BT i-plate
 

Been looking at this product to try and improve my broadband speed. All the reviews suggest it does actually work.
Out of curiosity, I looked up what it actually does, and it seems just to be a new faceplate to disconnect the now redundant ring wire used with the older style phones before the introduction on touch dialling (who still remembers those ;) )
Question is could I save myself a tenner and just cut/disconnect/rewire this myself? Doesn't sound that complicated (famous last words).

That's what most people do just follow the instructions: ::. Kitz - Improve your adsl connection speed .::

I did mine (the cheap way) on Sunday having been 'going to do it' for months. Very simple, but there are caveats depending on which BT master socket you have. Initial response was drop in line speed:), but I obviously need to wait the statutory ?3? days for BT to adjust to the line change. Will let you know. Top before was 2.3MB.

EDIT: Fom 680 kb last night 'post-mod' I am going through 1.8 mb this pm. Fingers crossed!

Thanks guys. Good link 'green granite', think I'll have a go.

Two suggestions:

(1) Get a cable modem, get 10 or 20 or 50 meg now.

(2) Vote Labour and wait a few months, they guarantee you 16.8 megabits by the end of 2012: Labour shock pledge: 16.8-meg broadband for ALL by 2012! ? The Register

Or... Ditch them and go to O2, they usually offer double the BT speeds.

Another reason for substituting the plate is that the ADSL filters which the internet providers give out are very cheap and seem to fail not infrequently. I've gained an unwarranted reputation as an internet genius by giving surplus ones to friends whose "internet won't work". I also suggest to them that buying a new faceplate will stop the problem in future.

It is reassuring when thing go wrong that this particular fault can be disregarded: I've never heard of an i-Plate failing... they seem to be made to a higher standard than the individual filters.

And what happens of the OP doesn't live in a cable area?

:D:D .... Ever considered a job as a stand up comedian ? :ok:

Two Technical Terms to add to your vocabulary*** :

Contention
Packet Shaping

(***= Well, more than two terms are easily possible, but we'll assume that something will happen and give them the benefit of the doubt)


Add the technical terms above to consumer grade technology and the old story of delivering the service over copper and I think you'll see the light and agree that "16Mb fo ALL" is probably wishful thinking. Cities and larger towns, sure, no probs (subject to technical terms above that WILL limit your experience, in addition to the normal "Fair Use Policy"). Someone in the middle of nowhere 10+km from their local exchange .... fat chance.

I pulled the 'bell wire' and speed went from 2.5 to 5 almost immediately.

mcdhu

Just tried.

5.5 down to about 1.5. Will report back in a few days.

Like Paddy, inititial speed drop, but after 2.5 days a slow climb back, but not back to pre-disconnect speeds yet.

Are you chaps refering to the connection speed shown in the taskbar or download speed tests?

The latter. I have just broken the 2mb barrier. Slow but hopefully sure. Way to go!

Latter for me too.

Was hitting 6 and just over late last night and again this am.

Also noticed a vast improvement in the volume and quality of the landline.

Fingers well and truly crossed.

So far no real improvement at day 3.5

The i-Plate does more than just disconnect the ring wire and add an ADSL filter, doesn't it? I think it also removes entirely the circuitry round the ring wire, so you don't have that soaking up ADSL signal.

I just binned an ADSL filter that had been in my former study for years - at last I know why the telephone on the desk played up!

More confused than ever, finally got around to removing the faceplate to have a look and found this:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_B3w28s0yMD0/S8...6/P1000480.JPG
Clearly rewiring is no longer an option, but now have two new questions.

First has my master socket been installed incorrectly, it looks like I am permanently connected to the test socket, is this a problem?

And second, can the i-plate still do anything for me?

Only the pair of wires from the exchange should be connected to the bit still fixed to the wall.

Extension wiring should pass through that big hole and be connected to the front plate. Removing the front plate disconnects the extension wiring and provides a test point/socket on th BT part of the line.

Does that mean I have no need for an I-plate?

It actually means that an I-plate would do you next to no good!

1. You would still have to use an ADSL filter on each phone/fax/Sky etc connector;
2. You might get a cleaner & thus faster internet connection - but quite possibly there would be some degradation from the other circuits running round the house.

If you want to put things right, and have the time & energy, you could either,
1. Ask BT or your telecomms provider to wire the master socket correctly or,
2. (what I would prob. do - illegally) rewire the master socket. Info here, for example:
UK Telephone Wiring

On balance, if you're getting an acceptable speed / reliability, you may wish to leave things as they are. Up to you.

Good luck.

I typically get a connection somewhere between 6.0 and 6.5 with download speeeds between 4.0 and 4.5, but I pay for 8 and only live a mile from my nearest exchange, so I assumed something must be degrading the signal.
Is it worth asking BT around to have a look?

A bit of a toss-up really, isn't it. Some people on these boards would kill for a 4+ download on an 8 line, I suspect... and the result depends on so much - age of copper & connections to the xchange, contention, to name but two.

And (not first-hand knowledge this, but...) BT have been known to charge for a call-out with no faults found. OTOH, you have shown that you have a non-standard master socket, so you might be ok there.

If you are not in the habit of downloading lots of big files - i.e. the difference of a slightly faster line isn't really noticeable - you may decide to live with what you've got, until the next hike of speeds, which seem to come every few years. My connection with the same isp has gone from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8 nominal since about 2002. In reality I get a fairly steady 6-7 at the same distance from the exchange as you are.

Age of connection may have something to do with it, the house has been here over 30 years.
I do tend to download quite a lot (P2P and such :=) which was why I was trying to maximise the DL speed.
Might try and find an address to email that photo to, see if they will sort it out for free.
Thanks for all the advice guys.

Cloud chaser,

That two half modular master socket combination is perfectly normal. :ok:

Cloud Chaser (and other interested parties),

You should also make yourselves familiar with the BT spec for the service :

http://www.btwebworld.com/sinet/485v1p0.pdf

The document details, amongst other things, what BT considers to be acceptable speeds for the service.

It also contains this tidbit, which all *DSL users should remember ......


(And for those of you who don't know yet, apart from the odd LLU network, BT have a virtual monopoly and supply this DSL service wholesale to the majority of DSL providers touting their wares ... hence the pointer to BT spec document).