Replacing old home telephone wire?

[Phil_Harmonic]

I have VDSL internet on a 50 Mbps plan and I'm only getting 38 Mbps. After checking with my ISP and doing all the testing of my line and modem over the course of a week, I'm pretty convinced my slow speeds are due to my internal phone wiring. The house was built in the early 1980s. I use STP cat5e cable with RJ11 jacks from my modem to the wall outlet, a distance of about 30 feet. I tried moving my modem close to the wall outlet but it made no difference.

The phone line comes in through the laundry/boiler room. Then there is a bathroom, and the wall outlet is just on the outside of the far wall of the bathroom. From the demarc to the wall outlet is about 20 feet.  The phone wire is exposed in the ceiling in the laundry/boiler room, but is behind drywall in the bathroom. So the phone line is only covered up behind drywall for about 10 feet.

I would like to replace the phone line with a newer upgraded line between the demarc and the wall outlet.

My question is: does Telus do this kind of inside wiring?  And could they replace my line without removing the drywall?

[polecat]

@Phil_Harmonic  Just a thought what speed test are you using. I use have used  telus or okla and  shaw. Sometimes  quite a spread on readings. Try it you never know. Does your computer stall during loading. Time of day on copper has an effect on speed.

[Phil_Harmonic]

Outside NIB box

[Phil_Harmonic]

Lines coming in, but it's difficult to tell where, and what they are:

[Phil_Harmonic]

Someone asked for more photos of the panel:

I'm not exactly sure what a demarc splitter looks like (I know what a telephone splitter looks like at the phone end). I noticed this device with 'phone' 'line' and 'modem' on it.  But as you can see, there is no actual cable going to or coming from it. Just a thin exposed wire going to another box next to it. No idea what it is, or if it's active:

(BTW, that dangling cable with the separated exposed wires is the cable that goes to the bedroom. I have checked that phone jack and it is not working).

Panel porn:

[Phil_Harmonic]

There is what looks like a phone cable that runs across the ceiling to the wall behind the bedroom.

The bedroom is on the other side of this wall:

But when I trace this same cable, it terminates over at the panel box as an exposed dangling wire:

I have now tested the phone jack in the bedroom and it does not work. So that is why.

[Phil_Harmonic]

So, interesting development. I tested the phone jack in the bedroom, it does not work. I also tested the phone jack in the kitchen and it works. I am getting these speeds:

As you can see, the phone jack in the kitchen is providing the kind of speed I would expect from a 50 Plan. The phone jack in the dining room is only giving 38 Mbps.

So I wonder if the dining room jack itself is faulty, or if it's the line behind it.  Does this also mean there is a splitter somewhere that divides the kitchen jack from the dining room jack?

The kitchen jack is really inconvenient to use. I'm not sure how I would run a cable to it, as there are radiators, and cupboards, etc., along the walls that are in the way.

[Phil_Harmonic]

Bonus rabbit pic:

[polecat]

@Phil_Harmonic  You must be in alberta Jack rabbit. It is a mess ---outside box 3-4 tel wires out along wall and in telus did not do this. The box cover is not on correctly  crooked the screw on the right side is not normal unscrew it and see the mess in there. The pipe from that box also has tel wires in it so somewhere in the house is a set of terminal blocks to seperate out the two suites. A previous person has strung wires to where they wanted a phone and drilled through the wall not right. See if you can see where the pipe wires go to. Who ever finished the basement covered them up. The terminal blocks should be close by the electrical panels. There must be another panel somewhere for the second meter. Another basement? IS THIS A DUPLEX. I love  to help people retired power lineman. Private message me with your phone number and i will try to help you. And best time to phone you Open box first and have look.

[polecat]

@Phil_Harmonic  I will narrow it down again. Terminal between panels. To me looks like white goes to green ------blue to red------it is like a little switch open the empty one and hook wire to bedroom to it  w to g  -------b to r  Just follow colors the way they are hooked up Could be white to red  etccccc IN THE BEDROOM OPEN IT UP AND SEE WHAT COLORS ARE HOOKED TO THE RED AND THE GREEN USE THOSE COLORS TO MATCH BOTH ENDS OF THE WIRE     IF the outlet does not work  then the living room and kitchen are fed a different way.    blue  and the white should be used on both ends.

[NFtoBC]

"So I wonder if the dining room jack itself is faulty, or if it's the line behind it.  Does this also mean there is a splitter somewhere that divides the kitchen jack from the dining room jack?"

Seems like you have narrowed it down to the Jack, or the wiring to it. Next step becomes to try and see if you can trace the dining room jack wiring back to where it connects with the rest of the wiring. The issue could be damage to one of the wires in the bundle, and simply switching to a different pair at both the jack end and where it connects to the rest of the wiring might be the fix.

I agree with @polecat that the existing wiring is a mess, and who ever installed it takes no pride in their work.

[xray]

Agreed, the wiring is a mess and it needs a professional to sort it out. In the meantime I recommend running a good quality phone extension ffrom your modem to the Modem jack in the laundry room and forgo using any of the wall jacks.

[Phil_Harmonic]

There is no jack in the laundry room.

[polecat]

@Phil_Harmonic  Your loose wire from bedroom  hook it up to the block using the correct colors  Previous post

[polecat]

@Phil_Harmonic  Its not hard to do on ( line modem phone) make sure colors match There is a piece of paper under that modem thing might give a clue to the tel circuits.

[Phil_Harmonic]

Check your PMs

[polecat]

@Phil_Harmonic @xray  I didn't see that but i found it .  Ok line in white and blue the other line Whitch says modem is hooked up white and blue-------that wire could be living room wire where the modem is or the kitchen outlet. that tests good.   There is a bunch of wires that are hidden in a wall ???? I think the line in is the one that comes in by dryer vent. Not from conduit.

[xray]

I seem to have lost the ability to upload pictures. It just hangs.

Your modem jack is here:

Link to photo 

[NFtoBC]

@xray try dragging the image into the text box, instead of using the camera icon.

[xray]

If you trace the wires from the Line terminals it should be the cable coming into  the house. Looks like the Modem terminals are used for your wall jacks since I don't see any other connections. Somewhere along that Modem wire is probably a splitter to get it to each of your wall jacks since the punch panel isn't being used.

The wall jacks really should be hooked up to the Phone terminal and you modem should be hooked up to the Modem terminal or the corresponding RJ11 jack on the other side. Can you run your phone extension cable from the modem to that jack and test? That will bypass alll the house wiring.

[xray]

It just occured to me that the wall jacks may be connected in series which is why there is only 1 pair of wires there. That would be bad.

[NFtoBC]

 Follow these wires to their endpoint. One should go to your kitchen and or dining room.