telephone wiring... again

[freeflyer]

Hi all, i'm trying to sort my wiring out on my phones.. now i know that i'm not meant to touch anything before the master socket, and i'm trying to avoid it.. but i'm also trying to avoid BT's inflated callout charges..

Heres how the wiring was set up when we moved in to the house... the house was built in the mid eighties.

- Main junction point outside the front door.
- One extension point with wiring outside the building going to the pantry/cupboard (of all the stupid places) with a master socket on it.
- Another standard extension socket going upstairs, coming directly from the main junction box, also wired in directly to the main orange and white wires (similar to the master).

Ie what we've got is two phone points, both wired directly to the main feed, one is a master, and the other isnt. Both are BT stamped sockets


So, first off , is this a weird way of doing it? I thought all extensions should come from the master socket?

Anyway, that aside, i had to take the master socket off when we were decorating.. now it doesnt appear to want to work again when i wire it up. The socket upstairs is still fine (as you'd expect cause its wired direct) so we've just been using that. ie there is currently no master on the line.
Also, the outside junction box needs rewiring.. its pretty shabbily done and there is a completely loose connection (the main white wire) which cuts everything dead, i've pushed it back in to make it work okay but its not crimped in.

So, if i ring BT, can i just say that we have an intermittent fault, they'll come out, suss the wiring fault in the main junction box, suss that the masters are wired wrong (or missing).. and not charge me? I was also thinking of just saying that the master was never there, and that the wires were just loose when we moved in..

I KNOW i shouldn't have taken the master off, but i also know that the wiring is crap in the junction box, and that wasnt down to me.

What are my options? If i didnt need to improve my broadband speeds, i'd just leave it, but i think the dodgy wiring is throttling me.

Thanks...

 

[Lectrician]

A photo of the inside of all three bits would help.

Sounds like you have older sockets - with IDC terminals? No terminals marked A and B? (NTE5a with removable lover half).

Orange and White should connect through to the 2/5 of both sockets. There was also most likely a link between the terminals marked 3 on both sockets - this would be jointed in the outside box, but not connected to the incommer to this box outside.

One socket would be a master with a yellow capacitor, the other a secondary socket with no components on it.




You could just connect one pair of cables from outside to a socket on 2/5 and see what your BB speed is then.

 

[luminaire]

Here is a link as to how it should be wired, so I would just check first of all to make sure that is correct.
BT should fix the outside wiring and are responsible for the wiring up to and including the Master Socket. But if they think you have been messing about with that, then they might try to charge.
I've had a few run-ins with them over the years, but if you are nice to the guy (tea and biscuits) you can usually get away without them charging you.

 

[tomy]

As an openreach engineer ie the engineers who work for Bt or any other service provider we are pushed hard on charges and managers check where a charge should have been raised and we havent charged , so now if I came out and it has obviously been messed with I would charge .

 

[freeflyer]

thats the thing though.. i havent messed with it.. i've just disconnected the master socket so i could pull the cable through dividing wall, and reconnected it afterwards, although its now defunct. The wiring at the outside junction box i havent touched, other than to open it up and push the loose wire back in to get the phones working again..

Lectrician.. yes they're IDC.. and yes ideally i'd just remove the now defunct old master socket at the junction box, and use the upstairs socket and put a master on it. But, the junction box ideally could do with a rewire (which i'm capable of doing) but i know its a BT only job.
PS there is no active connection on 3 between the two boxes, or at the outside junction box, yet there is a 3rd (green) wire available at the main cable.

SO, people, what would you advise.. do it myself, or risk a £200 callout charge for a ten min simple job? Also, i presume i'm right in thinking i cant install my own master or NTE5 without risking a fine?

One other possibility.. if i refit the master socket in the crappy cupboard, ring up BT and tell them i have an intermittent fault (the loose connection), would they come out , rewire the junction box, AND move the master socket to upstairs without charging me? i'm guessing not?

 

[plugwash]

If it were me I'd just sort it out myself making sure I used BT spec cable.

 

[freeflyer]

i dont need to change the cable i think... just redo the connections on the outside box, diconnect and remove the old cable to the pantry socket, and bung a master socket on the upstairs socket.. job done.

 

[happypig]

If it's pre-NTE5, then the master socket can sit anywhere on the wiring. All sockets should be connected in parallel (2-2, 3-3, 5-5). You must have continuity on all connected wires between sockets so if a cable is joined at a junction box, then the working connectors should all be joined.
The incoming line can be connected to any socket (should be master but doesn't have to be) and connects to connections 2 & 5.
Wiring conventions (with socket connections) are:
Old : Blue (connection 2) , Orange (5), Green (3)
New: Blue/white (2), white/blue (5), Orange/white (3)

(where 2 colours quoted the first colour is the predominant one so white/blue means white with blue bands/flecks)

 

[freeflyer]

okay thanks...

If i redo the wiring on the outside box, i'm obviously going to need some weatherproof connectors.. it currently has some IDC rubber coated ones on which have seen better days. I'd probably normally just solder and sleeve them, but whats the best/easiest way, and are there particular connectors i should use?

 

[plugwash]

I would use the existing blocks if they are servicable, otherwise use the greese filled telephone cable splices ( http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=1219644 ).

 

[bernardgreen]

Soldering the external cabling may not be a good idea as some drop wires have coatings which prevent corrosion but also prevent a reliable solder joint being formed.

 

[plugwash]

plus it will make it bloody obvious to BT that it wasn't them who made the joint.