How To Get Fast Broadband

kingtorres9

Hi everyone
I have been reading all the posts on this site over the last few weeks and need a bit of info.
I have eircom BB 3md DL speed , Netopia 2247 NWG modem , Phone and Sky Hd. They all run from NTU on the old flat phone cable. I live about half a mile away from Bray Exchange and i heard the closer you are the higher speed you can get. Eircom say my line cannot handle any more so i need help with these Questions,

1. If i replace all cables with cat5 will it help?
2. Will i go out and buy a new router?
3. Will a high speed modem cable help?
4. Will all new filters help?

Even when i plug everything out except the modem i still can't get the speed. I had my speed up to 6mb while i was on the phone with eircom one night but it kept going off. They recently dropped it back down to 3mb from 7mb because of problems. My DSL stats are,

SN Margin Down 17.50 Up 26.00
Line Attenuation Down 45.50 Up 30.00
CRC Errors Down 6 Up 9

Please Help Guys

swoofer

What you must do is check the teelphone wiring and my bet it is wrong. You need to find the main socket and just because it has an eircom badge means nothing. Follow the wire from the ntu and I bet its in the loft where it has been cut and joined to extensions.

Say how many extensions are in the house.

The main socket should have 2 wires in. One wire is the main socket and the other is the daisy chain to extension.

If you cant prove the wire you are scuppered. At your distance BB should fly.


gb-

ps if I have confused you post back and the attenuation setting means you are more than 2 miles from exchange.

kingtorres9

Hey GB

I have no extentions in my house just the NTU.

The cable goes outside to a grey box where it is spliced with a black cable coming from an eircom shore in the ground out front.

And i forgot to mention i have an eircom alarm in the NTU as well if that has anything to do with it.

swoofer

Now that is a mystery. Can you actually trace the tel cable from the NTU to the main socket ie examine it physically. If it goes up through cavities etc etc it will pick up noise along the way. And when you say flat cable how old is it??

1. Get cat5e cable not cat5 and NB very important make sure it is shielded twisted pair, STP for short. And make sure there is no join ie run straight to main socket. Change your main phone socket to an eircom integrated adsl socket. Eircom will do it for you but I don't think they will lay new cable inside house. This socket has the adsl filter bulit in and as far as I am aware you wont need filters on any extensions.

If you have sky connected to main phone, they insist sometimes in having phone line connected but if you dont use BOX office get rid.

2. Dont buy anything else yet. Post back and say who installed the BB for you, how have u phone connected, have you a fax etc. I am changing my telephone wiring over the next week. I am putting in Cat5e to the NTU. And I have a link for Cat5e.

At your distance your BB should fly.

NB PS Yes the alarm is probaly the main bug bear as that is continUously live ie it sends a signal to the monitoring station. Thats why your line so slow. Eircom should have told you that.

I'm afraid I dont think there is a way round it, unless someone else knows different. Can you get rid of alarm and use the faster BB??


gb--
3. I am 4.5km and get over 6mb.

4. I dont know the netopia router but it is highly rated.

The NTU is the bit outside. = NETWORK TERMINATING UNIT usually = NTP = POINT the inside bit is known as the MTU = main terminating unit, usually in a hallway. And I may have mucked up the TLA's but you should get my drift.

When you have spliced, what exactly do you mean??

post back with a bit more information. I am off for a while so I am making one last effort to get best possible stable speed. The fact I found out that the wiring was completely wrong was a big disappointment as it makes you think what else is wrong.

I'll post link for cable later.

gb-

kingtorres9

GB

What do you mean about main socket?
My 1 and only socket in my house is the eircom NTU.
I cannot trace the cat5 cable behind it as it goes up through the cavity walls. The only other eircom box i can find is the one outside with the spliced cables. ( cat5 cable connected to main eircom line by way of plastic/metal round clips) check attachments.

The alarm is connected but i can cancel monitoring and get it disconnected.
My netopia is first on the line then it splits to the phone and 2 sky boxes but i dont think this is a problem cause when i disconnect them and just leave the netopia box on the line nothing changes.

Eircom sent me the netopia in the post and i set it up myself and it goes very well (until you want a faster speed). And the flat cable is just the standard cable that comes with every phone and is available in all hardware stores.

jay93

your line attenuation is way to high thats why it wont support higher speeds it reads as 45.50 db on download and 30.00 on upload if you say you are that close to the exchange it should be only between 5-15db which would give you full whack 24mb offer from eircom providing your exchange can handle 24mb anyways try plug only your eircom DSL wire from your modem into your phone line plug everything else out check your BB stats on 192.168.1.254 to see if the attenuation goes down if so then the filters for the sky box etc are causing interferance with your router mine had this problem my modem was reading 63.50db (the higher the attenuation the worse ) soon as i plugged out the sky box from the line it went down to 10db :):) so i can get full speeds ..if this not not work for you then your actual phone line has a problem then i would suggest to get eircom out for a look at it :D:D

sorry have to edit just noticed there you have tryed the modem on its own and no change your phone line must be at fault then or the wireing running to the exchange

swoofer

i did say I would get my TLA'S mucked up. The cavity is the thing, ie you dont know what happens to the wire. You have to follow that wire and see where it goes to before eventually gets to the outside box. Until you do that you are wasting your time. If it means going in loft etc. I dont have a clue how the alarm system works but turning it off makes no diference, its the cabling that needs isolating.

The pics of the cables, are these outside the box or inside?? Can you open box and take a pic of the inside, should be spot where 2 cables are connected?


gb-

kingtorres9

Hi GB

The pics i sent are the spliced wires that are actually inside the the grey boxon the side of my house. I took them out to get a better pic. There is nothing else inside the box.
As for following the cable, unless i tear down the walls it is impossible. There is no other box in the house and that includes the loft,i think the cable goes up through the kitchen wall, along the celing in the kitchen and the living room and then down the side wall into the grey box.

If all else fails i will have to get eircom out.

swoofer

One last thing you could try but if unsure leave it. Open the main socket where you plug the BB router into and note the colour of the 2 wires that are connected and I am beginning to think your cable is old. If there are more than 2 wires connected in the box then that is the cause of low speed. I there are only 2 connected then post back.

When you do call eircom you need to be armed with a bit of know how so you dont get fobbed off.

Basically what you want to achieve is one continous line from the outside box to your main socket using the shortest possible route within reason and ONLY using ONE pair of wires with no joins. That pictures shows 4 pairs connected and that throws me.

gb--

ps I will open my outside box today and take a pic as well. Mind you I dont know yet what to expect!!! but it was installed 2007 so is fairly new.

kingtorres9

hey gb

had eircom engineer out and it was the router all along.
Getting 6mb download speed now.
Thanks for all the help

swoofer

thanks for getting back. I bet you are pleased. Do you know what he did??

gb--

Sponge Bob

How to ??

Same answer as always. If you want a fast and cheap service in Ireland you move to Dungarvan in County Waterford ....way it has always been ( at least since 1998 )