Solwise ridicules BT iPlate ADSL broadband accelerator

Posted on 22 Sep 2009 at 12:00

BT has been selling its £10 broadband accelerator, dubbed the iPlate, to ADSL customers for months now, but Solwise says customers who buy it are wasting their money.

The iPlate is a replacement front plate for your BT master socket and is supposed to filter out interference from home wiring to make your broadband connection faster and more reliable.

Hull-based networking company Solwise is now stocking the iPlate for £5.90 but is actively encouraging customers to not buy it. The firm says ADSL users can achieve the same effect by merely disconnecting a wire inside the master socket - a task no more difficult than installing an iPlate.

According to Solwise, standard domestic telephone wiring uses three wires to carry the signal between the master socket and the extensions. Two of these wires come from outside and are connected directly to your local telephone exchange. The third wire is generated in your master socket and carries the 'bell' signal which is used to ring some old-fashioned telephones when someone calls you.

If you have an ADSL service with each phone connected to a micro-filter, the bell wire is completely redundant since the bell signal is generated in each micro-filter for the few phones which still need it. Unfortunately, this bell wire tends to cause some degradation to the ADSL signal as it travels around your house.

Solwise's recommended solution to this problem is to unscrew the front section of your master socket and disconnect the bell wire from pin 3 and simply re-fit the faceplate. This is a lot cheaper than buying an iPlate which merely places a filter on the bell wire.

Author: Jim Martin

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

< Previous News : Software Next >

Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.