Problems with phone sockets and wi fi.

[hoover]

Hi. Pulling my hair out with this one. I'll try and keep it simple. Recently I've moved into a new house which has eleven telephone points dotted around in different rooms. They are wired from the master via two radial circuits, one serving each side of the house. The wiring appears to be a mix of ordinary telephone cable and cat 5 cable. All seems punched and connected correctly. That's the background to the installation. My problem started when we tried to get broadband. It was very slow so after disconnecting all the internal wiring and trying again this didn't improve. So problem externally there then. But what broadband I could get was knocked off unless I disconnected my cordless phone. Why is this? The wifi does not agree with the cordless phone. Another problem- the last two telephone points on one of the extensions don't work when I plug the phone in. Now I've tested the cable and belled out each core and disconnected and reconnected the terms but no difference. This one really has me going. Also my phone gives a two tone almost like a police siren on the dialling tone- maybe because it's not getting enough power externally? I know this all sounds confusing but maybe someone will understand.

 

[topquark]

Depends on the type of master socket you have. If you don't have a master socket that splits the incoming line between phone and adsl then EVERY connected phone will need to be connected via a line filter.

 

[hoover]

Yeah mate I know about the filter. I have an ordinary corded phone and a cordless phone with a filter on both. Corded phone works fine with wifi. Cordless phone knocks it off. My master socket is one of those from bt which has two parts. When you take the front off this disengages the internally wired phones.

 

[topquark]

A good start

Next question is how do you have the wireless setup? Is it restricted to one channel or have you allowed it to "channel hop" for the best signal?

 

[topquark]

Yeah mate I know about the filter. I have an ordinary corded phone and a cordless phone with a filter on both. Corded phone works fine with wifi. Cordless phone knocks it off. My master socket is one of those from bt which has two parts. When you take the front off this disengages the internally wired phones.

That includes any other phone line connected non adsl device, ie SKY box, don't shoot me ... just checking

 

[hoover]

Mmm not sure mate. Her indoors set it up. I take it if it was set up for one channel your maybe thinking that this is clashing with the frequency of the cordless phone? Where as if it was hopping it would maybe find a free channel?

 

[topquark]

Mmm not sure mate. Her indoors set it up. I take it if it was set up for one channel your maybe thinking that this is clashing with the frequency of the cordless phone? Where as if it was hopping it would maybe find a free channel?

Yes, and it's not just the cordless phone that may be interfeing as well. Any other devices on 2.4Ghz may also cause a problem (including wireless doorbells, TV RF senders and the neighbouring wireless equipment).

You can normally check in the config pannel for the wireless settings on the router. It should be set to auto and not a specific channel.

 

[hoover]

That includes any other phone line connected non adsl device, ie SKY box, don't shoot me ... just checking

yeah I've just got sky tv in but no telephone connection to it yet. It is their package, tv phone and broadband. I'm limited to which supplier I can have as I live in the country so no cable.

 

[topquark]

If your router has this option, make sure it's set to the european range of channels as well.

 

[hoover]

I'm not in the house at the minute but from memory there aren't any switches or options on the router which would let you change. I may be wrong.

 

[topquark]

I'm not in the house at the minute but from memory there aren't any switches or options on the router which would let you change. I may be wrong.

It's normally an http configuration interface, via a web browser. It would depend on the age, make and model of router though.

 

[hoover]

Ok mate thanks I'll check. It's a brand new router from sky so would imagine it would let me configure. Any idea why two sockets won't work even though all wiring and connections are correct?

 

[topquark]

Is there a possibilty, given that some of it is in cat5, that a twisted pair hasn't been used and it's disparate cores. Failing that maybe be a poor idc connection, enough to get continuity (typically <2Ohms or so) but too high resistance for a signal.

 

[hoover]

Pretty sure all connections and twisted pairs are sound. Maybe bad sockets? So frustrating.

 

[topquark]

Is there a possibilty, given that some of it is in cat5, that a twisted pair hasn't been used and it's disparate cores. Failing that maybe be a poor idc connection, enough to get continuity (typically <2Ohms or so) but too high resistance for a signal.

Thinking about it, in this case you don't have an adsl signal to worry about; so not using pairs wouldn't matter too much, it's just a telephone extension to all intents and purposes.

 

[Short Circuit]

yeah I've just got sky tv in but no telephone connection to it yet. It is their package, tv phone and broadband. I'm limited to which supplier I can have as I live in the country so no cable.

How many phones do you have connected - make sure you dont exceed the REN number which used to be 4 for domestic - not too sure now! Also re your sky, are you sure it isnt connected to a phone socket, they always stipulate it has to be for updates etc

 

[topquark]

It shouldn't matter in this particular case as the signal has been split at the master socket.

 

[Short Circuit]

?? Didnt know that would make any difference. have always been under the impression that the max was 4 regardless of how it is wired internally

 

[topquark]

?? Didnt know that would make any difference. have always been under the impression that the max was 4 regardless of how it is wired internally

Hehe, no to the connection of the sky box. All the REN exceeding will do is to stop the phones ringing, it won't stop them working.

 

[Stuartnt]

Hi, I had a similar issue in my new house, whereby the broadband speed was useless. I am with BT and it appeared the loss of signal was due to one of the extension having a signal leak albeit the cable and points in the house were
brand new.

If you are with BT, call them and insist bon an open reach engineer attending your property and ask them to replace the master socket with one of their
open reach phone points. What will this achieve, well it will stop the ADSL
signal / phone lines being split between the extensions and removes the need for ADSL Filters on each extension that has a phone etc logged into it.

I had this done and it resolved my broadband and the speed returned to what it was. One downside is that you have to have your wireless router plugged
in at the master socket, but it's worth it.

Just a side note, if you have BT Infinity Broadband, I understand you can only
have a single main phone connected and that other phones connected via sockets extensions may not work, but this can be remedied by buying a set of phones where the extensions are satellite phones where the base unit is just plugged into the power.

Hope it helps

Stuart