiet voice in a room full of noisy partgoers!!!"

Kind regards,
Samara

Just another not to add to the list of things you have explained there Eric.

The more devices you have connected to the other sockets in your house the weaker the signal will be. If you put the faceplate back on the NTTP and the problem arises make sure you disconnect all the other phones or fax machines in the property as it may not be the fact that you have wiring problems it could simply be that the line gets too attenuated.

I think from memory every house gets 3REN into the property (electrical signal phone lines use), a standard telephone uses 1REN. Obviously therefore the more devices you have the weaker the signal will be and the higher the lines attenuation will be.

---

'Now, I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'

Hi

Just a footnote to the previous entry by "immo".

There is essentially a difference between the "attenuation" of a phone line in terms of the "normal" Telephony signals it conveys, which are essentially in the "audio frequency" range. In the early days of telephony this frequency range was deemed to be 300Hz to 3.4Khz.
These were the frequencies considered neccessary for intelligble speech to be heard over a phone line.

When we talk about attenuation for conventional telephony devices such as phone, fax etc, then we are concerning ourselves with the AUDIO frequency range, NOT the broadband frequency range, which, as I said before in the earlier post, is isolated from the "audio or telephony" spectrum at "your end - ie the customer end " by means of the "micro filter"

IF you inadvertently plug a conventional telephony device such as a phone or fax into an extension socket where broadband is in operation - WITHOUT a microfilter, then this device will "swamp - or load" the broadband signal , and hence signifacntly reduce its signal level - probably below that which the ADSL modem can detect.
THATS why you must have a micro filter at EVERY phone point which is being used, UNLESS you put a micro filter in at the "start" end, ie at the master socket - hence the NTE5 filter plate !

Note on "REN"
In order to make your telephone bell ring, an alternating current is applied to your phone line of sufficient level to make a (in fact several) "bell(s) ring.
When you answer your phone - a "loop" is created on your line, enabling a DC current to flow, which the exchange detects, and it then interrupts the ringing current. - i.e you've "answered the call"
Now in the early days again - this "bell" was an electomagnet, ie a coil of wire, which acutated an armature, which hit a physical "bell" and hence made it ring. NOW - its fairly obvious that if you had extension phones in those days, if you connected too many of them, then there wasn't enough energy in the "ringing Signal" to ring All the bells, and so basically you wouldn't know when an incoming call was there !!

And so they specified the number of Bells you could connect - which was related to "standard bell winding impedance", and was called the "Ringer Equivalance Number", or REN. So if your line had a REN number of 4, it meant it would only support 4 bells! - assuming each bell had a REN factor of 1. If you fitted a BIG bell outside so the lazy b*****s could hear it, then it might have a REN of 2 or more - cos' it took more energy to make it work - and so in that case you might have used up 2 + 1 of your "REN" allowance
Good ol' days eh!

The REN factor is still used today, but maybe is not so relevant becuase most phones now have electronic ringers, and so use very little power from the ringing current sent from the exchange - and so have a the minimum REN factor of 1 (but in practice is much less than "1")

Carrying on with the "attenuation subject .....................

(A good Hi-fi Audio system will operate between 20Hz to 20Khz or so, and someone of younger age, with good ears will be able to hear at least up to 15Khz - so we'll say that anything above 20Khz is "above audio" - or "ultrasonic"

Now - the attenuation of these frequencies over a typical line length of say 2 -4 Km is quite low, and consequently is not much of a problem for general telephony use

BUT - if you try to send much higher frequencies than this over a conventional phone line - (which is only a pair of loosely twisted copper wires between you and the exchange) then the attenuation rises sharply
In the case of broadband, which uses frequencies much much higher than the audio range then you can see that the signal you will receive NOW becomes very much a function of the phone line length.

AND - "broadband" - to give it it's proper name ADSL - ( "Assymetric Digital Subsrciiber Line") Is "assymetric" because it uses the LOWER frequency part of the available spectrum for the UPLINK data, and uses a usually larger "chunk" of "whats left" of the remaining UPPER part of the available frequency spectrum for the "DOWNLINK" data path.
(i.e assymetric - uplink not the same bandwidth as the downlink- unlike SDSL (Syncronous Digital subscriber line, where the uplink and downlink are equal)

NOW.....you can see that - as the phone line gets longer, and the available frequencies get restricted because of rising attenuation of the higher frequencies,, then the only thing to "give up on" here is the available Downlink bandwith and hence speed (in terms of Bits per second) !!!!

