COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

Interesting report about the US navy ships that seem to be prone to collisions. PE reports that there is a suspicion that GPS signals are being hacked and falsified in some sensitive areas. Round Moscow and in the China Sea are two of them. Is anything safe?

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz has just got a new wired mouse after the wireless one started eating batteries. It looks and feels very nice, works OK....but the cable is so short it won't reach from the PC on the floor to the mouse mat above! Just looked on Amazon and found that I can buy USB extension cables. I didn't know they made them, I've never noticed one in use or needed one before.

My troubles continue with a slow broadband connection (24Mbps when it should be 38). I've sent details to Plusnet and I'm still waiting for a response - they seem to be having problems of their own. In the meantime I've made some tests. Connected the PC direct to the router instead of via the Powerline. Strangely the speed dropped to 14! Mrs Tiz's PC was stil connected via the Powerline and her speed fell to 14 too. Once I'd switched them back to both on Powerline the speed was 24 again. (Scratches head ) We're not sure which of two phone sockets in the house is the main one because the wiring is largely hidden. There isn't a BT double socket like you get when you switch to fibre, they're both singles. I'm using the socket that already had a filter/splitter which allows me to connect the router cable but I can't swap it to the other socket because even the short length of cable on it is fixed behind the end wall of a bookcase! So the next thing is to get a new splitter and try it on the other socket. I might as well do this as Plusnet, if they ever get around to me, will tell me to do such things before they'll send an engineer. And if an engineer comes and does the same they'll charge me for is visit!

[PanBiker]

There isn't a BT double socket like you get when you switch to fibre, they're both singles.

Sounds like it may be being throttled at the master socket Tiz. If you are paying for a fibre tariff you should have a VDSL Master Socket, anything less stands a chance of degrading your bandwidth. I reckon your ISP should invoke an engineer call from Open Reach to install the correct infrastructure for the fibre package you are on. Ideally any extensions should be in CW1308 cable and not the flat flexible stuff. I gained 2Mbps by replacing less than 5m of that stuff prior to my fibre upgrade. What model of socket do you have and have Plusnet done a line test?

[Stanley]

When the engineer solved my fibre problem by fitting a new master socket near the computer wired direct to the incoming line at the old master socket it was a single Jack Tiz but works fine. My problem had a lot to do with having multiple sockets, four of them. We cut them all out as one jack and a wireless phone will do all of that these days. If you can find the leads, disconnect all the jacks bar one for the landline.

[Pluggy]

We had Openreach round yesterday. We've had a long running issue with a crackling phone line and slow sometimes intermittant internet. My reluctance to do battle with a thick Indian accent from a call centre in Delhi means I put it off and put it off, A couple of days ago I rang them because it had got really bad. To my surprise and delight an English woman asnwered. She confirmed EE had moved their call centres back to the UK because of the weight of complaints. And it was pretty easy to get them to understand the problem and get a bod round. He hooked all his gear up and had pretty soon had isolated the problem to a point 37.5 meters down the wire from where his test gear was plugged in. Thats where the technology fell over somewaht because they haven't a clue how 37.5 metres down the wire translates to a location they can pinpoint because the wires are all over the place. Their best guess is somewhere between the post and the cabinet. It wouldn't be a problem is they had some spare capacity in the cabinet but they didn't so its on going..They don't need access to the house again so it will be fixed when they sort the external problems......

[plaques]

Powerline connectors don't like surge protectors in the circuit. Make sure there isn't any built in before you call the wrecking crew.

[Big Kev]

Thats where the technology fell over somewaht because they haven't a clue how 37.5 metres down the wire translates to a location they can pinpoint because the wires are all over the place. Their best guess is somewhere between the post and the cabinet. It wouldn't be a problem is they had some spare capacity in the cabinet but they didn't so its on going..They don't need access to the house again so it will be fixed when they sort the external problems......

I was fortunate, there was a line pair they could swap out. Unfortunately that wasn't the issue . A 'lift and shift' at the exchange eventually sorted the problem.

[Tizer]

Plaques, I'm using the same Powerline and power cables set up as in my previous house. Both PCs (in different rooms) are powered via extension multisockets which have surge protectors but the Powerline adapters are plugged into the mains on the wall, not on the extension. This set up gave me the full 38Mbps I was expecting in the previous house. I know Powerline doesn't like being plugged into an extension but I haven't heard or seen any evidence for them not liking surge protectors somewhere else in the set up.

Ian, as I mentioned, I don't know which is the master socket because I can't trace the wiring far enough to tell. There's one upstairs and one downstairs. I don't know what model of socket I have because there's nothing on them except `BT'. The router is currently on the upstairs one because that had a splitter; the phone is on the downstairs one. It doesn't make any difference to the speed if I disconnect the phone. I'm going to get a splitter and try it on the d'stairs socket (the upstairs splitter was permanently built into the bookcase!). Plusnet haven't done anything yet except say they'll get back to me, which is why I'm dabbling about and hoping I might fix the problem myself!

