"Vortex4" wrote in message
...
It frustrates me that my next door neighbour gets 5Mbps + ADSL downloads
via a "talktalk" connection; when I get only ~3Mbps with a dedicated BT
Business Broadband connection coming from the same exchange and telegraph
pole.

An obvious difference is that neighbours master socket and router are
about 2 metres from the point where the cable enters the house; and in my
case the internal wiring takes a convoluted route of about 20 metres,
crossing and running alongside mains cables....with prehistoric telephone
wire

I can easily replace this cable segment with a new cable directly from
BT's choccy block where the wire enters the house to my master
socket....that almost completely avoids mains wiring and other sources of
interference.

My question: I want to use the best grade of wire available to do this.
Can anybody recommend what would be best? Will screened twisted pair
instrumentation cable, or CAT 6 be any better than ordinary telephone wire
for this purpose?

All opinoins will be gratefully received.

Your problems could be anywhere from the exchange all the way through your
internal wiring to your computer.
I managed to improve my general connection enormously when I ordered a new
business line then persuaded the engineer to run the new overhead line from
a different pole.
Far better than the old line with ancient bits of wiring.
Even then I had major speed problems with Broadband and it took a long time
to finally prove that there was a faulty card in the exchange causing errors
on the line.

Having new wire inside the house can do no harm.
As far as I can see using normal telephone cable should be fine - no need to
do anything fancy.
Just be aware that it may improve things enormously, but on the other hand
it may just eliminate one factor in a very long and complex chain.

I assume your master socket has a built in filter and a dedicated ADSL
socket.
If not, this could improve things.
I got mine from Solwise.

I assume also that you have eliminated all other sources of interference and
that when you disconnect all phones etc. so you only have your ADSL
connection this does not change anything.

I assume also that you have confirmed that you are using the same router as
next door?
[Assuming you are using a router, of course.]
Some routers/ADSL modems have better tolerance for marginal line conditions.

If your neighbour is particularly helpful you could take your ADSL
modem/router, computer etc. next door and test on the line there to confirm
that your equipment can achieve 5Mb/s+ using their infrastructure.

Working your way through all the possibilities may take a very long time and
a lot of patience.

I am a little surprised that you have an ADSL business connection run over
20m of old wiring.
It used to be the case that the master socket was installed as close as
possible to the point where the BT line entered the property to eliminate
the kind of problems you are trying to fix.
Especially, the master socket used to be isolated from any extension wiring
so that the link could be tested without any interference from other
equipment.
Have you checked that BT will not move the socket or run new wiring?

HTH

Dave R