And so that's why the downlink speed varies, with line length (gets lower as the line gets longer) and - what's more,...... on ADSL Max (8Mb) , the exchange end effectively "tries out" how far it can "push the upper frequency limit" , by progressively raising the downlink speed, until the data "error rate" is unacceptable. It will then reduce the downlink speed until an acceptable level of error rate is re-established.
From those two "extreme "points an "acceptable" level of speed is then set - NOW - .................. that could be less than the speed you had before you switched to ADSL Max !!
("Could be " .........Because the speed is set after this "test period" to the nearest 500K "block", and it "rounds down" not UP, so if your "trial" connect speed was say 1950kB, then it would be set to 1500Kb (1.5mB) and NOT 2mB ,,,,,, which is what you might have had before going to ADSL max, due to your line being originally "graded" as capable of supporting a 2mB service)

So - I hope this sheds some more light on attenation, filters, REN , general telephony, etc.

And finally when you get to my age - you'll be lucky to hear 8 -10 Khz , let alone 15Khz !!

Those were the days !!

And for those of you that remember 405 line TV - remember how annoying the line timebase " whistle" coming from the line output transfromer at 10.125Khz was - wish I could still hear that now !!

Regards

Eric - isp

Good answer with a little more detail than I gave. I was just trying to keep it simple for the untechnical people who frequent this forum.

Just to add another note which most people will never have or need to worry about but SDSL is the alternative to ADSL. Sadly SDSL is still too expensive although its suprising the amount of people who would be better off with it that ADSL.

The ISP's seem to think people will mostly download information from the Internet, while this is true its not always the case. I find myself often uploading 10's of GB's of data. My line is 8064x512 and as you can imagine it takes a long time to do anything.

Hopefully the major ISP's will get the idea soon that giving someone 16-24mb connections isnt going to make some people happy. I would much rather have 8/8mb than 24/1.

Maybe in a few years we will have OC or at least Coaxial connections available in most property's so network speeds between 10/100mb are available but I think we are a long way off that yet.

---

'Now, I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'

were can one buy an NTE5 from please because i have trolled the net but they seem to be discontinued.any help would be gratefully excepted

Hi there,

We supply and fit the NTE5 filter plate in customer installations where it's use is required.

We can supply these on a "fit it yourself" basis.  (i.e .....we are not responsible for any wiring issues, failure of telephone / telephony  service (bells not ringing on extensions etc  or any other telephony /broadband issues after you have fitted it. )

If you do fit an NTE5 filter plate, You should make a careful note of line loss and noise margin figures first, and take careful note also of any existing wiring on the "old" plate before removing same, and fitting the new plate.

Please note also that it is "illegal" to remove the main part of the master socket fixings / wiring. Only the "front" plate can be removed.

Armed with this information , it should work without any further problems, and you can then recheck the test figures, and note any improvement.

Regards

 

Eric-isp 

 

 

 

hi eric

thanks for this info.can you supply me the adress to where i can purchase this please. 

If you can send an email to info AT 7serve.net I can help you further

 

REgards

 

Eric-isp

Good advice Eric - perhaps you'd like to be a moderator for broadband (hmm?)

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Jason Lloyd
moneysupermarket.com
0800 298 5770

" We're here to help you find the best deal and avoid the pitfalls through sharing knowledge and experiences."

Hi Jason.

 

i know we've spoken before - have you still got my contact details ?    Can you give me a call sometime regarding this ?

 

Regards

 

Eric

Can't speak to you today but I will try later this week.

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Jason Lloyd
moneysupermarket.com
0800 298 5770

" We're here to help you find the best deal and avoid the pitfalls through sharing knowledge and experiences."

eric

i dont think you got my email as it bounced.can you cantact me please 

 

lincon7echo AT gmail.com

cheers speedtouch