Stanley, I'll keep that in mind, thanks. We have only one master phone, the rest is wireless.

[PanBiker]

Can you not trace it from the incoming line pair? Apart from maybe a junction box to take the copper clad steel pair into CW1308 the first socket after that should be the master.
An added bonus of having VDSL face plates is that you don't need any external filters they are all built into the units. You also get an A/B line pair in the back box which is on the user side so you can legally extend from that which is what I did to locate my master in the alcove where I have the router and main PC.
When I had a rustle on my line and loss of bandwidth back in the ADSL days it was traced to a multi-pair cable that linked pole to pole the length of Commercial Street. The first OR engineer had already replaced the line from the pole to my house. The line ran thorough trees at the bottom of the street and had been damaged by tree growth. When asked by a neighbour why I had 2 Open Reach vans, a Simon Snorkel and three engineers on the job. I told them that I had reported the rustle on the line and loss of bandwidth. At least three others with lines from the same pole said they had noticed the rustle but thought it would go away!

[plaques]

Tizer, I was thinking of surge protection devices that are built into the incoming fuse box system. Some have multiple level protection depending on the risk factor. Personally, I don't know anything about them. Perhaps a competent local electrician could advise you.

[Stanley]

Whatever it is, keep chasing it Tiz! What puzzles me is that you must be closer to the exchange now than you were in the old house so I would have expected a slight improvement in speed.

[Tizer]

I've now confirmed that the d'stairs socket is the master box (something like LJ3?). There's a thick cable, covered in black plastic coming into it from below, presumably underground. I've spent 20 years with phone and electric cables coming in above from overhead wires so it's been easy to forget that it's not always like that! But there's lots of old wiring and extensions and it looks complicated so I ditched the idea of the splitter and had a more determined go at Plusnet, using Ian's comment about the need for a VDSL box. They've finally responded and write:
"Thanks for reporting your broadband problem. Our tests have found a fault with your broadband service. You've given us all the information we need about your problem, we'll raise this to our supplier for investigation. A Ticket has been raised to our Faults Team to monitor the problem and we'll be in touch when we have an update for you." I wonder how long it will take them? It took three weeks for them to get me connected when we moved!

[PanBiker]

Sounds like they have raised a ticket for an Open Reach visit. That should sort you Tiz. I would recommend ditching all your internal wiring if it's in old cable it will only degrade your signal. If you need to extend to get a more convenient connection location do so in CW1308 cable. See what O R come up with. If you get a VDSL faceplate and backbox it's easy to extend.

Copy of original post from back in the thread, it has some useful info:

"I ordered up and received all the bits I need to enable a master socket where I need to put my new router when it arrives. I have no convenient mains socket where my original master socket is. My commissioning day is now the 8th so I want to get this extension in place before then. I am told by Talk Talk that an engineering visit is not required as all the kit is user installable, upgrade to fibre routing done at the exchange and street cabinet as required. I know my existing connection gives 17Mbps solid over copper to my master socket so the existing copper infrastructure to the premises is as good as it gets.

BT Open Reach own all the infrastructure up to and including the master socket and back base. The front plate is the user side of the installation and has connections for extensions which can be legally added and anything connected are the customers liability.

I need my master socket further into the room where my existing router is and there is power. I have a CAT5 connection there through to my Freesat box in the front room. I have bought a full replacement Pressac master socket with VDSL faceplate and an extra VDSL faceplate to replace the standard one on my existing master socket. These plates have in addition to the normal IDC punch downs for extensions, unfiltered A/B connections for line extension. As these are on the user side of the master socket on a VDSL plate you can legally extend from the original to a new master socket. I bought 10m of original CW1308 spec cable which is what BT use for internal extensions. My existing telephone extension to the router and main telephone position is just on a normal flat flexible cable extension which is fine for ADSL but will not be suitable for the bandwidth of fiber, it is this infrastructure I am replacing.

The VDSL front plates have filtering built in so there will be no need for any additional micro filters. I have an existing wired extension from the original master socket up into our bedroom, I will rewire this in to the new faceplate as a reserve connection. We are replacing our phones with DECT wireless units so it's not strictly required but it's not eating anything so may just as well remain. I will then extend the unfiltered line connections up to my new master socket which I will install next to the router position in our computer alcove. The VDSL plate has dual sockets for a phone and a filtered output for RJ45 or RJ11 connections.

£23.00 for all the bits as opposed to £120.00 if you ask Open Reach to come and do it, I have 4mm cable clips and I won't charge myself for my labour.

