The lesson of this tale is if you lose your internet
connection* and the phone say in the living room is no longer
working the first thing you should do is check the master
socket - anyway the one in the hall usually by plugging the
phone directly into that and seeing if its live.

In fact it was "terminally intermittent" it came on for
ten seconds and then was lost again.

If its live, what you *shouldn't* do next is try and
trace miles of cabling which has been there for maybe 20
or more years which goes all over the house behind furniture
etc. moving piles of stuff which have accumulated in the
interim in the process. And then let despair place its icy
hand on your shoulder as you contemplate having to trace the
fault somewhere Somehow. Days, weeks, months ?

In fact the next thing you should have done was check
the ADSL filter which was plugged into the master
socket by plugging the phone into that and see if
the phone is still live.

Whoops !

So those piles of spares that have sat in the draw have
finally found a use.

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can
knock out everything at a stroke. Including the "unofficial
extensions" ran off it maybe 30 years ago

Obvious really in retrospect. Five minutes Googling would
probably have sorted it all out.


michael adams

* again how it developed a fault having sat in the same
place totally unmolested for years is another matter.

....

michael adams wrote:

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can
knock out everything at a stroke.
how it developed a fault having sat in the same
place totally unmolested for years is another matter.

Lightning nearby?

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can
knock out everything at a stroke. how it developed a fault having sat in the same
place totally unmolested for years is another matter.

Lightning nearby?

No recent lightening so far as I know. But thanks for the hint.

As according to some sources at least, apparently ADSL filters can be
very sensitive to spikes in the voltage coming down the telephone line.

So there may have been gradual deterioration before the actual failure.

michael adams

....

"michael adams" wrote in message
o.uk...

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can
knock out everything at a stroke. how it developed a fault having sat in
the same
place totally unmolested for years is another matter.

Lightning nearby?

No recent lightening so far as I know. But thanks for the hint.

As according to some sources at least, apparently ADSL filters can be
very sensitive to spikes in the voltage coming down the telephone line.

No they arent, they are entirely passive devices.

So there may have been gradual deterioration before the actual failure.

You don’t see that either. If you did, the modem synch
rate would gradually degrade over time, and it doesn’t.

In article ,
Rod Speed wrote:


"michael adams" wrote in message
o.uk...

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can knock
out everything at a stroke. how it developed a fault having sat in
the same place totally unmolested for years is another matter.

Lightning nearby?

No recent lightening so far as I know. But thanks for the hint.

As according to some sources at least, apparently ADSL filters can be
very sensitive to spikes in the voltage coming down the telephone line.

No they arent, they are entirely passive devices.

insulation can break down if the spike is big enough.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Rod Speed wrote:


"michael adams" wrote in message
o.uk...

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
michael adams wrote:

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can knock
out everything at a stroke. how it developed a fault having sat in
the same place totally unmolested for years is another matter.

Lightning nearby?

No recent lightening so far as I know. But thanks for the hint.

As according to some sources at least, apparently ADSL filters can be
very sensitive to spikes in the voltage coming down the telephone
line.

No they arent, they are entirely passive devices.

insulation can break down if the spike is big enough.

You don’t get spikes that big on the phone line.

In article ,
"michael adams" writes:
The lesson of this tale is if you lose your internet
connection* and the phone say in the living room is no longer
working the first thing you should do is check the master
socket - anyway the one in the hall usually by plugging the
phone directly into that and seeing if its live.

In fact it was "terminally intermittent" it came on for
ten seconds and then was lost again.

If its live, what you *shouldn't* do next is try and
trace miles of cabling which has been there for maybe 20
or more years which goes all over the house behind furniture
etc. moving piles of stuff which have accumulated in the
interim in the process. And then let despair place its icy
hand on your shoulder as you contemplate having to trace the
fault somewhere Somehow. Days, weeks, months ?

In fact the next thing you should have done was check
the ADSL filter which was plugged into the master
socket by plugging the phone into that and see if
the phone is still live.

Whoops !

So those piles of spares that have sat in the draw have
finally found a use.

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can
knock out everything at a stroke. Including the "unofficial
extensions" ran off it maybe 30 years ago

Obvious really in retrospect. Five minutes Googling would
probably have sorted it all out.

Considering how simple they are, I'd have to say I've come
across far more ADSL filter failures than I would have
expected.

