Can BT test the line with a DACS still installed ?

Hi Folks,

While initial checks indicated that 512K ADSL should be available to my
house, now that I've placed the order, apparently BT have done a check
and they have told my ISP (plusnet) that the line quality check has
failed.

I know I'm on a DACS but they should take this off - however they have
not as yet, so my question is - what EXACTLY do they do to check the
line and can they accurately do this with the DACS still in place??

I just don't trust BT and have while conversations with their local
engineers have been very useful and informative, trying to talk to
anyone else on the end of a phone has been a complete waste of time, but
I'm preparing myself for a major battle this time around!!

BTW - if anyone wants to talk techie - feel free - used to be an
electronics engineer so hopefully should be able to handle the jargon
;-)

TIA

--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'

nospam and all that stuff.
"Reality sucks - go watch a star trek"
"they abolish spam in the twenty-third century!"
__________________________________________________

Well I'm no techy but am on Dial up. Up to the moment my next door neighbour
had an extra line put in (with broadband) my dial up was regularly about
48,000 bps. now it is 28,800 bps when I eventually make a connection. Anyway
talking to BT (on the phone) informed me that they had "split" my line with
a DACS in order to accomodate the extra capacity being used by my next door
neighbour. So I kicked up, and they came and surveyed me for a new line from
the local BT box. (underground even!) Today I chucked in the extra
encouragement of (I want broadband and unless you do something I cant have
it because you pinched my capacity) This seems to have done the trick
because they say they will come inside 2 weeks to dig a trench to lay a new
line. Just thought I'd share this with you. (ps am also intending to use
Plus.net)


"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:+b5CBNa1Dc0$EwD+@nospam.demon.co.uk...
> Hi Folks,
>
> While initial checks indicated that 512K ADSL should be available to my
> house, now that I've placed the order, apparently BT have done a check
> and they have told my ISP (plusnet) that the line quality check has
> failed.
>
> I know I'm on a DACS but they should take this off - however they have
> not as yet, so my question is - what EXACTLY do they do to check the
> line and can they accurately do this with the DACS still in place??
>
> I just don't trust BT and have while conversations with their local
> engineers have been very useful and informative, trying to talk to
> anyone else on the end of a phone has been a complete waste of time, but
> I'm preparing myself for a major battle this time around!!
>
> BTW - if anyone wants to talk techie - feel free - used to be an
> electronics engineer so hopefully should be able to handle the jargon
> ;-)
>
> TIA
>
> --
> __________________________________________________
> Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
> 'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
> followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
> followed by 'net'
>
> nospam and all that stuff.
> "Reality sucks - go watch a star trek"
> "they abolish spam in the twenty-third century!"
> __________________________________________________

"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:+b5CBNa1Dc0$EwD+@nospam.demon.co.uk...
> I know I'm on a DACS but they should take this off - however they have
> not as yet, so my question is - what EXACTLY do they do to check the
> line and can they accurately do this with the DACS still in place??...

They definitely can't test the physical properties of the line with DACS in
place. However, the phrase "testing the line" includes checking their
records to see if the appropriate equipment exists at the exchange and so
on.

The presence of a DACS unit would prevent you getting a clear "pass"
initially (because the DACS unit has to be removed first before they can do
other tests). If they have indeed removed the DACS unit (not always possible
if all other lines are already DACSed) then they can do various tests that
measure the noise, attenuation and crosstalk of the line and predict fairly
accurately whether ADSL will work reliably.

If this test fails, then you are out of luck for now. But ADSL technology
improves all the time and they may have plans to pull new cable to your
area, so it's worth trying again in future, especially if it was a marginal
failure.

--
Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org

In message <_ivAb.1140$(E-Mail Removed)>, Phil
McKerracher <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>The presence of a DACS unit would prevent you getting a clear "pass"
>initially (because the DACS unit has to be removed first before they
>can do other tests). If they have indeed removed the DACS unit (not
>always possible if all other lines are already DACSed) then they can do
>various tests that measure the noise, attenuation and crosstalk of the
>line and predict fairly accurately whether ADSL will work reliably.
>
>If this test fails, then you are out of luck for now.


This is my question. If they haven't removed the DACS, tested and put it
back on, how can they tell me that the line test has failed??

