Broadband News
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BT boosting customer speeds the hard(ware) way
05 Aug 2009 | 17.49 Europe/London
BT has started offering its customers a Broadband Accelerator for free - as long as they're willing to pay the postage costs. The firm says the device, also known as the I-Plate, could increase the connection speeds of millions of UK homes by up to 1.5Mbit/s.
The I-Plate works by blocking out in-home interference caused by an obsolete piece of in-house phone hardware: the bell wire. While modern phones don't make use of it, the bell wire can run for many metres around your home, effectively exposing your ADSL connection to unnecessary interference. Because the ADSL filters you're recommended to have fitted to your telephone sockets only deal with interference caused by phones, the I-Plate - which actually is an abbreviation of Interstitial Plate - provides a solution. (It's not the only one, though: more technical types may fancy just cutting the bell wire instead.)
While BT's Interstitial Plate costs about £8 at retail, the firm's offering one to each of its Total Broadband customers who'll pay around £1.20 to cover postage and packaging. Even then it's not for everyone though - just people with a specific kind of phone socket will stand to benefit. But still, BT has 4.8 million business and residential customers on that tariff - and it says they're not the only ones who could do with an I-Plate.
"Around 9m UK homes have the potential to benefit from installing this simple but effective device," says a statement from BT. "Our benchmark survey of 36,000 lines showed that, on average, filtered lines achieved speed increases of around 1.5Mbps, though some lines achieved speed increases as much as 4Mbps." It's pushing the device for broadband users who struggle to stream video but also people suffering from "long lines" - people who would ordinarily be just too far away from their nearest exchange.
BT originally announced it would start doling out Broadband Accelerators in June, back when it decided to implement its widespread adoption of ADSL2+ technology. Gavin Patterson, its chief executive officer, issued the following rallying cry: "In line with the Government’s Digital Britain review, we will be making higher speeds more widely available." BT's making no promises though - as its website says, a "speed increase after fitting an accelerator is not guaranteed – especially if you already have a speed close to the maximum limit."
Further details at [El Reg]
The I-Plate works by blocking out in-home interference caused by an obsolete piece of in-house phone hardware: the bell wire. While modern phones don't make use of it, the bell wire can run for many metres around your home, effectively exposing your ADSL connection to unnecessary interference. Because the ADSL filters you're recommended to have fitted to your telephone sockets only deal with interference caused by phones, the I-Plate - which actually is an abbreviation of Interstitial Plate - provides a solution. (It's not the only one, though: more technical types may fancy just cutting the bell wire instead.)
While BT's Interstitial Plate costs about £8 at retail, the firm's offering one to each of its Total Broadband customers who'll pay around £1.20 to cover postage and packaging. Even then it's not for everyone though - just people with a specific kind of phone socket will stand to benefit. But still, BT has 4.8 million business and residential customers on that tariff - and it says they're not the only ones who could do with an I-Plate.
"Around 9m UK homes have the potential to benefit from installing this simple but effective device," says a statement from BT. "Our benchmark survey of 36,000 lines showed that, on average, filtered lines achieved speed increases of around 1.5Mbps, though some lines achieved speed increases as much as 4Mbps." It's pushing the device for broadband users who struggle to stream video but also people suffering from "long lines" - people who would ordinarily be just too far away from their nearest exchange.
BT originally announced it would start doling out Broadband Accelerators in June, back when it decided to implement its widespread adoption of ADSL2+ technology. Gavin Patterson, its chief executive officer, issued the following rallying cry: "In line with the Government’s Digital Britain review, we will be making higher speeds more widely available." BT's making no promises though - as its website says, a "speed increase after fitting an accelerator is not guaranteed – especially if you already have a speed close to the maximum limit."
Further details at [El Reg]
>>could increase the connection speeds ... by up to 1.5Mbit/s.<<
There's that "up to" phrase again! :-)
I cut the bell wire following a guide on the internet, and it made no difference at all. It didn't make it worse either to be fair.
07 Aug 2009 | 10.44 Europe/London
I got my I-Plate about a month ago...its increased my speed from 1mb to just under 2mb....so I'm quietly pleased.
28 Aug 2009 | 09.02 Europe/London
I did a bit searching found this nice blog which stepped through how to remove the bell wire: http://broadband-speedup.blogspot.com/ amd bingo a 1203kbs gain! And no more of my hard earned money to BT :)
06 Sep 2009 | 21.34 Europe/London