Speed up your broadband

[LolUK]

just replied to a thread on Broadband so thought I would pass this tip on to see if it helps anyone.

Firstly, this is for those on ADSLMax or one of those packages that says 'up to 8Meg' and who only get 1-2meg connections due to distance from exchange.

Essentially, your speed is based on a couple of factors - the noise on your line being one of the major ones. Most BT wiring in the mains box carries an additional wire which supplies a little power to old fashioned (ie. not plugged into the mains) handsets to power the old fashioned ring. If you have phones that plug into the mains (such as DECT etc..), then removal of this wire can remove a lot of internal interference and boost your speed considerably. I did this a few weeks ago and my connection speed changed from 1.8m to 3.4 - quite a difference!

What you need to do is find the main BT box (the one with a raised line through the middle), remove the bottom part and remove the orange/white striped wire from the connection. Reboot your router and you should see a speed increase.

Lots more info can be found here: http://www.jarviser.co.uk/jarviser/broadbandspeed.html

If anyone is thinking of doing this, I would urge them to read up so you know exactly what you are doing (it is really easy mind). Usual disclaimers that I am not a BT engineer and don't blame me if it goes wrong apply :)

anyway, thought it may be of interest to some!

[brody-maddison]

Would be interested in giving it a go but knowing me I'd balls it up, Lol.

[jentill]

Would be interested in giving it a go but knowing me I'd balls it up, Lol.

I second that !:d:

[LolUK]

it is literally removing two screws from the socket, and pulling one wire out before screwing it back together - easier than fitting a plug to be honest!

[AndyJ]

Wow! Great tip mate!

Nice one. AndyJ.

[brody-maddison]

it is literally removing two screws from the socket, and pulling one wire out before screwing it back together - easier than fitting a plug to be honest!

Well I decided to give it a go and the orange/white striped wire was already removed :confused2

Decided to leave it alone after that and accept I just have a crappy connection.

[davemitch]

Most slow broadband speed problems are caused by your wiring inside the house. Removing the bell wire is a help, also try plugging the router or modem into the master socket without any of your wiring connected. If this helps, an NTE2000 faceplate may be the answer. It contains the DSL filter, and keeping the router plugged in here means that you get the best speed and bypasses your wiring.

[TanyaJ]

Ok, how do I find out what speed my broadband is running at??

[Elsie]

I use SpeedTest.net (http://www.speedtest.net/) to check what I'm getting. To a server in Maidenhead it's currently just shy of 17mb:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/300777474.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

And to Orlando 8mb

http://www.speedtest.net/result/300778513.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I've not heard of that ADSL trick before but I'm glad it's working for people, anything that boosts your speed is a good thing but you do need to be aware of:

1) No one will ever get the full speed the ISP sells.
2) You need to take multiple speed test readings and average them out
3) Some ISP's (Virgin included :angry:) use "Bandwidth Throttling", especially in the evening to actually LOWER your net speed. This, they say, is so that everyone gets a good internet experience ... but that's pure tosh!
4) Contention - ISP's are good at selling you something but then can't deliver as they get too many people trying to use the same, limited network. The more people that are using the network in your area, the slower the connection is likely to be
5) File sharers / BBC iPlayer / Sky Movies Online / Other Peer-To-Peer users :erm: ... if you have someone in your local neighbourhood who is sharing / downloading content, both legal and illegal, this can have a detremental affect on the speed you get.

Although I am sitting pretty here on a 20mb Virgin cable line and the only thing that hits me daily is when Virgin throttle the network speed.

[kevbrydon]

Wow!!......I get 722 kb/s Download...374 upload!!!!!!......course I live in the country 1000ft up and 6 miles from the exchange and loose my connection through wind and rain!!! thats the best I can hope for according to the MIGHTY BT.......

[Sarah71]

I'm a bit confused!

I'm not fiddling with the box as we're with Virgin media not BT - but I did the speedtest from the URL given. My result is - http://www.speedtest.net/result/300965187.png (http://www.speedtest.net) which looks a bit naff to me! The pyramid was in Dublin (we're in Blackpool) - does this sound about right? It seems incredibly s-l-o-w to me.............

Thanks for any advice

Sarah x

[Sean_and_Sue]

just replied to a thread on Broadband so thought I would pass this tip on to see if it helps anyone.

Firstly, this is for those on ADSLMax or one of those packages that says 'up to 8Meg' and who only get 1-2meg connections due to distance from exchange.

Essentially, your speed is based on a couple of factors - the noise on your line being one of the major ones. Most BT wiring in the mains box carries an additional wire which supplies a little power to old fashioned (ie. not plugged into the mains) handsets to power the old fashioned ring. If you have phones that plug into the mains (such as DECT etc..), then removal of this wire can remove a lot of internal interference and boost your speed considerably. I did this a few weeks ago and my connection speed changed from 1.8m to 3.4 - quite a difference!

What you need to do is find the main BT box (the one with a raised line through the middle), remove the bottom part and remove the orange/white striped wire from the connection. Reboot your router and you should see a speed increase.

Lots more info can be found here: http://www.jarviser.co.uk/jarviser/broadbandspeed.html

If anyone is thinking of doing this, I would urge them to read up so you know exactly what you are doing (it is really easy mind). Usual disclaimers that I am not a BT engineer and don't blame me if it goes wrong apply :)

anyway, thought it may be of interest to some!

I saw in PC Pro (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/209976/bts-broadbandboosting-iplate-goes-on-sale.html) that BT have started selling the Iplate for £17 that isolates the bell wire.
The site you gave LOLUK has pretty clear instruction so will have a look later.Thanks

[G,T&S]

Here's mine:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/300987578.png (http://www.speedtest.net) & http://www.speedtest.net/result/300988075.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Is this good or bad?

[madasahat]

just a little note the wire you are talking about is the bell wire this allows slave sockets to run without a capacitor so the phones will ring if you remove this wire and don't have a capaciter in the slave sockets your phone will not ring