On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 23:18:29 +0100, "John Frew"
<johnafrew@ATntlworld.com> wrote:
Filters do *nothing* to the signal reaching the router; rather, they
stop extraneous signal reaching (and leaving!) your phones, etc.. You
need to make sure *everything* that already connects over the normal
phone line - phones, fax machine, sky box, caller id box, flashing
ringer (, etc? you name it) - has a filter between it and the incoming
signal. Without that, what you'll hear when your router's connected
and you pick up your phone is mostly a deafening hiss. Believe me,
I've been there.
Shop around for filters. too - they're not all the same. Cheap ones
may work fine for you if you're on a tight budget, but everyone's
installation is apparently different, and it seems that what works in
one won't in another. In my case, a "cheap" (actually, quite
expensive) one from Maplins left a quiet ADSL hiss annoyingly audible
in the background when I came to use the phone, which (from what I've
read) seems quite common - fortunately I'd only bought one initially,
to see what they looked like and experiment with. I did some digging
and eventually ordered some over the net from ADSL nation - I'd seen
good reports of both their filters and turn-around, and wasn't
disappointed in either (placed my order one morning, saw about four
status reports during the day as my order moved through their system,
and had the filters in my hand early the next day - and not a trace of
hiss). They cost me a fraction over £9 each including postage, which
seems expensive compared to reports I've heard of ones on eBay at
around £2, but I'd already been burned, they'd a 30-day "not
satisfied" returns policy, and there's that old saying about ships and
tar.
Even if you're not interested in their product, if you look at their
site, in http://www.adslnation.com/support/filters.php you'll see both
the sort of thing that's in a filter, and circuit diagrams of a
couple.
Cheers, and good luck - Ian