How to enable POTS splitter in former U-verse nid?

Internet access discussion, including Fusion, IP Broadband, and Gigabit Fiber!
7 posts Page 1 of 1
by torstenb » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:11 pm
Hi,

I've had Fusion for almost two years now here in Burlingame. A few months ago, the speed suddenly dropped by ~3Mbps (from 12Mbps to 9Mbps). Since we (Sonic or I) have not been able to restore the previous speed level, I just recently learned about a POTS splitter inside the NID and decided to investigate the current setup in my (very) old house.

On a side note, before switching to Sonic Fusion service, I had first AT&T DSL & phone service and once their 24Mbps U-verse became available, I switched the Internet to their U-verse service (not the POTS though). At that point they must have installed the new NID, which is now still being used for the Sonic Fusion service (see pic below; right-click on the image and to display the entire image). However, the POTS/ADSL splitter is not being used.

When I tried to change the phone wires to the red/green connectors of the splitter, there was no longer a dial tone on the phone. Changing the wires back again and there is the dial tone.

Does anyone know how I can utilize the POTS/ADSL splitter that's in the box?

BTW: The left side of the NIC is locked down by what seems to be a special type of screw that has a metal pin in the center. What type of tool do I need to open that or do I even need to?


Image

Thanks,
Torsten
by klui » Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:17 pm
You should remove your U-verse splitter and look up the model to see if it will work for ADSL2+. It looks like the important pieces of information are printed on the top left. You're golden if a Google search comes up with an installation manual. A quick search shows this is a VDSL-only splitter (DM000418) that should also work with ADSL*. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r184439 ... -with-ADSL

The DSLreports thread discusses how it's connected in detail. If the tip and ring (green and red) wires on the splitter are accessible from the customer side of your NID, you should just be able to connect it to your NID module. If it's in the telco side, you need to get a security hex bit--try not to muck with anything else on the telco side of the NID.

Then connect your first line (white/blue | blue/white) pairs to the splitter's telephone posts and your home run to the splitter's video/data posts.
by torstenb » Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:19 pm
Thank you, klui; your reply had exactly the information I was looking for!

I also found a 33 pc. security bit set on Amazon with the right bit to open the NID.

Once I've managed to change the wires and run a home run DSL line I will share the results and hopefully speed improvements from it here.
by torstenb » Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:13 pm
I received the security bits and went straight to work. Before I started though, I did one final Speedtest:
Image

Once I was done and had connected the VDSL POTS splitter to the AT&T wire pair that carries the phone and DSL signal and connected the data ports of the splitter to my homerun, I tested again. Big (negative) surprise, everything got considerably worse:
Image

Now I'm wondering whether that VDSL POTS splitter DM000418 may cause this or if it's just my wiring and I may have made a mistake?

Another problem I have is that the NID is located in the crawlspace underneath our (very) old house and it's just very difficult to do a good job of working the wires and connections. So I'm thinking of moving the entire NID to the front of the house. However, I want to make sure I get a better idea of the wires that are being used. It appears that only 5 wires coming in from the AT&T cable are being used and connected to the screw nuts, with the white/orange and orange pair being the ones that carry the Phone and DSL:

1. white/blue
2. blue
3. white/orange
4. orange
5. yellow (in the center bottom)

Image

Is this the standard wiring?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the slow speeds I'm seeing now?
Any wiring issues that can be spotted in the picture above?

Thanks,
Torsten
by klui » Tue Oct 30, 2012 2:02 am
Remember, you should not connect your splitter to the telco side but your new photo is not clear. Based on your first photo, it appears the w/blue|blue pair is your active line so you need to connect your splitter to the top module.

You should connect your DSL modem directly into your module's test connector to see if it's correct and get another baseline to eliminate your house wiring from the equation. Then do the same by connecting the ring/tip to your module while keeping the yellow ground connected to the telco side. Your new photo doesn't show where the yellow ground is connected. The DSLreports thread states it should be bonded to the ground terminal in the telco side. Finally, sacrifice a very short telco wire and connect your splitter to your modem to see if your numbers improve.
by torstenb » Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:19 am
Just FYI: for now I removed the VDSL splitter again, which restored my speeds to previous levels. But I'm still curious whether a homerun would improve my line and speeds.
klui wrote:Remember, you should not connect your splitter to the telco side but your new photo is not clear. Based on your first photo, it appears the w/blue|blue pair is your active line so you need to connect your splitter to the top module.
I was not aware of that. What is the reason for this? Do the line modules provide any additional functionality that is required?
Because the VDSL splitter also has a test connector etc., I assumed it incorporates everything that's part of the line module plus the actual splitter. So I had in fact connected the VDSL splitter to the telco side. It was connected to the telco side before for the U-verse, too, just to line 1. I switched it to line 2, which is the line Sonic.net uses.
klui wrote:You should connect your DSL modem directly into your module's test connector to see if it's correct and get another baseline to eliminate your house wiring from the equation.

That is a bit difficult since the NID is placed underneath my house in the crawl space, with little room to maneuver. I may postpone this test until I'm ready to tackle it as another weekend project.
klui wrote:Then do the same by connecting the ring/tip to your module while keeping the yellow ground connected to the telco side.
Which ring/tip and module are you referring to? Just want to make sure I'm not going for the wrong ones.
klui wrote:Your new photo doesn't show where the yellow ground is connected. The DSLreports thread states it should be bonded to the ground terminal in the telco side. Finally, sacrifice a very short telco wire and connect your splitter to your modem to see if your numbers improve.
The splitter's yellow cable is in fact connected to the ground terminal in the telco side (the black thicker cables + screws that can be seen in the center of the picture). However, here's something I just discovered: that ground terminal on the telco side is not grounded. There's no connection to the outside of the NID that would actually ground it. Is that acceptable?

There are a couple other things I noticed and tested:
  • The cable used from the NID to my office is less than 10ft and the type is CAT5. Though the DSL signal and actual phone line are not split before running through that cable.
  • I am using a DSL Filter in my office (Excelsus Z-Blocker, Model Z-330P2J) to split the phone and DSL. I'm not entirely sure this particular type fully supports ADSL2+. But when I removed it and only connected my modem, there was no measurable difference in speed. What conclusion can be drawn from this?
by klui » Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:44 pm
Your NID separates telco and customer connections. The modules allow this separation and lets customers do basic diagnostics by disconnecting all house wiring.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a manual for the splitter. It's entirely possible that VDSL splitter needs to be connected to the telco side, seeing how the ground wire goes to the telco side and there is a test jack. Normally the ground should be bonded to a common ground terminating at your service panel's ground/neutral bar. If you have a telecommunications grounding bar that's where the ground terminal should go.

The ring/tip I was referring to is the red and green wires, respectively of your VDSL splitter.

Your description sounds good: you removed the VDSL ring/tip from the old AT&T U-verse to your Sonic line in the telco side. Just make sure your ring/tip matches the telco side: red->blue/white, orange/white, or green/white; green->white/blue, white/orange, or white/green. http://www.lanshack.com/wire_phone_jack.aspx Maybe not being properly grounded is an issue with the splitter. Rev H. of the specsheet (2005) shows your filter being compatible with xDSL. http://www.hometech.com/pdf/ex-z330p2j.pdf Perhaps your Excelsus is a better splitter. You can always tuck it inside your NID and use that instead.
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