# Solved: Problem w/ DSL and phone jack



## syc0path (Nov 19, 2004)

I recently got DSL, and I can't get it to work w/ the phone jack that is right near the computer. We added this phone jack several yrs ago and we've been using it for dial-up and fax ever since and we've never had a problem. But for some reason, the DSL won't work on that line. I currently have 40' of phone extension cables (a 15', a 25', and a male-to-male connector between them) running to the nearest phone jack across the house. I works pretty good... I got average speeds of about 80k and peak speeds of about 150k -- not bad considering 384k is the max limit and the modem hasn't even been "trained" yet. So I guess it will work temporarily, until we figure out what's wrong w/ the jack.

I unscrewed the jack from the wall and the connections are tight. I wiggled the wires, played around w/ it, etc, but no difference. The wire for it runs down in the wall to the basement ceiling, then along the ceiling till it reaches the garage phone. When we talked to the DSL tech, he suggested unplugging that phone, but it didn't make any difference. From the garage phone, the cable then runs to the main telephone hookup on the side of the house.

I thought the distance might be too long, but it can't be much longer than how I'm running it to the next room. We traced the wire across the basement ceiling and there doesn't appear to be any damage. So any ideas what's wrong w/ the jack??

Oh yeah, 1 other question... since I'm so used to dial-up, I always disconnect from the internet when I leave my comp running overnight to process videos or whatever. Is there anyway to disconnect from DSL without disabling the connection? If I ever get a trojan or whatever, there's no pt in letting have full access to download whatever it wants all night long. Yes, I know about adding a firewall, but they're not perfect.


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## stantley (May 22, 2005)

To answer your second question first, if I don't need to access the internet for a while I just turn off the modem and then when I turn it back on it takes about 10 to 20 seconds to reconnect.

As far as the jack not working, did you test it with a phone to see if that works. Maybe you have a filter on the line somewhere between the main source and the computer. Does the line to the garage phone split before or after the filter?


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## syc0path (Nov 19, 2004)

stantley said:


> To answer your second question first, if I don't need to access the internet for a while I just turn off the modem and then when I turn it back on it takes about 10 to 20 seconds to reconnect.
> 
> As far as the jack not working, did you test it with a phone to see if that works. Maybe you have a filter on the line somewhere between the main source and the computer. Does the line to the garage phone split before or after the filter?


Yeah turning the modem off would be ez enough... it's just that they say to leave it on for the 1st 10 days till it gets trained. Oh well, I guess I can disconnect the ethernet cable till the 10 days are up.

Yeah, the phone works fine on that jack. There aren't any filters on that line... we actually installed it ourselves (we added the garage phone probably 10-12yrs ago, and then we added the phone line for the computer probably 4-5yrs ago). When I plugged the DSL filter in, I did it right at the jack next to the computer. But now that I think about it, I should plug the modem into the jack in the garage -- that would help me narrow down where the interruption occurs.


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

When it is plugged in, are you using a filter between the garage phone and the jack? Do you have filters on all the other phones, fax machines, answering machines and modems (not the DSL one) in the house?

Do you have a telephone junction box (called a Network Interface Device, or NID) on the outside of the house? Temporarily unplugging all of your inside wiring and plugging the DSL modem directing into the NID should give you a good idea of the maximum speeds you can get.


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## syc0path (Nov 19, 2004)

cwwozniak said:


> When it is plugged in, are you using a filter between the garage phone and the jack? Do you have filters on all the other phones, fax machines, answering machines and modems (not the DSL one) in the house?
> 
> Do you have a telephone junction box (called a Network Interface Device, or NID) on the outside of the house? Temporarily unplugging all of your inside wiring and plugging the DSL modem directing into the NID should give you a good idea of the maximum speeds you can get.


We tried it both w/ the filter on the garage phone and without. We also tried it w/ the garage phone disconnected. Most of the other phones have filters, but not all (they didn't send us enough). But that really shouldn't make any difference -- I've tried several jacks around the house and they all work except the 1 that's next to the computer -- whether the filters are on all plugged-in phones or not.

It's getting a little cold where I live to be outside testing for max speeds... the speeds are good enough for now. I just want the phone jack next to the computer to work!


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

syc0path said:


> Most of the other phones have filters, but not all (they didn't send us enough). But that really shouldn't make any difference


   

I had always heard that every telephone, answering machine, etc connected on the same line as the DSL service had to have a DSL filter installed. The filters keep the other devices from corrupting/attenuating the high frequency DSL signal. I don't know where you are located, but Radio Shack stores in the USA sell the filters.

If you have a lot of devices connected on the phone line, a better choice might be to insert a DSL/POTS splitter directly on your incoming line. You then run a dedicated line from the splitter's DSL output to a jack for the DSL modem. All other devices then connect to the Voice output of the splitter.

EDIT: Here is some information on some different types of whole house splitters:
http://www.homephonewiring.com/splitters.html


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## Frank4d (Sep 10, 2006)

cwwozniak said:


> If you have a lot of devices connected on the phone line, a better choice might be to insert a DSL/POTS splitter directly on your incoming line. You then run a dedicated line from the splitter's DSL output to a jack for the DSL modem. All other devices then connect to the Voice output of the splitter.


I had to do that when I had DSL and it would not work. The phone company installed a DSL/POTS splitter where the phone line comes into the house. One pair of wires to the computer (nowhere else), and another pair of wires (to all other devices).


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## syc0path (Nov 19, 2004)

cwwozniak said:


> I had always heard that every telephone, answering machine, etc connected on the same line as the DSL service had to have a DSL filter installed. The filters keep the other devices from corrupting/attenuating the high frequency DSL signal. I don't know where you are located, but Radio Shack stores in the USA sell the filters.


Yes, I know about the filters... that's not the point right now. Let me get the thing working 1st, then I'll worry about optimizing performance. As far as the filters go at the moment, the only important thing to realize is that the jack doesn't work whether the filters are plugged in or not. So the problem is not being caused by a lack of filters.

Anyway, I plugged the modem into the garage jack last night and it worked. So the problem is somewhere between the garage jack and the jack next to the computer. I can think of 3 possible causes:

1. Loose connection at the back of the garage jack -- I didnt' have time to check it last night, and I already checked the jack next to the comp.

2. Distance is too long -- I'll take some measurements and compare this distance vs. the way it's hooked up now.

3. Damage to the phone wire where it goes from the garage to the basement or from the basement ceiling into the wall.

4. It's not very likely, but there's a fuse box about 7' away from the garage phone that could be creating electromagnetic interference. DSL is sensitive to that.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Purchase a DSL splitter and install it at the telco service entrance. Run a direct line from the DSL port on the splitter directly to the DSL modem. Connect all of the other phone instruments to the telephone output of the DSL splitter.

This is as good as it gets for DSL installations, and will usually solve in-house wiring issues.


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## syc0path (Nov 19, 2004)

Well after a little experimenting, it turns out that the jack itself was bad somehow. It worked just fine for phone, fax, or dial-up modem, but it wouldn't work at all for DSL. Maybe the prongs inside were damaged or something. I finally figured it out when we tried hooking new wire to the junction between the garage phone and the computer's phone line. It didn't work even though we had new wire... then I realized the only other common thread was the jack itself. We pulled out a known working jack and hooked it up to the computer's phone line and it works fine now


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Sometimes it really is the simple stuff.  I have to remember...

*Occam's Razor:* Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred. In other words, when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.


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