Christmas Light and broadband

[kingvad921]

Hi all,
Newbie here!!

The last week has been really very,very,very bad re my Karoo service. I'm on the Karoo Max 2 package with an upto 8mb service. At best I have never managed beyond 3.5mb.

However this last week has been spent  switching the modem/router off and on because it consistently loses connection with Karoo and when it is connected  it is staggeringly slow. This morning it was a mere 250k!!!!

I rang the Karoo helpline and was told that on my part of Kingswood the max I could expect is 4mb but my package was upto 8mb so it was trying to push too much data down the line and it couldn't cope. He also said that the noise ratio on my line was showing 6 and he said it really needed to be in double figures. He's said he has managed to stabilise it at 9 borderline 10 and he has capped the speed at 3.5mb. I've never experienced anything beyond 3.5mb so if it stabilises connection thats fine.

Does all this make any sense to anyone???

The other thing he said to me was that Christmas tree lights interfere with the broadband connection. He wasn't sure how but something to do with frequencies. Is this actually true? The problems have certainly coincided with light hanging in our house but there is nothing close to the telephone point. It could be a convenient excuse by Karoo because it is the Christmas season so lights will be going up in every household!

One last thing, he said because my microfilter is more than 2 years old this also needs replacing. Is this true?

I have to say the guy seemed helpful and friendly and for all I know he is telling the truth. It's been stable the last our but the evenings will tell!!

 

[miken]

Yes Christmas tree lights can cause interference, much like pilons cause interference but on a smaller scale with your phone line.
Have you tried turning all the Christmas lights off in your house? are there many near your house?

Reason I ask is you say its been stable but once it becomes evening (dark so the Christmas lights come on) it becomes unstable.

I'd doubt a microfilter would need replacing all it does it splits the voice and data frequencies shouldn't make a lot of difference.

Do you have the ring wire removed from your cabling? - It can act as a aerial picking up the interference so recommend removing it (it isn't actually used since the microfilter does its job)

http://dslzoneuk.net/socket.php?type=html

Mike

[Fastethernet]

Right lets tackle the line speed first. The main factor that will dictate your line speed is the length of copper between you and the exchange as the signal loses strength the further is has to travel. As the length of the line increases the greater the impact of noise on the signal. There is a balance between the line speed and line quality, if the line profile is set too high then the SNR (signal to noise ratio) will be too low and create loss of sync and errors.

Your SNR value will fluctuate throughout the day and is normally lower during the evening, this tends to be due to the exchanges having a larger volume of residential customers calling each other etc. Noise can be induced on your line by electrical devices, I remember someone on these forums mentioned their SNR would drop when the street light was switched on, this would be due to the electromagnetic field generated by the light inducing a signal and therefore noise on their telephone line. So it's not that far fetched to suggest large outdoor Christmas lights could have the same effect.

AM radio can also induce signals on ADSL lines after the microfilter so it's always good practice to install your router as close as possible to the master socket with a short cable between the two. Microfilters can go wrong, I would recommend you install a face plate if possible instead of buying another microfilter from http://www.solwise.co.uk/adsl_splitters.htm.

I hope that helps clear things up

[kingvad921]

Many thanks for the replies. This last week, particularly the latter few days, have been the worst I've experienced on Karoo. There has been nothing I have done differently and nothing new I've installed apart from Christmas lights  but even they were up and running from the 1st of December, way before the problems started, which is why I can't help thinking the problem is at Karoo's end.

Are faceplates difficult to install?

Sorry but what is the 'ring wire'??

Thanks and regards
David

[Halloway]

Here's some info on ring wires, why you don't need one and the potential problems with ADSL:

http://www.rob-r.co.uk/other/UKphonecatwiring.htm

Scroll about three-quarters of the way down to the section "What’s all this about the ring wire removal then?".

I recently replaced my old KC faceplates with some splitters which I ordered from Solwise: http://solwise.co.uk/adsl_splitters.htm (you would want the ADSL-FFP85D). I didn't have a ring wire but I did have a long extension to the back kitchen. As I use DECT phones I decided to remove the link to the kitchen. After the work was complete I got a couple more mbit/s connection speed and an improved SNR margin. I think it's worth doing.