What is the BT I-Plate & how does it work?
The I-Plate is a filter for use on ADSL Broadband lines to
improve the speed & stability of the connection. Since they're easy
to install yourself, there are no costly engineer visits required. When
connected to the master socket, the I-Plate filters the 'bell wire'
which used to be needed to make our old-fashioned analogue telephones
ring. However, with today's touch-tone phones, this bell wire is now
redundant and its presence in a master
socket actually causes digital
interference on the ADSL line.
NOTE You will still need to use micro filters with an I-Plate.
Increased speeds:
Some lines have seen up to 4Mb increases in speed although improvements
of 1.5Mb were found to be more typical in a benchmark survey of 36,000
filtered lines. This indicates a potential 10Db extension in reach
meaning
I-Plates
can also help with poor performing ‘Long lines’. These benefits were
realized on ADSL lines and they'll be at least as good, if not better,
on ADSL2+ lines.
Improved stability:
Since the I-Plate also helps to make ADSL connections more stable, there
can be Broadband performance benefits even when line speed is not
noticeably increased. The same benchmark study of 36,000 lines showed
that filtered lines typically had 20% fewer re-trains (denoting lost
connections) and a 45% reduction in error rate.
Who can use the I-Plate?
7 out of 10 UK homes will benefit to some extent – that’s approximately
9m Broadband lines. You must have a BT NTE5 type Master Socket to use
this product.
Will I benefit from an I-Plate?
A good way to tell if your line is likely to benefit from bell wire
filtering is to compare Broadband performance test results when the
modem is plugged into the master socket, versus plugging it into an
extension socket. If you see an improvement in broadband performance
when the master socket is used, this is a good indication that an I-Plate will help.
For help installing your BT I-Plate,
please read our How To.
