What BT cable entry to house?

Discussion in 'Electricians' Talk' started by tellme_why, Sep 15, 2018.

  1. tellme_why

    tellme_why Member

    Hi all,
    I have a virgin media cable for broadband and phone but getting annoyed with monthly rentals going up too often hence looking at substitutes.
    I noticed there is one cable entering the grey junction bow (see picture) I guess this is the BT line? However why this cable got so many cores?
    Also there is a second cable popping up from the ground with only two cores - it seems it was connected to the black box.
    Please can anyone advise what these two cables are for and why one got so many cores?
    What I have to do to restore the BT line and get it connected to a broadband socket without loosing speed/performance?

    Many thanks
     

    Attached Files:

  2. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Looks like a 5 pair BT cable, you would usually only use one of those pairs, others would be spare pairs in case of line fault, or for a second phone line.

    But,in past I would say someone may have had a second line installed, hard to tell from messing of wiring.

    No idsea as what other cable coming out of ground.

    Don't have to go with BT, could look at other ISP's, I'm about to change from BT to Sky.
    And might be some good offers for Sky & other ISP's on Quidco/TCP.

    https://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2018
  3. joinerjohn1

    joinerjohn1 Screwfix Select

    I’m with virgin media and can honestly say that my monthly rentals don’t go up “often”. Maybe once a year they advise me of a change in the t&c’s. When they do, I phone up and tell em, if they put the price up I’ll leave. If they don’t keep the price the same, I phone up and ask to speak to disconnections. Never failed yet to get my current price kept the same. ( last 3 yrs)
     
  4. Bazza-spark

    Bazza-spark Screwfix Select

    I have just gone with Sky for TV, broadband and telephone. Some reasonable deals with them.

    Kind regards
     
    KIAB likes this.
  5. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Got a very good deal for Sky Q TV with 4 mini boxes, broadband & phone.
     
    Bazza-spark likes this.
  6. malkie129

    malkie129 Screwfix Select

    I only have phone & broadband. I have just switched from BT to Talk-Talk and have halved my monthly charges. :)
     
  7. seneca

    seneca Screwfix Select

    I'm on Talk Talk too Malkie, was AOL for the broadband but it's all Talk Talk now, phone, broadband and also their TV box which gives us recording capabilities from the Free View transmissions, total cost is around 30 quid a month. I don't really know why anyone bothers with Sky these days unless they're heavily into sport or films, there's so much available on Free View and Free Sat.
    I was with Sky right from their start, being a TV engineer in those days.I done very well supplying and installing Sky receivers, it was analogue receivers when it started which always worked ok and then it went digital which was like starting all over again, new receivers and dishes!
     
  8. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    For benefit of others,who having Sky installed, you can request 'FOC' a Hybrid LNB instead of standard LNB when installing Sky Q, this enables you to connect a freesat box to the LNB on dish.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2018
  9. malkie129

    malkie129 Screwfix Select

    I'm on FreeSky. I can't get all of the channels,but I'm happy with those that I can get. We have a double LNB, which runs cables to 2 Sky boxes.
     
  10. MGW

    MGW Screwfix Select

    This house was on Sky broad band, we decided to try something else after sky was cut off without warning, not totally sky's fault, the people doing the probate stopped paying them. So looked at talktalk, we had go after go at signing up, each time they would confirm all done, then next day we would find not gone through.

    So went to Post Office, they did at least connect us, but changed our phone number and the speed was well down on sky. Series of complaints and finally speed up, but still not got old number.

    Now I wish I had gone back to sky, now download 11.8 Mbps upload 0.8 Mbps did not go for fibre as with Sky everything seems to work OK with standard broadband. Never tested speed with Sky as there was no problems.
     
  11. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member


    Go to DSL Checker & see what speed your line supports, fibre much than adsl, except over a very long distance.

    https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

    And a good speed test which I use.

    https://speedof.me/
     
  12. Bob Rathbone

    Bob Rathbone Screwfix Select

    I use BT for the phone and broadband, not the cheapest but I pay £19 a month for inclusive calls and broadband, which is painfully slow. The speed is slow because of the loading on the fibre link from the local exchange to the nearest fibre mainline exchange, so moving to another provider will not change this. The line rental is paid annually to make a saving. TV is by freeview and freesat with a recorder on each.
     
  13. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    If you have VDSL(FTTC) then it's the distance from your house to the street cabinet your connected to,which affects speed, not to the exchange.

    Most fibre links are 10Gb now, so shouldn't affect you.
    Was only getting 20Mb here,found it was was a line fault,due to old alumimum cable, moved to another cable with spare a pair & I'm now on 74Mb.
     
  14. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    Just tested mine with speed of me.

    Download 32.18

    Upload 1.36.


    This is on WiFi
    Any good. ??
     
  15. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Depends, if your on a FTTC 40Mb package then not too bad, if your on a 80Mb package then pretty poor.
    DSL Checker will tell what your line supports.

    Using latest firmware on modem wifi router can sometimes help to speed things up.

    I'm using a elderly Asus RT66-U dual band router,(end of life,no further firmware updates available, so going to be replaced shortly) just ran Speed of Me on lappy & got 58Mb down/15:54 up,& running Speed of Me on my pc, I get 77Mb down & 14:8Mb up.

    Some wifi routers are pretty poor for wifi performance.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2018
  16. Pollowick

    Pollowick Screwfix Select

    Who knows !

    By using WiFi you are adding another unknown to the text. Always carry out tests using a wired connection.
     
    KIAB likes this.
  17. rogerk101

    rogerk101 Screwfix Select

    Modern WiFi boxes are capable of speeds far higher than the outside broadband (even fibre); so running broadband speed tests over WiFi doesn't alter a thing.
     
  18. Pollowick

    Pollowick Screwfix Select

    Yes it does. Firstly, you cannot guarantee it is running at full speed. Second, can you be sure that a neighbour is not using that channel. Third, there can be an additional delay and if an ACK is not received in time a retransmission may occur.
     
    KIAB likes this.

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