Strange phone line problem

My neighbour has ordered ADSL and has been told by his ISP that it is
live.

He couldn't get his router to synchronise and so I went round to have a
look.
His set-up looked OK - microfilters in place etc.

I took round a known good modem and laptop and cable and filter etc.

The router would not synch - and here is the strange thing:

When it was plugged into the socket on the front of the NTE5 faceplate,
the router kept trying to synch - and kept failing.

When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and the router
plugged into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the
router synch light didn't even flash!

Now, I would have expected that going into the test socket would have
made things better rather than worse. So what might be going on?

He says he has often had a noisy line. He showed me the grey plastic
box on the outside wall of the house, where the BT line comes in, and
said he thought damp was getting in.

We rang BT and they are sending an engineer round tomorrow (Monday).
BT say he will have to pay if the engineer needs to enter the house.

Any advice before the engineer gets here?
Please!
Could it be his extension wiring?
--
Chris

On 30-Dec-2007, Chris <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

> Any advice before the engineer gets here?
> Please!
> Could it be his extension wiring?

If you plug a phone into the master socket
behind the faceplate does that work?
Does his "tries to sync" modem sync on
your line?
At least if it syncs on your line it proves
that his modem can sync.
In fact you know both your modems can
sync, but neither will on his line.
All you have to check is the possibility
one of the modem RJ11 to BT plug leads
being non-standard, which is unlikely.
I have met mixed up leads, with 1 to 1
wiring., self capacitance then gives a
sort of signal, but not a hardwired
one using the correct pinning.

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:05:44 +0000, Chris <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:

>My neighbour has ordered ADSL and has been told by his ISP that it is
>live.
>
>He couldn't get his router to synchronise and so I went round to have a
>look.

<snip>

Test his system in your house.

On Dec 30, 4:23 pm, ato_...@hotmail.com wrote:
> On 30-Dec-2007, Chris <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:
>
> > Any advice before the engineer gets here?
> > Please!
> > Could it be his extension wiring?
>
> If you plug a phone into the master socket
> behind the faceplate does that work?

No the op said "When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and
the router
plugged into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the
router synch light didn't even flash!

Now, I would have expected that going into the test socket would have
made things better rather than worse. So what might be going on?"

On Dec 30, 4:05 pm, Chris <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote:


> When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and the router
> plugged into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the
> router synch light didn't even flash!

> Could it be his extension wiring?

The fact that you tried it in the test socket with the faceplate
removed (which disconects any extension wiring) proves there is
another fault, of course the extension wiring could *still* be faulty
(unlikely to be two faults though) but if it dosn't work with that
removed (which you say it dosn't) then there is defitnetly another
fault.

"Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news:Ynm$XhEYH8dHFwuT@[127.0.0.1]...
> My neighbour has ordered ADSL and has been told by his ISP that it is
> live.
>
> He couldn't get his router to synchronise and so I went round to have a
> look.
> His set-up looked OK - microfilters in place etc.
>
> I took round a known good modem and laptop and cable and filter etc.
>
> The router would not synch - and here is the strange thing:
>
> When it was plugged into the socket on the front of the NTE5 faceplate,
> the router kept trying to synch - and kept failing.
>
> When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and the router plugged
> into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the router synch
> light didn't even flash!
>
Snip

Are you sure that the outside cable is terminated on the back socket - it
sounds as if the outside wiring may have been terminated where the extension
wiring should be!

Peter

"Peter Andrews" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:w6Rdj.123722$(E-Mail Removed) .uk...
>
> "Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
> news:Ynm$XhEYH8dHFwuT@[127.0.0.1]...
>> My neighbour has ordered ADSL and has been told by his ISP that it is
>> live.
>>
>> He couldn't get his router to synchronise and so I went round to have a
>> look.
>> His set-up looked OK - microfilters in place etc.
>>
>> I took round a known good modem and laptop and cable and filter etc.
>>
>> The router would not synch - and here is the strange thing:
>>
>> When it was plugged into the socket on the front of the NTE5 faceplate,
>> the router kept trying to synch - and kept failing.
>>
>> When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and the router plugged
>> into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the router synch
>> light didn't even flash!
>>
> Snip
>
> Are you sure that the outside cable is terminated on the back socket - it
> sounds as if the outside wiring may have been terminated where the
> extension wiring should be!
>
> Peter


