BT broadband cable

Hi, I finally got a broadband with BT yesterday! However, the network cable provided with it is far too short to reach my computer. Our phone is downstairs, and the computer - upstairs. We also have a phone point upstairs (which I am not sure how exactly works and where the connection comes from, as it is on the wall and no cable is visible) but while I was using the dial-up I had the phone cable plugged in there, therefore no cables where hanging across the house.

Now, I asked BT if there is a way I can use the same point and somehow connect the modem there, but according to them (and the guy didn't sound very sure why) the modem has to be NEXT to the phone. So his solution was either bring the PC downstairs in the hall, or buy the longest possible cable available and pass it around the house. (Or buy a wireless router which they don't support)

Not sure if all my explanation makes much sense, but hope somebody will be able to tell me if there is a solution around it. I would like to avoid using another long cable, as we already have two.

If this can't be done, or you have no clue what I'm asking - what type of cable do I need. There seems to be quite many ethernet cables available (checked pcworld online store), are they colour encoded, or it's just pure preference, etc.

Thanks alot, and sorry for the long post!

seaflower said:

the modem has to be NEXT to the phone

Click to expand...

Nonsense. Mine's at the end of a 50m (bog standard) telephone extension cable running from the DSL filter - beside the phone connection in the hallway, where it acts as a 'splitter' - to the far end of the house, where the PC lives.

If you've already got a 'phone line extension upstairs, you just have to figure out where it 'starts' downstairs and connect that to the output of the DSL filter. I think...!

Thanks, DrMoriarty!

Ok, it turnes out that the extention upstairs is indeed connected with a cable to donwstairs. I also tried the phone+modem upstairs and both work. Connecting the phone downstairs and the modem upstairs doesn't seem to work, but I kind of feel it should be possible... Any ideas?

Basically the phone line comes into you house and you need to split this at some point using the ADSL splitter/filter and connect the phone(s) to the phone port (possibly via an extension cable or cables) on the splitter/filter and the ADSL router to the ADSL port (again possibly via an extension cable) on the ADSL splitter/filter. A simple setup would be to split the phone line at the point at which it enters the house. However you can split elsewhere one you make sure that the phone and ADSL router are not sharing the same spur of cable.

ClubMan, not sure if I understand you right - so I have to split the line either upstairs or downstairs, and link both the phone and modem to the splitted point. Which means if I want to have the phone downstairs and the line upstairs, I do need an extension cable (phone or network depending which one I'm extending). Right?

Is there a way to avoid using extra extension cables? Thanks, and sorry, if I didnt understand your reply.

[broken link removed] might explain matters better than my attempts. I am not saying that you cannot use your existing wiring setup but just that you will need to install splitters/filters or filters only at the appropriate points.

all u need is 2 adsl filters, one for each socket, the one for downstairs will just have a socket for the tel lead, the one upstairs will have 2 sockets, one for tel lead and one for the adsl lead.

plug them in and away u go

gb--

thanks for the replies!

Noah, that is exactly what I did - used a single filter downstairs for the phone (which works) and a double one upstairs to filter the adsl line (with the space for the phone line empty). didn't seem to work, but according to the tutorial clubman posted, it shoudl be fine. Will ring BT tomorrow and ask them again.

Just a quick update. A week later BT still insist that what I want to do is impossible, but after pluging and un-pluging, starting and re-starting - it finally worked tonight!! I did exactly what I did before, just restarted the modem and the comp few times...