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.

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:33:36 -0000, "Vortex4" wrote:


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?

It will make no difference whatsoever (other than screened cable may
introduce more noise). Standard telephone wire was used from the
exchange, putting a bit of posh stuff at the end won't improve things
for you. Running the wire clear of mains cables may, and using only
one pair and leaving the ring wire (pin 3) and the unused pin 4
disconnected between the master and extensions may well make a lot of
difference.

Peter Parry wrote:
On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:33:36 -0000, "Vortex4" wrote:

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?

It will make no difference whatsoever (other than screened cable may
introduce more noise). Standard telephone wire was used from the
exchange, putting a bit of posh stuff at the end won't improve things
for you. Running the wire clear of mains cables may, and using only
one pair and leaving the ring wire (pin 3) and the unused pin 4
disconnected between the master and extensions may well make a lot of
difference.
I would first of all check what sync speed you get if plugged into the
test socket on the master socket ( or with any other extension wiring
disconnected).
You may want to look at the Nosie Margin and attenuation figures your
modem gives ( and compare it with next door) and feed it into :

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php

I'm not saying replacing the wire wont help but just remember it is a
very short length in probably 1 -3 km of similar twisted pair cable
which goes back to the exchange.

Vortex4 wrote:
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


It may be obvious, but I doubt its the reason.


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.


never a wrong thing to do.

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?


dunno., CAT5 is as good as the telephone cable for sure., But I don't
see it making up the sort of differences you are seeing.


All opinoins will be gratefully received.

"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.

Remember that you are not allowed to do this yourself and BT can charge you
for putting right any problems you cause. Having said that there are all
sorts of factors that could be causing the difference and you need to adopt
a systematic approach to get the optimun performance. This page is a good
place to start.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

Please ask if you need more help

Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland wrote:
"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.

Remember that you are not allowed to do this yourself

That sort of talk has no place in uk.d-i-y!!!! I'm happy to sail close
to the wind.

and BT can charge you
for putting right any problems you cause. Having said that there are all
sorts of factors that could be causing the difference and you need to adopt
a systematic approach to get the optimun performance. This page is a good
place to start.

That's exactly what I will be doing in changing the wire. Actually it's
the only component that can be changed apart from the master socket
itself. It's an easy job but I only want to pull thw wire once, hence
the question.


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

Useful link. Thanks!


Please ask if you need more help

Peter Crosland

"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

Vortex4 wrote:
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.

The talktalk connection might be LLU'd ADSL2+.
Your BT connection or equipment might be using just ADSL.

Have a look at the SamKnows website for details on your exchange.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

--
Adrian C

"Vortex" wrote in message
...
Peter Crosland wrote:
"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.

Remember that you are not allowed to do this yourself

That sort of talk has no place in uk.d-i-y!!!! I'm happy to sail close to
the wind.

and BT can charge you
for putting right any problems you cause. Having said that there are all
sorts of factors that could be causing the difference and you need to
adopt a systematic approach to get the optimun performance. This page is
a good place to start.

That's exactly what I will be doing in changing the wire. Actually it's
the only component that can be changed apart from the master socket
itself. It's an easy job but I only want to pull thw wire once, hence the
question.


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

Useful link. Thanks!

Noted on the DIY comment but you should use cable to CW1308 specification
which is what BT/Openreach use.

Peter Crosland

Adrian C wrote:
Vortex4 wrote:
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.

The talktalk connection might be LLU'd ADSL2+.
Your BT connection or equipment might be using just ADSL.

Have a look at the SamKnows website for details on your exchange.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php


No LLU on our exchange. I wish!

I am suspicius because we are about 5k from the exchange ACF (As the
Crow Flies) and AFI am aware these kind of speeds at that distance are
not achievable.

In any event I want to improve the wiring in anticipation of future
upgrades bringing fibre closer to my home.....and maybe 24Mbit one day!

D

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
Useful link. Thanks!

Noted on the DIY comment but you should use cable to CW1308 specification
which is what BT/Openreach use.


Thanks. very useful to know. Would the ubercheap stuff sold by
Screwfix et al be to this spec?

If yes, surely CAT 6 must be substantially superior?




Peter Crosland

"Vortex" wrote in message
...


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
Useful link. Thanks!

Noted on the DIY comment but you should use cable to CW1308 specification
which is what BT/Openreach use.


Thanks. very useful to know. Would the ubercheap stuff sold by Screwfix
et al be to this spec?

If yes, surely CAT 6 must be substantially superior?


The Screwfix stuff probably is not to the specification. CAT6 will not make
any real difference and in any case it will give the game away should BT
have to be involved!

You can buy it here or at a Maplin shop if you have one nearby.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=66


Peter Crosland

Peter Crosland
wibbled on Thursday 29 October 2009 20:46


"Vortex" wrote in message
...


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
Useful link. Thanks!

Noted on the DIY comment but you should use cable to CW1308
specification which is what BT/Openreach use.


Thanks. very useful to know. Would the ubercheap stuff sold by Screwfix
et al be to this spec?

If yes, surely CAT 6 must be substantially superior?


