ADSL cable (RJ11 male to male) buying advice!

After my PC started buffering on video sites more slowly than usual (coincidentally after heavy rain) I unplugged and re-plugged the - the one connecting the router to the micro filter/BT phone socket) and for some reason the PC wasn't connecting to the internet (the internet symbol showed a yellow exclamation mark instead of the PC symbol). I unplugged and re-plugged it again and at one point it even notified me that the ethernet cable wasn't plugged in! It took a few minutes after which it connected (without me doing anything). I decided I should replace the cable, one thing is that it's longer than I need, I think it's 20 or 30 metres, which I gather can slow my internet down potentially?

I am with Origin Broadband and my average speeds are 9.8 Mbps.


Should I buy this one (I need 10m) which is a lot more expensive £9.75:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ethernet-Broadband-Quality-Con...

Over this one £2.24:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cabling4Less-10m-ADSL-Cable-Wh...

I can't see any difference apart from price. Neither mention if they are CAT 5E or 6, and if they are 4 wires or 2: twisted pair or untwisted. Is there any way to tell? On Ebay:


£2.95:
BT Infinity Fibre Broadband | eBay...

£7.64 but claim to be best:
10M BT ADSL INFINITY FIBRE O | eBay...

£2.54 and they look quite sturdy (not flat) CAT 5 26 AWG so I'm leaning towards this unless someone can advise real benefit in buying a more expensive one:
10m High Speed Broadband ADS | eBay...

You need one that is sheilded as it can increase your speed High Specification RJ11 5m Broadband Modem Lead

samuria said:

You need one that is sheilded as it can increase your speed High Specification RJ11 5m Broadband Modem Lead

I really didn't think shielding would make any significant difference, everywhere else I've read people seem to not find any increase in speed?

The basic cable is total rubbish with very fine wire and can pick up noise which reduces speed and the low quality wire attenuation is a factor as well every time over years I have changed the cable most see an increase and less drops

samuria said:

The basic cable is total rubbish with very fine wire and can pick up noise which reduces speed and the low quality wire attenuation is a factor as well every time over years I have changed the cable most see an increase and less drops

Now I'm really confused lol, on another forum I asked the same thing and got the opposite advice:

Rj11 are just normal stationary phone connectors and cables with all 4 wires connected. Nothing special for (A)DSL. you are not stuck with (A)DSL cables and can get any cable for phones which are probably cheaper. There's very little current going thru them so probably just quality of connectors may make some difference.


My other question is that I'm getting so fed up of this intermittent slow buffering problem, I'm going to go fibre optic at the end of my contract. Would I need any different cables (such as the one I'm now replacing) for then? I'm thinking of changing to Virgin.

As I mentioned above I'm thinking of going Fibre in a few months. I found this diagram which helped me a bit:
Zen Support Knowledgebase
...

So there's a different type of socket installed and cable needed which replace the phone socket and phone cable rj11, so I'm thinking it's no longer involved at that stage? What's this new cable called? I'm thinking I would have 2 choices:

1) Get 10m new type cable, to have both the media converter and router in the living room, but is this necessary? I have to keep the router in the living room due to the signal being weaker if kept at the master phone socket. So I could:

2) Get a 10m RJ45 to Rj45 cat 5e cable so I can keep the media converter at the socket, if it doesn't affect the signal/slow the connection keeping it there?

Barman58 said:

With my experience working with Virgin Technicians, I would expect them to remove any no longer required components, then add the new equipment to provide the fibre connection, If asked before the start of the install they will usually not have any issue with locating the router in the best place for you, in fact most will ask specifically where you would like it placed

The cable used is a specialist item From the external Virgin connector to the local wall port and then standard RJ45 from there

This type of variation is included in the set-up fee, even when this is waived as it is on occasion, and you not asking for it to be located in the next county

You're saying Virgin should be able to install their specific wall socket where I keep my router? So hopefully I might not need to buy any 10m cables myself? (Meaning any RJ11 phone/modem cables will be obsolete with the new setup?)

Barman58 said:

They,VM, will usually perform a quick survey, of the relationship of your property to the actual location of their connection point, this will give them the shortest run of external cable to the property. They will normally discuss with you if the location is right for you and, if acceptable, will then ask where you want the router positioned and if this is possible ( remember you need a power socket available which in some properties will not be available where the cable is brought in), and will work with you to decide the ideal place.

Great thanks. I just wanted to make sure, the placement of the media converter has no bearing on the connection/ wired signal the way the router does?