Not an uncommon occurence IME, plug a telephone into the test
socket to see.
Also the converse is sometimes found ie. some extention wiring
wired off the screw terminals with (perhaps) just the bell wires going
to pin 3 on the faceplate.
--
Graham

%Profound_observation%

In article <fl8npk$lea$(E-Mail Removed)>, Graham.
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>"Peter Andrews" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:w6Rdj.123722$(E-Mail Removed) o.uk...
>> "Chris" <nospam@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
>> news:Ynm$XhEYH8dHFwuT@[127.0.0.1]...
>>> My neighbour has ordered ADSL and has been told by his ISP that it is
>>> live.
>>> He couldn't get his router to synchronise and so I went round to have a
>>> look.
>>> His set-up looked OK - microfilters in place etc.
>>> I took round a known good modem and laptop and cable and filter etc.
>>> The router would not synch - and here is the strange thing:
>>> When it was plugged into the socket on the front of the NTE5 faceplate,
>>> the router kept trying to synch - and kept failing.
>>> When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and the router plugged
>>> into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the router synch
>>> light didn't even flash!
>> Snip

>> Are you sure that the outside cable is terminated on the back socket - it
>> sounds as if the outside wiring may have been terminated where the
>> extension wiring should be!
>> Peter

>Not an uncommon occurence IME, plug a telephone into the test
>socket to see.
>Also the converse is sometimes found ie. some extention wiring
>wired off the screw terminals with (perhaps) just the bell wires going
>to pin 3 on the faceplate.

I did plug an ordinary phone into the test socket - and it worked fine.
His house is fairly new - and has several extensions.
When I asked him who did the extension wiring he said an electrician had
done it.

There was only one set of extension wires attached to the removable part
of the faceplate.
So ... where are the other extensions getting their signals from?
All his extensions work for voice.

Can the BT engineer enter the house without charging to check that the
wires from outside the house are correctly connected to the BT part of
the Main Entry Point box?
My friend can easily manage without any extension wiring now that DECT
phones are available.
--
Chris

Chris wrote:
> My neighbour has ordered ADSL and has been told by his ISP that it is
> live.
>
> He couldn't get his router to synchronise and so I went round to have
> a look.
> His set-up looked OK - microfilters in place etc.
>
> I took round a known good modem and laptop and cable and filter etc.
>
> The router would not synch - and here is the strange thing:
>
> When it was plugged into the socket on the front of the NTE5
> faceplate, the router kept trying to synch - and kept failing.
>
> When the bottom half of the faceplate was removed, and the router
> plugged into the test socket, it didn't even *try* to synch ... the
> router synch light didn't even flash!
>
> Now, I would have expected that going into the test socket would have
> made things better rather than worse. So what might be going on?
>
> He says he has often had a noisy line. He showed me the grey plastic
> box on the outside wall of the house, where the BT line comes in, and
> said he thought damp was getting in.
>
> We rang BT and they are sending an engineer round tomorrow (Monday).
> BT say he will have to pay if the engineer needs to enter the house.
>
> Any advice before the engineer gets here?
> Please!
> Could it be his extension wiring?

The normal way to approach things is to get the ISP to deal with BT. BT are
responsible for everything up to and including the NTE5 master socket. They
will check that things work when plugged into the test socket behind the
faceplate using an ADSL filter. If the fault is in the internal wiring they
will charge to fix it.

Peter Crosland

>
> I did plug an ordinary phone into the test socket - and it worked fine.
> His house is fairly new - and has several extensions.
> When I asked him who did the extension wiring he said an electrician had
> done it.
>
> There was only one set of extension wires attached to the removable part
> of the faceplate.
> So ... where are the other extensions getting their signals from?
> All his extensions work for voice.


Just to be clear about this, are you saying the extension sockets still
work with the NTE5 faceplate dangling? if so it's a pity you didn't
ask here before calling BT in, as they must have been wired on
BTs side. How does the incoming overhead or underground
line enter the house, and how does it get to the back of the
NTE5?

--
Graham

%Profound_observation%