DSL problems, need help with Phone Wire repairs.

[minun]

Hey guys, this is my last place to turn to.

I am a customer of Tek Savvy with their DSL services and I am sure everyone knows the story by now, "We don't have technicians, we will have to call for Bell who will charge you $90 if they find it is not an outside wire leading to your house problem", so I ask what happens after if they say it is an inside wire problem "Well you have to do it yourself or hire someone"...here I am.

My plan is to test my own wires first and if it works (Which I doubt because I have a really old home with an old demarcation), Bell will just fix the outside wire instead of risking a $90 charge.

I googled some stuff and people are saying it is simple, I understood a bit and got as far as there are 4 colour wires, I am hoping for a step by step instruction, as I pick up fast when learning things. Do I just cut and strip the wires?

Can anyone help me out with do-it-yourself and save me some money?

In a nutshell of my DSL problems: Constant disconnects, can happen every 2-3 minutes, technical support says my wires are degrading, whatever that means.

 

[kanewolf]

You can test your inside wiring by connecting a temporary wire to the "user" side of the demarcation box (if you have one with like that). There may be a standard rj11 jack in the demarcation box.

 

[minun]

i don't have one because it is an older model

 

[jsmithepa]

When it "disconnects" I want you to run and look at your DSL modem, does it show a red light?

ISP always scare you, "if inside wiring, that's gonna be big$$" so they don't have to come out. This is actually quite easy to figure out depending how often this happens. As Kanewolf says, if you can hookup a temporary wire to the phone's junction box, this is probably outside, then you can find out very quickly whether there is something wrong with your inside wiring.

BUT OK you don't have a 100 foot cable and don't want to look weird to your neighbors... First, must find this junction box, then it's very simple, I would want to CLEAN the wires on both ends, they could be dirty/oxidized. Find this junction box, take a close up pic and post and we'll guide you from there.

 

[minun]

There is no red light, the DSL light would slow blink instead of being a solid, the internet light will go off, power and WLAN lights are normal.

This literally happens every 2-3 minutes, but sometimes it will be stable for an hour.

This is my junction box, it is an style and does not provide that, i can remove the cover if it helps.

http://i.imgur.com/Gr3lM4n.jpg

 

[minun]

http://imgur.com/ExOuwAO

 

[minun]

Hey guys, I traced line from the phone jack I am using for the modem to the demarc, I have some further questions to understand what is going on before I go out and buy a phone-jack to test.

First, why is there so many others lines at the demarc than just the 4 red, green, yellow and black?

Second, if I take the red and green line off the demarc and connect it to the new phone-jack for testing, wouldn't that be connecting a phone jack to another phone jack?

This is the phone jack I am using for my modem (all the way in the attic)

I follow the line down, there is another phone jack I think outside the room's door, a floor below, on the left you can see the line going down from the phone jack I am using upstairs, I don't think this phone jack is using the same line, I'm not sure how it works.

http://i.imgur.com/XMTNrhh.jpg

A closer look

http://imgur.com/d4AFoFq,XMTNrhh,UCf5Jj5,1UC3EKi#2

At this point I lose the line and I noticed 2 more phone jacks, if that is what they are called, beside the demarc on the main floor. The wood on the left is the stairs going up, the lines going to the right is connected to the demarc. These one confuses me the most, how much lines is the demarc is providing?

http://i.imgur.com/1UC3EKi.jpg

Does anyone have any tips or advice after seeing these?

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

This actually appears to be an outdoor ringer (solenoid and striker visible), not a demarc. Are you sure this is where the service drop first arrives at your house?

In any case, it's possible that it could be interfering with your service. Unless you need this ringer, I would suggest having a technician remove it from the circuit.

It also appears the other indoor jacks are in poor shape or not being used. A tech would have the right tools to trace the wiring around the house and make the necessary changes to help improve service.

You could try to figure this out yourself, but you will likely find it frustrating. If you have DSL only (no telephone service), you might consider running a new line from the demarc straight to your modem, or have a tech do it for you. Cat 5 cable (or similar twisted pair cable) can be used for this purpose.

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

It appears a tech has bypassed this jack because of its poor condition by using Scotchlok connectors to connect the two lines coming to this point directly together. You don't need to do anything here.

You should determine if these lines are in the circuit going to your modem. If you don't have telephone service and this jack is in the circuit, only two of these lines should be connected together - the DSL side and the modem side. The third line should be disconnected.

Make sure there are no other jacks in the circuit that are corroded or in bad shape.

 

[minun]

Hey skoota, you are very helpful. I am new to this and I would like to do it myself to make sure I don't get bell telling me it is an inside thing.

the outdoor ringer, you called it, I saw the bell technician guy working on it when he was hooking up my DSL, there is nothing else in my house that acts as a demarc.

Yeah only the dsl is using the phone wires, other phone jacks are not in used, should i unscrew all the wires from all of them?

How do I go about connect a wire straight to my modem?

how do I determine which one to keep in the circuit, remove and connect one by one?

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

the outdoor ringer, you called it, I saw the bell technician guy working on it when he was hooking up my DSL, there is nothing else in my house that acts as a demarc.

Yeah only the dsl is using the phone wires, other phone jacks are not in used, should i unscrew all the wires from all of them?

How do I go about connect a wire straight to my modem?

how do I determine which one to keep in the circuit, remove and connect one by one?

The ringer box should be bypassed. The green/red wires entering the house should be connected directly to the green/red wires continuing into the house. I suggest having a tech take a look at this to ensure it is bypassed correctly. The picture appears to show the box in the circuit.

Some of the jacks appear to have significant corrosion. You'll only need to bypass those with two wires entering; simply connect the red/green wires together and leave the jack wires disconnected.

Without having the proper tools (tone generator and amplifier), it would be a little more difficult to figure out which pair of wires to leave out of the 3-way. An ohmmeter would help, or simple trial-and-error and find when your modem receives a DSL signal.

If you want to run a telephone line (e.g. Cat 5) directly to the modem in order to bypass all inside wiring, you'll just use a single pair connected to the red/green at the demarc and terminate at the jack near the modem. The only trick is determining the best (or easiest) route to take. Usually it can be run into the attic or under the eaves of your house.