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No doubt inspired by the expense of buying a new widescreen telly every time a neighbourhood's internet connection went on the blink, BT has been testing a new device that aims to eliminate the electrical interference on the bell wire. Called an interstitial plate - or iPlate, as BT's marketing wallahs have rechristened it - the device has recorded impressive results in trials with around 1,000 customers who were experiencing connection problems that couldn't be attributed to a fault on the line. "We've seen huge increases in speed," claimed BT Wholesale's Ashley Pickering. "On average, it makes

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one and a half megs of difference."

The £10 iPlate can be installed without the help of an engineer - you simply remove a couple of screws on the front of your master NTE5 telephone socket, insert the plate and retighten the screws. The device is only of real benefit to people who have multiple phone extensions in the home; those who use the master socket alone are unlikely to see any improvement in connection speed.

BT Wholesale was still completing the testing of the iPlate at the time of going to press and wouldn't send us a unit for testing. Pickering predicts that many ISPs will send the device free of charge to customers suffering from intermittent connection problems when it launches later this year. It would be worth asking your ISP for one if you're suffering from an intermittent connection and can't find faulty electrical equipment in your home.

Next: 3 - Avoid extension wiring

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