The Screwfix stuff probably is not to the specification. CAT6 will not
make any real difference and in any case it will give the game away should
BT have to be involved!

You can buy it here or at a Maplin shop if you have one nearby.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=66


Peter Crosland

I think you'd get away with any standard 4 core "phone" wire. I ran some
extensions in my last flat with 4 core phone wire from B&Q (it was white
too).

Later, I had the option to have the master socket moved for free (ISDN
upgrade) by BT. Lazy sod made use of my cable for the extra leg - so it
would be fairly hard for them to prove it wasn't them who did it.

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:33:36 -0000, Vortex4 wrote:

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

Move the master socket as close to the cablee entry as possible,
place you router/modem as close to the master socket as possible. Fit
an single filter at that point. Might be worth trying different
filters, I bought a faceplate one that had good reviews from users on
the net but overall it's performance was worse than a "soap on a
rope" BT branded MF50 filter.

Moving the master socket your self is techincally not allowed but
it's not rocket science to do.

--
Cheers
Dave.

I'm very pleased to have a cable broadband connection. Virgin Media's minimum
package costs 20 quid a month and is a quite reliable 10 Mb/s (none of this
"up to..." business). I check it regularly.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
email: mike_lane at mac dot com

On 29 Oct, 17:33, "Vortex4" wrote:
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.

I recently had the BT man over as my line was playing up. It took a
lot of fault-finding but, while he was here, he said that it's current
policy to install a NTE5 box whenever they come to a house where there
isn't one, so I got him to put one right where the line comes into the
house then wired up the extensions from there.

If I was in your position, I'd report an intermittent crackly line and
tap them up for a new box while they're there - job done and legal
(well...legal-ish, if you disregard the little white lie that there
was a problem in the first place!).

Tim W wrote:

I think you'd get away with any standard 4 core "phone" wire. I ran some
extensions in my last flat with 4 core phone wire from B&Q (it was white
too).

Later, I had the option to have the master socket moved for free (ISDN
upgrade) by BT. Lazy sod made use of my cable for the extra leg - so it
would be fairly hard for them to prove it wasn't them who did it.

Likewise when I converted from ISDN to ADSL + an extra phone line, the
BT bod reused the cat5 that came with the NTE9 for the new phone line.

As long as whatever you do is to a decent standard I have not known the
bods on the ground complain. (although to be fair, more recently when
investigating a line fault, I have one had one BT bod comment that the
line from their external JB through to the two master sockets
convienently located in a cupboard next to my PABX was not "our cable"
and was not using the colour coding they use, but other than that did
not seem too bothered. I expressed an mildly interested "oh really" and
did not say anything else ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 07:16

Tim W wrote:

I think you'd get away with any standard 4 core "phone" wire. I ran some
extensions in my last flat with 4 core phone wire from B&Q (it was white
too).

Later, I had the option to have the master socket moved for free (ISDN
upgrade) by BT. Lazy sod made use of my cable for the extra leg - so it
would be fairly hard for them to prove it wasn't them who did it.

Likewise when I converted from ISDN to ADSL + an extra phone line, the
BT bod reused the cat5 that came with the NTE9 for the new phone line.

As long as whatever you do is to a decent standard I have not known the
bods on the ground complain. (although to be fair, more recently when
investigating a line fault, I have one had one BT bod comment that the
line from their external JB through to the two master sockets
convienently located in a cupboard next to my PABX was not "our cable"
and was not using the colour coding they use, but other than that did
not seem too bothered. I expressed an mildly interested "oh really" and
did not say anything else ;-)



Last time I actually fully rewired a master socket, I corrected a fault the
BT fitter had left - he'd wired the incomer into the user side take off and
vice versa.

The last time I had a new master installed, the nice bloke actually told me
the best way to move it later to make it look pukka (final installation
site wasn't ready and as I'd laid him some nice conduit to the wire tether
to make his life easy so it was kind of obvious I was the sort of person
who'd rewire it anyway). Even left me an offcut of the proper cable - now
that's service

--
Tim Watts

This space intentionally left blank...

Peter Crosland wrote:
"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.

Remember that you are not allowed to do this yourself and BT can charge you
for putting right any problems you cause.

OTOH unless you have a right jobsworth BT engineer and there is a
specific problem, this is never an enforced thing.

I completely relocated the feed from my own house, to a temporary site
mobile home, then back to the new house without BT whatsover, and
extended it with CAT 5 to a master socket in this home ofice.

When I had an issue with the line some years later, the BT man came in,
and his only comment was 'I'll replace that junction box in the loft
with one of ours to 'regularise 'your installation'

Vortex wrote:


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
Useful link. Thanks!

Noted on the DIY comment but you should use cable to CW1308
specification which is what BT/Openreach use.


Thanks. very useful to know. Would the ubercheap stuff sold by
Screwfix et al be to this spec?

If yes, surely CAT 6 must be substantially superior?



Ultimately there isn't much in it.

BT interior cable is not especially high quality, but it is guaranteed
to fit the IDC connectors.

Ive dine etrxensive structured cabling to run phones and used CAT5 into
BT master sockets (PABX etensions) and it has bnever been a problem. Ive
run ISDN and broadband over a CAT 5 cable, and have that (broadband)
running now. Again, no especial issues.

