ADSL Faceplate Filter for NTE5 Master Socket

An excellent piece of electronics that every telephone Master Socket should have! If you replace this faceplate at the Master Socket (commonly referred to as BT socket), it means you do not need [the dangling!] ADSL filter on every telephone extension socket -- meaning tidy wiring throughout the house, i.e., a single filtering is done at the Master Socket and extension sockets will be pure voice lines free of the ADSL data signals (just what used to be before the Internet was born).

Some useful tips: (1) if you're using a telephone extension, [if possible] avoid running pins 3 and 4 (modern telephone equipment don't need these -- only run pins 2 and 5 and you should note an improved data speed as compared to connecting pins 3 and 4; (2) if you are running an ADSL cable from a Master Socket (pins A and B on the faceplate) over a few metres such as to upstairs, avoid using flat telephone line (such as CW1311 type), instead use twisted pair telephone line (CW1308 type also used in alarm systems).

Together with the tips mentioned, I noticed a significant improvement of internet data speed with this faceplate. The ISP test speed at Master Socket (with all wiring disconnected and test run by ISP) was just under 6 Mbps but I could only get around 3.3 Mbps as my router was located upstairs. With the filtering and tidying up achieved with the Tamar faceplate + doing away with pins 3 and 4 on extension lines + using CW1308 type twisted pair for connection to my ADSL router located about 15m away, I now get the full test speed of around 6 Mbps. Very hard to apportion the contribution of this ADSL filter in speed improvement (without proper measurements) but well worth the money even on aesthetics alone (getting rid of the dangling ADSL filters), and in addition no doubt that doing the filtering job at a master socket has its pluses of keeping the ADSL signal clean and isolated thereby improving the data rate.

We are with O2 broadband and had been struggling with slow broadband speeds and were getting close to switching providers. We also have 2 phone numbers going into one BT line (via the BT Call Sign service) 1 for home, 1 for business, and calls on the business line were really crackly to the point of it being difficult to hear the caller. Not good for business - this is the main problem my wife was trying to fix when she found this product - ordered it yesterday (13/1/2011) and it arrived today so faultless service so far.

It was an absolute doddle to fit, less than 2 mins - unscrew 2 screws, remove old faceplate, attach new faceplate, screw in 2 screws. We bought the little tool thing they recommend (which also arrived today) but didn't need it.

How does it perform? Much, much better than we anticipated. Key points:

Broadband speeds went out of the roof! Before installing it I used an online broadband speed test and did 3 tests - reported speeds were 3.86Mbs, 3.86Mbs, 3.47Mbs, average = 3.73Mbs (we are on a UpTo 20Mb service). Installed the faceplate, reattached cables, re-did the speed tests: 12.63Mbs, 12.63Mbs, 12.66Mbs, average = 12.64Mbs. I'm no mathematician but that's not far off a 400% speed increase! I forgot to note down the upload speeds so can't comment if they had a smilar increase, sorry!

All crackling and interference has gone from the phone line.

Looks much neater having 2 sockets on the box rather than having an ADSL dongle attached.

Obviously everyone's results may vary as it depends on the condition of your current kit. We were using a reasonably new BT faceplate, with a new ADSL filter dongle. Even if your speed doesn't increase as much as ours did, or you don't have crackly lines to fix, I think it is worth buying to be able to get rid of the ADSL filter dongle and have both cables going directly into the box.

Very highly recommended.

This was a good purchase. I am about 4-5 miles away from the telephone exchange so my up to 4MB o2 broadband does not stand a chance of reaching its maximum download speed. Before I installed the ADSL FacePlate Filter I was getting 2MB at best, usually more like 1.6 to 1.7MB most of the time.

After installation of the FacePlate Filter my download speed is usually 2.5 to 2.6MB even during peak hours, although occasionally going down to about 2MB if presumably traffic is really intense. Installation was easy although I would recommend using a Krone type tool to insert the wires. I once used a cheap plastic throwaway one but have since purchased a 'proper' one from Amazon which is much better and should last a lifetime of occasional use.

I would say to anyone give it a try it will probably increase your download speed and you have really little to lose at the price.