And did it improve speeds?

Do you mean 2, or 2+?

And when you say ‘adsl max’, what was the underlying product, was it ADSL, or ADSL2 or ADSL2+?

If you’re going from standard ‘up to 8 megabit’ ADSL to ADSL2+ ‘up to 24 megabit’, yes you’ll probably notice a difference assuming you’re not a zillion miles from the exchange. Ours is a bit faster (it connects to the exchange much faster, but there are obviously still the bottlenecks on the whole system)

yes and reverted back as the speeds were unstable. possibly due to my distance from exchange.

this was a few years ago things may have changed now.

ADSL Max is an underlying product. Up to a max download speed of 8mbps.
Back to the OP, it depends how far you are from the exchange, if you’re over 2-3km you probably wont notice much of an improvement in download speeds, but upload speeds should increase from 400kbps to 800kpbs (roughly).

Hm.. I didn’t know there was an ADSL2+

We’re a long way from the exchange, but not super long – 4km or something I think. Last time I googled all this I seemed to remeber discovering I was on ADSL Max, the man on the phone said BT were offering ADSL2.. but Samknows says ADSL2+ is available. This is what it says about my number

up to 1Mbps via ADSL
1Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max
2.5Mbps or greater via ADSL2+

We seem to be 4.4km from the exchange, according to Kitz.

ADSL2 & ADSL2+ are effectively the same thing.
ADSL Max tends to be a little more stable than ADSL2, so changing up may mean that the connection becomes more unstable. It might be better though, certainly the upload speed will improve.
4.4km is quite a long line, so its never going to be lightning fast unfortunately.

ours doubled (to about 13-14ish, still rising a tiny bit)
we’re close to the box though, maybe 400yds if the wire runs striaght down the road

Me I get 60 ish meg on ADSL mind the DSLAM is only a few yards from the house 🙂

I just want to watch iPlayer on the PS3. Need 1.5 meg for that. Do need to sort out the crackling on the line tho too.

Sort the crackling on the line first, that will cause data errors, possibly also connection drops, meaning your connection will be slowed down in an attempt to stabilise the drops in connection.
Once you’ve sorted that, you can ask your ISP to get the connection to retrain.

It never used to crackle, and then the internet connection started dropping out frequently. Now the crackling comes and goes, and not surprisingly I can tell when the crackling is happening because the internet connection starts playing up again.

Does the crackling occur when its damp / raining outside? You’ll need to get BT to sort that, but make sure you test from the master socket when its doing it, to rule out any internal wiring. Find the main socket, take the lower half off the front and plug into the test socket on the lower RHS, if its not crackling then its internal, if it is then get BT on the case. It may take a couple of goes with them to sort it though.

Once you’ve got the crackling fixed, your speed should improve, although you may need to get your ISP to force it to retrain.

I switched in October last year. The increase in performance has been only very slight – a little bit disappointing really.

Don’t what ever you do report it as a broadband fault, that leads to a world of pain. If you’ve got crackle on the line report it as a phone/line fault. I’m convinced the rollout of fibre is causing these types of issues, very old connection being disturbed during the upgrade/new connections process.

daveh – Member

Don’t what ever you do report it as a broadband fault, that leads to a world of pain. If you’ve got crackle on the line report it as a phone/line fault. I’m convinced the rollout of fibre is causing these types of issues, very old connection being disturbed during the upgrade/new connections process.
Yes report to your line provider as a line fault!
Its one of the more common faults on copper lines. Due to the somewhat moist weather we’ve been having for the last 12 months, lots of bits of the network have been subjected to excessively moist conditions which is causing corrosion / shorts in the network, causing crackling etc.

Don’t what ever you do report it as a broadband fault, that leads to a world of pain.

Yeah already been through that, arguing with some numpty in India who insisted on telling me it was my wifi that was the problem.. grrr..

The crackling did start suddenly, and is intermittent, so it could easily be someone working on the exchange. I DEARLY hope it is, cos then I might finally be able to get some kind of decent speeds!