Baseband is very tolerant. Broadband is less so. But even so as others
jhave pinted out, faced with a mile and a half of historical copper to
teh exchnage, a few meters of cable of very slightly different quality
is neither here nor there. Its more inportant to keep it clear of strong
local interference. Brodadband operates in the MW and LW bands..if an AM
radio doesn't pick up hum and interference along your cable run, neither
will the phone cable.




Peter Crosland

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:59:46 -0700 (PDT), GMM
wrote:

On 29 Oct, 17:33, "Vortex4" wrote:
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.

I recently had the BT man over as my line was playing up. It took a
lot of fault-finding but, while he was here, he said that it's current
policy to install a NTE5 box whenever they come to a house where there
isn't one, so I got him to put one right where the line comes into the
house then wired up the extensions from there.

If I was in your position, I'd report an intermittent crackly line and
tap them up for a new box while they're there - job done and legal
(well...legal-ish, if you disregard the little white lie that there
was a problem in the first place!).

If you do through official channels that BT will charge you. If
there's any engineer involvement in a fault and they don't find a
fault in the BT equipment it is chargeable.

In article , John
Rumm writes

I have one had one BT bod comment that the
line from their external JB through to the two master sockets
convienently located in a cupboard next to my PABX was not "our cable"
and was not using the colour coding they use, but other than that did
not seem too bothered. I expressed an mildly interested "oh really" and
did not say anything else ;-)

Just shrug and say it was like that when you moved in.

--
Fred Bloggs

In article , Vortex
writes

Thanks. very useful to know. Would the ubercheap stuff sold by
Screwfix et al be to this spec?

It should be (and it will probably be labelled as such), but Cat5, if
you have any, is better quality and will work. Use the blue pair.

If yes, surely CAT 6 must be substantially superior?

At gigabit speeds, yes, but for POTS no.

I assume you do know about the disconnect pin 3 trick? Worth a try
first before investing a lot of time and trouble, especially as you say
your extension wiring is convoluted.

Also don't forget the router - some are much better at negotiating a
good sync speed than others. The Netgear DG834GT seems particularly
recommended for this. Changing to one took me from a low 7kbps sync to
a reliable 8032kbps. You also get to play with alternative firmware if
you want. Available from ebay from 2 quid up (I paid 2.20)

--
Mike Tomlinson

"Tim W" wrote in message
...
John Rumm
wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 07:16

Tim W wrote:

I think you'd get away with any standard 4 core "phone" wire. I ran some
extensions in my last flat with 4 core phone wire from B&Q (it was white
too).

Later, I had the option to have the master socket moved for free (ISDN
upgrade) by BT. Lazy sod made use of my cable for the extra leg - so it
would be fairly hard for them to prove it wasn't them who did it.

Likewise when I converted from ISDN to ADSL + an extra phone line, the
BT bod reused the cat5 that came with the NTE9 for the new phone line.

As long as whatever you do is to a decent standard I have not known the
bods on the ground complain. (although to be fair, more recently when
investigating a line fault, I have one had one BT bod comment that the
line from their external JB through to the two master sockets
convienently located in a cupboard next to my PABX was not "our cable"
and was not using the colour coding they use, but other than that did
not seem too bothered. I expressed an mildly interested "oh really" and
did not say anything else ;-)



Last time I actually fully rewired a master socket, I corrected a fault
the
BT fitter had left - he'd wired the incomer into the user side take off
and
vice versa.

The last time I had a new master installed, the nice bloke actually told
me
the best way to move it later to make it look pukka (final installation
site wasn't ready and as I'd laid him some nice conduit to the wire tether
to make his life easy so it was kind of obvious I was the sort of person
who'd rewire it anyway). Even left me an offcut of the proper cable - now
that's service


You must have bribed him with tea and biscuits as well!

Peter Crosland

"Fred Bloggs" wrote in message
...
In article , Vortex
writes

Thanks. very useful to know. Would the ubercheap stuff sold by
Screwfix et al be to this spec?

It should be (and it will probably be labelled as such), but Cat5, if
you have any, is better quality and will work. Use the blue pair.

If yes, surely CAT 6 must be substantially superior?

At gigabit speeds, yes, but for POTS no.

I assume you do know about the disconnect pin 3 trick? Worth a try
first before investing a lot of time and trouble, especially as you say
your extension wiring is convoluted.

Also don't forget the router - some are much better at negotiating a
good sync speed than others. The Netgear DG834GT seems particularly
recommended for this. Changing to one took me from a low 7kbps sync to
a reliable 8032kbps. You also get to play with alternative firmware if
you want. Available from ebay from 2 quid up (I paid 2.20)

--
Mike Tomlinson

There's no pin 3 connected. Router is plugged direct to master socket via a
filter. There are no extensions on this line....so 2 wires only!

BUT those 2 wires take a tortuous route alongside another phone wire with
multiple extensions.

Have played with many routers and settled on Linksys. I very much like the
client access functionality that allows me to make sure I am able to limit
my childrens internet usage, an various ways.