Many people nowadays no longer have a phone plugged in at
all. In this case you can remove the filter completely and
plug the ADSL modem straight into the line (will probably
need a different lead or adapter). You might get better
ADSL speed. The filter is only required if you also have
phone handsets connected.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Sun, 5 Aug 2018 09:34:48 -0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
"michael adams" writes:
The lesson of this tale is if you lose your internet
connection* and the phone say in the living room is no longer
working the first thing you should do is check the master
socket - anyway the one in the hall usually by plugging the
phone directly into that and seeing if its live.

In fact it was "terminally intermittent" it came on for
ten seconds and then was lost again.

If its live, what you *shouldn't* do next is try and
trace miles of cabling which has been there for maybe 20
or more years which goes all over the house behind furniture
etc. moving piles of stuff which have accumulated in the
interim in the process. And then let despair place its icy
hand on your shoulder as you contemplate having to trace the
fault somewhere Somehow. Days, weeks, months ?

In fact the next thing you should have done was check
the ADSL filter which was plugged into the master
socket by plugging the phone into that and see if
the phone is still live.

Whoops !

So those piles of spares that have sat in the draw have
finally found a use.

It would appear a faulty* ADSL filter on the master socket can
knock out everything at a stroke. Including the "unofficial
extensions" ran off it maybe 30 years ago

Obvious really in retrospect. Five minutes Googling would
probably have sorted it all out.

Considering how simple they are, I'd have to say I've come
across far more ADSL filter failures than I would have
expected.


IME if you are on the broadband limit a quality filter also makes a
big difference though probably not so much where the speed is already
good. I recall going from about 1mbps to around 3.5mpbs and had one
of the best speeds going in the village.

--
AnthonyL

"AnthonyL" wrote in message
...

IME if you are on the broadband limit a quality filter also makes a
big difference though probably not so much where the speed is already
good. I recall going from about 1mbps to around 3.5mpbs and had one
of the best speeds going in the village.

I'm not on any limits as far as I know. I never bother about speeds just
so long as its possible watch news clips and Youtube clips etc without
any buffering. However since fitting a new filter its noticeable that
some sites seem much quicker to load (its probably tempting fate just
to mention this)
Filters are the sort of thing you just fit and forget. But
according to some sources at least they can be very sensitive
to any spikes coming down the telephone line and can fail or in
this case gradually deteriorate as a result.


michael adams

....

On Mon, 6 Aug 2018 14:01:23 +0100, michael adams wrote:

However since fitting a new filter its noticeable that some sites seem
much quicker to load (its probably tempting fate just to mention this)
Filters are the sort of thing you just fit and forget.

To some extent yes, but they aren't all created equal. Many moons ago
I did the research on what was (then) the "best" face plate ADSL
filter. Bought the one that had the most consistent good reviews,
fitted it. Yep during the day if allowed good speeds maybe 500 to
1000 kbps faster than the fliter I was using. But at night it
couldn't sustain that rate and the modem would retrain to below the
rate the other filter could sustain day or night. The modem wouldn't
retrain back up at dawn either so you were "stuck" at the lower rate.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article l.net,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 6 Aug 2018 14:01:23 +0100, michael adams wrote:

However since fitting a new filter its noticeable that some sites seem
much quicker to load (its probably tempting fate just to mention this)
Filters are the sort of thing you just fit and forget.

To some extent yes, but they aren't all created equal. Many moons ago
I did the research on what was (then) the "best" face plate ADSL
filter. Bought the one that had the most consistent good reviews,
fitted it. Yep during the day if allowed good speeds maybe 500 to
1000 kbps faster than the fliter I was using. But at night it
couldn't sustain that rate and the modem would retrain to below the
rate the other filter could sustain day or night. The modem wouldn't
retrain back up at dawn either so you were "stuck" at the lower rate.

might that not be caused by the overloading of the local network?

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
news

Many people nowadays no longer have a phone plugged in at
all. In this case you can remove the filter completely and
plug the ADSL modem straight into the line (will probably
need a different lead or adapter). You might get better
ADSL speed. The filter is only required if you also have
phone handsets connected.

Ditching the landline isn't an option at present, although
that's something to bear in mind.

The overall performance appears to have improved since
fitting the new filter in any case. So the failure was a
blessing in disguise.


michael adams

....