I’m going to have to buy a corded phone to prove to BT it’s the line, even though I’m sure it is.

The crackling did start suddenly, and is intermittent, so it could easily be someone working on the exchange. I DEARLY hope it is, cos then I might finally be able to get some kind of decent speeds!

I’m going to have to buy a corded phone to prove to BT it’s the line, even though I’m sure it is.
Its unlikely to be the exchange. It’ll be moisture or a corroded connection on the pair.

You dont say who your provider is. Molegrip.
At 4km from the exchange you should be getting higher speeds, I was 3.5 from the exchange and getting 7.6 Meg.
You may be able to improve your speed yourself, whats your layout from where it enters the house, what phones and where is your Modem ?

If he’s got crackling it going to cause drops in the dsl which causs the speed to drop to try and stabilise the connection. He needs to sort the crackling out first.

bigyinn – Member

If he’s got crackling it going to cause drops in the dsl which causs the speed to drop to try and stabilise the connection. He needs to sort the crackling out first.

Get away !!
A lot of faults with noise is caused by internal wiring, 35 years experience tells me to split the fault saves time and money. You wouldnt believe the number of times its a loose connection in a Jcn box or a bit of old internal wiring still connected and going nowhere.

I’ve already gone through what he needs to do to prove / rule out internal wiring earlier.

You have assumed a lot though,

That he knows what you are talking about..

I was 3.5 from the exchange and getting 7.6 Meg.

On ADSLmax? 😯 That’s an incredibly good rate for that distance from the exchange – I thought ours was quite decent giving ~6.5 at ~1km (ADSL2+ upgrade is in June here – am hoping being as close as we are there will be a real improvement in speed).

A lot of faults with noise is caused by internal wiring

I know, that was my first port of call. Done all the suggested things, also tested with the test socket for days on end.

I even know the quiet line test number.

Does the crackling occur when its damp / raining outside?

Er.. yes, but that’s only because it’s been damp / raining forever 🙂 Actually, it started a few months ago, which may have coincided with the dry weather thinking about it.

The crackling is really loud, like bad interference, and it goes on for a while, then it’ll suddenly stop and the line will be clear as a bell, for another while, then it comes back.

The crackling is really loud, like bad interference, and it goes on for a while, then it’ll suddenly stop and the line will be clear as a bell, for another while, then it comes back.

Pretty much what ours was doing, traced to a corroded connection in the cabinet, the openreach chap said it just fell apart in his hand. Connection remade, problem solved.

You dont happen to be fed overhead ?
Does your OH Wire run near trees ?
Dont trust the person in India
If you are sure its not Internal get a BT engineer out, you are paying them for the line even if you dont get your Internet from them.
Make up porkys tell em its started cutting out and lines tripping after 1 ring anything but a crackly line.

No overhead feed, it’s a recently built property.

Why can’t I tell them it’s just a crackly line? Will they fob me off?

No overhead feed, it’s a recently built property.

Why can’t I tell them it’s just a crackly line? Will they fob me off?
Its not easy to check for a crackly line especially if its intermittent, I’m guessing they are told not to get an engineer out so literaly fob you off.
Mind even with ring trip [one ring and then ringing stops] they said there was no fault even though they couldnt ring me back to tell me because, you guessed it, the ring trip.
If you are sure its outside just tell them you want an engineers visit.

Well it’s quite obvious, and it happens very frequently. When BT were on the phone about broadband it was disrupting conversation.

Seems like only an engineers visit will sort it, if you are new build with underground feed then its unlikely to be the cable from the house to the cabinet.
As someone said before it will be either termination in the cabinet or the exchange, they use a Krone strip usually which is a bigger version of the termination inside your master socket [pushed into a slot with a special tool] and relies on the tension of the two metallic sides to cut through the insulation and grip the conductor.
It may be this termination in the master socket causing the problem. Also on some UG fed lines a termination block is used on the wall of the house to swap from UG cable to internal cable, may be worth checking yourself, if you know what you are doing/looking for.

Oooh.. yes I will check the external connection block, I think there is one.

Good one ta.