[Tizer]

Thanks for all that Ian. I'm also going to ask Plusnet and the BT engineer about the routers that I'm using. They're are the ones that I've been using since we got fibre in our previous house and were set up by a BT engineer. We got the 38Mbps that we were paying for and therefore assumed it was all OK. When we moved here Plusnet said all we had to do was plug the routers in and go, once the BT man had done his bit in the cabinet or whatever. The day the BT engineer did his work he came to our new house and did a check to see the set up was working. He didn't make any comment about it being wired into what I now know to be not the master socket (and it was the old type too), even though it was easy to see beside the router. What he did comment on was the two routers connected in series, BT followed by Plusnet. I explained that was what the BT engineer had set up in our old house. He said we shouldn't need two routers and that he'd never seen one like the BT OpenReach router! I've also noticed that the BT router is connected to the socket by a flat wire and I've read recently that all wiring should be twisted cable and circular cross section. But it's hard wired into the back of the router. We'll see what the next engineer and Plusnet say about it all. It doesn't half waste a lot of time though!

[PanBiker]

Your router may well be connected via a RJ11 connector on the router often in flat cable this isn't a problem. The VDSL faceplate has an RJ45 for the filtered broadband and a RJ11 for the telephone component. Infrastructure cabling socket to socket from the line extension should be done in CW1308 which is twisted multi-pair and everything else of course from the router will be on RJ45 and CAT5 or 6.
The VDSL faceplate creates a clear demarcation point between the the two components of the signal on the customer side of the socket and allows extensions of both.

[Stanley]

The joys of house changes Tiz! Still, by the time you have bottomed it you will be in good nick. I hope it all goes well for you. Look at it this way, it's keeping you off the street corners and is good brain gym!!

[Tizer]

Thanks again Ian. All these terms like RJ45 etc are new to me and it's good to have some idea of what it's all about.

Look at it this way, it's keeping you off the street corners and is good brain gym!!

It certainly is that Stanley! I suppose it's what they call `lifelong learning', although it might better be described as extreme sports!

[PanBiker]

They use an RJ11 on the router for the broadband connection to differentiate it from the RJ45 outputs. RJ11 is common to telephone handset connections whereas the RJ45 is the industry standard for network infrastructure interconnectivity . I wish I had a pound for every RJ45 plug I have terminated, I would be better off still if it was the same for IDC patch panel terminations.

[Tripps]

I think this comes under the 'ecstasy' rather than 'agony'. Things don't often go so well for me.

Last night I didn't close the freezer door properly, and noticed an alarm. The temperature was flashing at -7C. I cleared the obstruction, and realised I had no idea what the temperature should be, Actually -7 C seemed quite cold enough to me.

Couldn't find the hand book so went to the web. Found the maker's site (Liebherr), and needed the model number. That was bit obscure so I took a photo on my smart phone, and expanded it. Quickly found the instruction book online, and printed it out .

Seems the temp should be -!8C . Put it on superfreeze for a couple of hours, and all was well again. I didn't even realise that the fridge and the freezer sections were totally separate, with their own set of controls. I've only had it for 8 trouble free years.

[Stanley]

I have a separate thermometer in my freezer David, just looked and it is reading -15C. That's cold enough for me!
I don't even know the modern specification descriptions of grades of steel..... It was a lot simpler in the old days when it was graded by the tensile strength of a square inch bar. 70 ton steel was tough stuff! That became EN8 I think but god alone knows what it is now.

[Big Kev]

According to 'guidelines' domestic freezers should be -18 and fridges +4...

[Tizer]

The -18C originally arose simply because it's the Celsius equivalent of zero Fahrenheit which was found to be about best for vegetables in the 1930s. It's generally accepted that anything warmer than -18C risks loss of vitamins, changes in texture etc.

[plaques]

Also a note on listeria.
Be aware that Listeria monocytogenes can grow in foods in the refrigerator. Use an appliance thermometer, such as a refrigerator thermometer, to check the temperature inside your refrigerator. The refrigerator should be 40°F or lower and the freezer 0°F or lower.

[BillHowcroft]

As I started my apprenticeship the old En steel grades (Emergency number steels from 1941 not to be confused with the current Euro Normative standards EN) were being replaced so good old En8 became 080M40 where 080 means plain carbon-manganese steel and M stands for mechanical properties and the 40 relates to the .35/.45% carbon. The Americans have a similar logical numbering system and call it AISI 1040. Then we changed to the European (German) designation which includes C40. You can still buy En8 under the old name.

The En numbers also did their hardening and tempering to letter codes in Christian units of tons/square in tensile eg
P 35-45 Q 40-50 R 45-55 S 50-60 T 55-65 U 60-70 V 65-75 etc up to Z at 100 tsi minimum

[Stanley]

You know a lot more about steel grades than I do Bill! Luckily all I need to know is hard or soft!