device for testing UK adsl signal

Spot on really! Unless you are investigating a really obscure problem it is an expensive tool. When I had a serious problem the specialist OpenReach engineer brought a Cable Shark amongst other things and he said that it was really overkill for ADSL fault finding. Most of his testing was done with the standard USB modem.

Peter Crosland

And you have to ask yourself even if your instrument identifies a problem, what are you going to do about it? Your options are limited to A) Eliminating everything downstream of the line-box. B) If A improves the situation, optimising the customers installation by remaking connections, using single-point filtering, removing bell wires etc. C) If A does not improve the situation conceder escalation via ISP In other words, exactly the same options as you would have without the tester.

Just a thought, can that Vonaq device do the DMT tool trickery like a bog-standard Netgear router can?

Graham. Inscribed thus:

Every ADSL problem I've come across is, either the signal is present at the master socket or it isn't. Everything else is internal, ie the clients responsibility ! A speedtouch 330 does just fine for testing the line. After that an ohmmeter and a few jumpered plugs will allow internal wiring tests.

M2P

spoken like a true amateur.

aspring to be as good as a BT engineer is like aspiring to be a bin man. I want to be ahead of them, not level with them. waiting for the adsl light to stop blinking is for amateurs.

that's typical of a bt engineer. You think he gives a damn about quality of work? He's on a fixed wage, he just wants to do as little as possible to complete and get back to his tv.

for a start I'd be more certain about what the situation really is, I'd be more certain about what I could and couldn't do about it, and I'd be able to inform the client with greater honesty about what they should do. Many might not care about that, but it means a lot to me.

Yawn. If you're so damn smart get a job there and show them how its done.

You really are leading with your chin by making such a sweeping, and wholly inaccurate, statement. The engineer I was talking about was emphatically not one of the regular OpenReach fault finders, but a regional specialist known as a Precision Test Officer or PTO who undoubtedly knows rather more about job than you do. Much of the testing he did involved fitting test equipment at the exchange and using this to examine what was happening between it and various points between there and the customer's site. For someone such as yourself advanced ADSL test gear is simply unnecessary.

Peter Crosland

I have to object. Most PTR's are the laziest, dumbest tossers you will find on the firm. It takes years of begging to get one of his (or her) arse, they expect everything to be done for them and then find nothing. I recall watching one hunting for a source of interference with a massive dipole aerial and a million pound tester. A £5 AM radio and a pair of ears used by a multi-skilled faultsman who still gave a toss proved to be just as effective and faster.

A PTR does not get the role of 'specialist' as per the normal definition. It is usually an upward promotion for the sick, lame, lazy or useless. At BT/Openreach SHIT HAS ALWAYS FLOATED TO THE TOP OF THE BUCKET. There may be one or two that break this mould, but by far you could sack all PTR's and nobody much would notice other than the accountants.

Still Peter Crosland - I'm glad you still believe the hype :-)

In message , tg writes

Meh... This all smacks of someone trying to justify a bad decision who's spitting his dummy out now someone has shown him there's no point.

I guess it must be a special, professional, blinking LED on the Vonaq then..

I bow to your superior attitude and wish to offer apologies for pointing out that the kit you're about to unnecessarily spend money on is not going to give you any more information than the status page of a cheap router.

Still, it's got a pretty case and six lovely professional LED indicators so I bet your customers will be impressed that you can professionally bullshit them.

Good luck.

Not bitter and twisted then? That's reassuring ;-)

George

When people resort to shouting and abusive language like this it is a clear sign they have totally lost the plot. Sounds like an ex BT employee who did not make the grade to me so I added him to my killfile..

Peter Crosland

Always been a wanker know-nothing, always will be.

To me the blinking light means negotiation process.

Some modems tell you all you want to know, both numerical values, and a picture of the BINS spectrum in bargraph form, where you can, if you have the time and inclination, select and write down the values for each BIN, and there are a lot of them.

He's an arrogant so-and-so isn't he?

A quick look at his posting profile shows he rarely contributes to a thread unless he is the OP, a sure indicator of a troll.

A few weeks ago he needed help identifying an signal he received on his HF "scanner". It occurred to me if his data-comms experience is not up to identifying simple FSK Baudot, what chance has he got troubleshooting a complex DMT signal?

Yes, but what about Peter Crosland?

-- (AIM:troffasky) ( snipped-for-privacy@ale.cx) 17:16:36 up 59 days, 2:00, 1 user, load average: 0.16, 0.17, 0.11 A few flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction

The same as you Alex. As stated.

I have some sympathy for him. I was always brought up to not be too harsh to retards and those with special needs. I just wish he would stop making himself look such a dick with him imaginary kill file. I mean, look at this from his header;

X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5512

You've got to just roll on the floor and laugh at that. Next time I'm in Mickey Mouse Microsoft Outlook Express Land I'll add him to my fantasy kill-file. That's what makes him the wanker - his post was just retarded as normal. I'm waiting for the predictable 'I only saw your response because somebody else followed up' YAWN.

Need to correct my typing hands on the post. Of course I meant PTO - not PTR. Having just contributed to an anti-spam group I had PTR on the brain.