# Can a street light really disrupt my DSL signal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697 "2003-04-05T17:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/21 "2003-04-06T12:40:04Z")
I couldn’t make much from the diagram you made but a suggestion (if you don’t already have this). From the NW1 (the 1st point of access) set up your DSL splitter here. If it’s a micro filter use only one and split your phone and DSL signal as early as possilbe. Run all your phone, fax, 56k modems (your whole internal phone tree) off this one microfilter. Run a dedicated DSL only line near your dsl modem. Use the phone cord that came with your modem to connect the phone cable to the modem. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/22 "2003-04-07T02:46:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*There isn’t normally any shielding in telephone wiring. The twisted-pair configuration is very good at rejecting external signals. It’s just possible there is a pair mismatching in the wiring inside your building. Take the cover off the jack your DSL modem is connected to, and verify that the colored wires (red, green, yellow and black) are connected to the proper terminals (usually marked R, G, Y, and B). You are only concerned with the red/green pair if you have a single-line installation. If there’s a mismatch, it will have to be corrected at both the jack on the wall and at the entrance bridge for the telco connection into the building (usually a grey box on the outside wall where the drop line comes in from the pole). If you’re in an older building, the pairs may be color-code with stipes, instead. The first pair, for example will be brown-with-a-white-stripe and white-with-a-brown-stripe. If you have this type, it might be best to replace it with newer RGYB twisted pair, available at RadioShack among other places, since the older wiring tended to become untwisted during installation. \*\* Actually, that four-color wire (aka quad) from Radio Crap hasn’t been considered proper phone wire for a few years. Its internal twist was accidental, at best, making it a wonderful receiving antenna for interference and internal crosstalk. Modern twisted-pair phone wire uses a color with white stripe / white with color stripe coding - line one is blue, line two is orange. If present, line three is green and line four is brown. What makes modern twisted-pair special, aside from the striped color coding is that each pair is twisted at a different # of twists per foot to reduce, if not altogether prevent crosstalk within the cable. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/23 "2003-04-07T03:17:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gotpasswords \* > \*\*Actually, that four-color wire (aka quad) from Radio Crap hasn’t been considered proper phone wire for a few years. Its internal twist was accidental, at best, making it a wonderful receiving antenna for interference and internal crosstalk. > > Modern twisted-pair phone wire uses a color with white stripe / white with color stripe coding - line one is blue, line two is orange. If present, line three is green and line four is brown. What makes modern twisted-pair special, aside from the striped color coding is that each pair is twisted at a different # of twists per foot to reduce, if not altogether prevent crosstalk within the cable. \*\* Cite? :dubious: The phone company is _still_ using four-wire twisted-pair RGYB cable as the standard for residential installations and two-line commercial installations. Comercial multiline installations generally use CAT-3 four-pair wire. The pairs are _not_ twisted at different numbers of twists per foot; all pairs are twisted the same. Better cables, such as the common CAT-3 and CAT-5 have higher numbers of twists per foot than standard CAT-1 telephone cable, but this has to do with increasing data throughput rates, not reducing near-end or far-end crosstalk. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/24 "2003-04-07T17:12:17Z")
Update: Tried the short piece of phone cable. No luck. :mad: **t-bon** I will try that, but I’m afraid they will tell me it’s “in your wiring” whether it is or not. I like your suggestion to hook the dsl up at the point of source; it’s outside and muddy right now. I may wait for good weather. Ditto for **kanicbird** ’s excellent suggestion. I can’t put the splitter outside; the line I’m using doesn’t enter the house until the office; where I have the splitter at the jack. If the line ran thru the main house and splitter could be in the attic this would be possible. re: the color of the wires in the cable I got ~ orange, blue, skip orange and skip blue. We had flash flooding and tornadoes sunday a.m., so I was out with Sweety cutting trees out of the road all day. I have not had time to attend to my question. I apologize ! Thanks to all for helping. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/25 "2003-04-08T02:35:43Z")
Hooked up the black phone cable again ~ Carefully uncoiled it into one huge loop around table feet ~ [sub]it’s working! :eek: _shhhhhhhhhhhh…_[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![something\_clever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@something\_clever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/something_clever)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/26 "2003-04-08T04:23:26Z")
if it stops again, run outside and jumpkick the street light… that should put it out of commission for a good hour or maybe forever 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/27 "2003-04-08T13:23:57Z")
I’m still having problems. And since I live in a neighbourhood full of streetlights, I expect I would hurt myself kicking all of them. (Not to mention when the cops saw me in action) ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/28 "2003-04-09T06:34:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Cite? :dubious: > > The phone company is _still_ using four-wire twisted-pair RGYB cable as the standard for residential installations and two-line commercial installations. Comercial multiline installations generally use CAT-3 four-pair wire. > > The pairs are _not_ twisted at different numbers of twists per foot; all pairs are twisted the same. Better cables, such as the common CAT-3 and CAT-5 have higher numbers of twists per foot than standard CAT-1 telephone cable, but this has to do with increasing data throughput rates, not reducing near-end or far-end crosstalk. \*\* Sorry, but you’re wrong on all counts. I haven’t seen Pacific Bell use four-color quad in about eight years. The first time I saw the blue/orange striped stuff, I asked about it and was told it was their new standard. Since then, I’ve taken the hum and hiss out of a couple homes by replacing quad (in one house, it was only 6 months old) with Cat 3 or Cat 5, depending on what was close at hand. Here’s a [phone company](http://www.scrtc.com/howtoguides.html#color) that declares quad to be unsuitable for multi-line phone or DSL use. Crosstalk is specifically listed as a reason not to use quad. [Another description of quad as unusable.](http://www.hometoys.com/htinews/oct98/articles/karas/cabling01.htm) (“Cable Types,” about halfway down) This cite (pun intended) also describes the varying twists in Cat5. [Slightly more technical info](http://www.fluke-net.com/consultants/testing/Propagation_delay.asp) on the effects of different twists in a cable. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697/29 "2003-04-09T13:56:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gotpasswords \* > \*\*Since then, I’ve taken the hum and hiss out of a couple homes by replacing quad (in one house, it was only 6 months old) with Cat 3 or Cat 5, depending on what was close at hand. > \*\* Glad to hear that. I’ve got some serious hum/hiss in my phone lines, and a DSL connection that I suspect is not living up to its potential. I bought a spool of Cat3 to replace the 50-year-old tangled mess of wires in the basement (all the way from the junction box outside the house to each jack), and now I have even more hope than ever that it will help. Now I just need to get around to doing it :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-street-light-really-disrupt-my-dsl-signal/166697.md?page=1)