Poor broadband and phone connection

[elin]

Thank you Hugh, I'll get my son to look at this thread and follow the advice
and also get my new phones in use.  I should then have a clearer idea of
what the problems are and get more help if I need it.

Cheers,
Elin

[[Ray]]

Hi

Virgin's "preferred" speed test is "speedtest.net".

This will show what you are actually getting ....
(do not take the first test result but keep a tot of what you get)
 ... not what you are contracted for.

The ex-BT engineers (et al) on the site are correct, however your modem/router is likely (off) the first point on the connection in and therefore not likely to be (so) affected by REN.

If your "broadband" (as you call it) is a wireless signal "inside" your home then the problem may well  be caused by the building make-up of your "home". Simple things like you have placed the w/l router near/next to a freezer / metal filing cabinet / metal shelving / "upandover" garage doors/ the castle walls ...............
or your coronet or throne! 

[carol8353]

Simple things like you have placed the w/l router near/next to a freezer / metal filing cabinet / metal shelving / "upandover" garage doors/ the castle walls ...............
or your coronet or throne! 

Not everyone's as rich as you Ray 

Did you manage to spend your lottery winnings okay?

3 quid wasn't it LOL

Carol

[[Ray]]

£3? Big celebration?

That only buys a half-pint of beer in my local!

£6 a pint of beer they call R.I.P. but it is 13%

[Nick29]

Though I forget the name of the term, a normal landline can take a number of appliances with a total loading of 5. After that the quality of the call badly deteriorates. A modern phone has a rating of less than 1, so without dificulty you could have up to 5 hand sets on the line without difficulty. However, older handsets have a far higher rating, the older the set the higher in general, so it could well be this causing the problem.

Sorry, Roger, but the thing you're talking about (the REN = Ring Equivalence Number) only affects the phone's ability to ring.  If people want a lot of phones in the house, I'd advise them to get a set of DECT phones which have only one base unit connected to the line, and all the other phones just sit on charger bases which are not connected to the phone line directly.  That way you don't need phone extensions, and the REN is kept to a low number.

You can also improve the performance of ADSL simply by disconnecting all the ring wires from extensions at both ends.  There's lots of useful information here

[elin]

Hi

Virgin's "preferred" speed test is "speedtest.net".

This will show what you are actually getting ....
(do not take the first test result but keep a tot of what you get)
 ... not what you are contracted for.

The ex-BT engineers (et al) on the site are correct, however your modem/router is likely (off) the first point on the connection in and therefore not likely to be (so) affected by REN.

If your "broadband" (as you call it) is a wireless signal "inside" your home then the problem may well  be caused by the building make-up of your "home". Simple things like you have placed the w/l router near/next to a freezer / metal filing cabinet / metal shelving / "upandover" garage doors/ the castle walls ...............
or your coronet or throne! 

Thanks for the advice Ray, my router isn't placed near to any of the objects that you mention. Maybe it is the huge silver casket of gold coins that I keep stored next to it, I take great delight in running my hands through them of an evening.

Both my phone and router however are on the tv cabinet, could there be interference from them?

Luckily Nick, the phones that I have ordered are DECT phones, although I didn't know what that signified!

Elin

[Calverley Lad]

Elin
Are you in a position to tell us what result you managed to get on speedtest.net.
All you have to do is click on 'green arrow'.
Write down download figures then upload figures.
We are all waiting
 Brian

[elin]

Hi Brian,

Sorry to keep the nation on tenterhooks!!

The figures are   Ping 73ms   Download speed 3.36 mbps   upload 0.45 mbps

What do you think?

Thanks, Elin

[Redroger]

Thanks Nick, it is REN of course (incipient senility again!) my brother had an ancient reproduction phone which his wife insisted on keeping. Neither nor anyone else could hear him on that phone, BT told me it was due to it having a high REN. Perhaps they were just trying to get rid of me.