Would they do this? Or is telling me its failed it just an easy option
to stop them taking me off the DACS

--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'

nospam and all that stuff.
"Reality sucks - go watch a star trek"
"they abolish spam in the twenty-third century!"
__________________________________________________

"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B6MdZonhly0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <_ivAb.1140$(E-Mail Removed)>, Phil
> McKerracher <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
> >The presence of a DACS unit would prevent you getting a clear "pass"
> >initially (because the DACS unit has to be removed first before they
> >can do other tests). If they have indeed removed the DACS unit (not
> >always possible if all other lines are already DACSed) then they can do
> >various tests that measure the noise, attenuation and crosstalk of the
> >line and predict fairly accurately whether ADSL will work reliably.
> >
> >If this test fails, then you are out of luck for now.
>
>
> This is my question. If they haven't removed the DACS, tested and put it
> back on, how can they tell me that the line test has failed??

Maybe there are too many other customers in your bundle using ADSL already.
It's unlikely that a line short enough to work with DACS would fail an ADSL
length test, but crosstalk is a likely problem in a heavily used bundle.

> Would they do this? Or is telling me its failed it just an easy option
> to stop them taking me off the DACS

They're not supposed to do this, but I guess it's possible.

--
Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org

In message <E1_Ab.56$_(E-Mail Removed)>, Phil
McKerracher <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>> This is my question. If they haven't removed the DACS, tested and put it
>> back on, how can they tell me that the line test has failed??
>
>Maybe there are too many other customers in your bundle using ADSL
>already. It's unlikely that a line short enough to work with DACS would
>fail an ADSL length test, but crosstalk is a likely problem in a
>heavily used bundle.

Our exchange only got upgraded last Week. I put my order in a month
before hand and was hoping to be one of the first :-(


So does DACS have a line length limitation as well? Anyone know what
this typically is??
This is good news if what you say is true, although I can't say I've
seen it mentioned anywhere else though.

--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'
__________________________________________________

Phil McKerracher wrote:
> "Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:B6MdZonhly0$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In message <_ivAb.1140$(E-Mail Removed)>, Phil
>> McKerracher <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>> The presence of a DACS unit would prevent you getting a clear
>>> "pass" initially (because the DACS unit has to be removed first
>>> before they can do other tests). If they have indeed removed the
>>> DACS unit (not always possible if all other lines are already
>>> DACSed) then they can do various tests that measure the noise,
>>> attenuation and crosstalk of the line and predict fairly
>>> accurately whether ADSL will work reliably.
>>>
>>> If this test fails, then you are out of luck for now.
>>
>>
>> This is my question. If they haven't removed the DACS, tested and
>> put it back on, how can they tell me that the line test has
>> failed??
>
> Maybe there are too many other customers in your bundle using ADSL
> already. It's unlikely that a line short enough to work with DACS
> would fail an ADSL length test, but crosstalk is a likely problem
> in a heavily used bundle.
>
>> Would they do this? Or is telling me its failed it just an easy
>> option to stop them taking me off the DACS
>
> They're not supposed to do this, but I guess it's possible.

In reality it's often the other way around (at least in the midlands
anyway), with the network being uplifted & the DACS removed only for
the lines to fail on the final line test

Gareth Jones wrote:
> In message <E1_Ab.56$_(E-Mail Removed)>, Phil
> McKerracher <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>> This is my question. If they haven't removed the DACS, tested and
>>> put it back on, how can they tell me that the line test has
>>> failed??
>>
>> Maybe there are too many other customers in your bundle using ADSL
>> already. It's unlikely that a line short enough to work with DACS
>> would fail an ADSL length test, but crosstalk is a likely problem
>> in a heavily used bundle.
>
> Our exchange only got upgraded last Week. I put my order in a month
> before hand and was hoping to be one of the first :-(
>
>
> So does DACS have a line length limitation as well? Anyone know what
> this typically is??
> This is good news if what you say is true, although I can't say I've
> seen it mentioned anywhere else though.



Yes DACS do have line length limitations but as these are for
different frequencies & are a lot longer than DSL it doesn't compare.

Bite the bullet & be patient it'll get to you

In message <Xi%Ab.2198$(E-Mail Removed)>, Kráftéé
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Bite the bullet & be patient it'll get to you

In my experience with BT (and most other organisations of that ilk)
being patient and doing nothing just means you sit down and wait.... and
wait ...And wait...... forever :-(

--
__________________________________________________
Personal email for Gareth Jones can be sent to:
'usenet4gareth' followed by an at symbol
followed by 'uk2' followed by a dot
followed by 'net'
__________________________________________________

"Gareth Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:G51sJS9CMH1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Our exchange only got upgraded last Week. I put my order in a month
> before hand and was hoping to be one of the first :-(

Sometimes, especially if the ISP is not clued up on the ADSL ordering
process ordering ADSL before the exchange has gone live can cause the order
to be flagged up as rejected - as ADSL was not possible at the time of the
order etc

You may want to try ordering again... though Plusnet are normally quite good
at these things, its always possible it could have slipped through the net..

Regards
Sunil