Because telephone wires (the ones that connect your phones to the master socket in your house) are so small, people don’t seem to take phone wiring repair very seriously. The result is that people struggle to make even the most embarrassingly messy and unreliable connections.
However, there are some easy steps to follow, using easily-available equipment, that can make phone wiring repair easier. It isn’t that hard with the right stuff.
I encounter faults from bad phone wiring repair very often. It keeps me in business. But here are some “trade tips”;-
First, The Bad News – What Doesn’t Work…
Twist and Tape. Nope. This results in the cables eventually snapping due to bending stress, or corroding. To cover the taped joints involves a bandage of tape the size of a child’s little finger. Far too bulky. Then the tape dries out and falls off. Finally, if exposed to damp, the cable corrodes and causes problems…. Take a look at this horror photo…
Mains Wiring Block Terminals? The plastic things with screw tops. Either they are too big, and don’t grip the cable, or too small and too fiddly to fit. They are nowhere near as quick and effective as “punch-down” connectors. They look ghastly.
Car-Type Bullet Connectors. Actually, BT used to use something very similar to these, but they still need to be of good quality and have the correct tool to work well. They need to be crimped up correctly. Possible but not advisable. There are better ways to effective phone wiring repair
Solder. Well, if you have the patience… But you still have to insulate the joint with something.
So, I’ve seen almost all of these type of phone wiring repair fail. Or, even worse, when you come to work on them, putting them right takes a long, long time. The customer thinks you’re from “Mr Bean Telecom” because you are taking so long over one tiny joint or box. If only they knew…
Now, The Good News – What works?
An “in-line connector block” (“BT 78A”) like this:-
They use the same connectors as a typical phone socket, that is of the “punch-down” type. This pushes the cable into a sharp metal “V”, strips the insulation (and holds the wire firmly in place at the same time). It makes positive electrical contact. You need to use a special tool to do this. A screwdriver, or anything else will bend the prongs of the “V”, and render the connector useless. They are commonly available on Amazon, eBay, Maplin or similar, often known under their BT part code “BT 78A” There’s also the “BT80A” which incorporates screw terminals at one side.
What else works?
Well, if you have somewhere to hide them, jelly-filled Scotch crimps (sounds like something from a Burns Night Supper…) are ideal.
For a professional telephone engineer, they are an absolute phone wiring repair “life-saver”. If your DIY customer has cut cable too short in a socket, they can be used as a very quick and compact way of extending a wire. Again, these are available on-line. They work on a similar principle to the BT 78A (above), except you simply poke the wires all the way in, then squeeze with some pliers, or a special tool. That’s it! BT street cabinets are full of them. I love them!
They can be hidden inside things, such as sockets, trunking, conduit. They can also be used to connect things back together very quickly in order to get phone/internet working while you think of a longer-term fix.
And something else…
The obvious fix. You might want to carry out phone wiring repair by actually replacing a run of cable between, say, a BT master socket and an extension socket. It’s actually often quicker to replace a full run of cable than mess around jointing in highly visible/vulnerable places.
A quick note regarding your master socket. If you plan to move it (illegally), use one of the “bodge” methods, and Openreach come to your house and spot it, then they are likely to charge you in order to put it right, and for the trouble of coming to your house to fix a fault that (technically) you have created on their network. I’ve written a short case study here
If you are going to do this (and of course you shouldn’t), then at least use some professional-standard connectors. Anything else just screams “DIY”. And will fail.
There’s not a great mystery to phone wiring repair – it’s not hard to find the proper components, do it right, keep yourself connected, and telephone engineers like me away from your door.
Help is At Hand
But if you do get stuck, and you’re not far from me, that is close to Middlesbrough, Stockton on Tees, Darlington, Co. Durham and North Yorkshire, drop me a line!. Plus, I’m in touch with many engineers across the UK. All I ask in return is some favourable feedback on my Facebook Page or a Google review.
This is great, would you recommend this solution for outside? We’ve cut our outside cable in 2 places so would we require two boxes? I think replacing the full length of wire maybe to fiddly/costly. Many thanks.
Thanks for the kind words. External cable is normally much more robust, and typically has a black sheath. Look for “Dropwire 10” on eBay. It can be bought by the metre. Look also for “3M Telephone & Data Cable Joint External Dropwire Closure Repair Kit”. Both these items are used by BT Openreach, and are extremely robust. Dropwire 10 demands particular care in stripping, as it contains supporting wires which are very sharp when cut. BT Openreach issue a special tool and end-protectors for handling it. But it is worth the trouble.
I will soon be blogging on the whole issue of external cabling, so stay tuned! Rob
hi rob are you still doing this type of repairs?
if so i might have a job for you!
if you are still doing these repairs or not please get in touch so i can explain what i need fixing and to send you some pictures
thank you in advance
tim
Hello,
Yes, we do carry out domestic work, as well as business-related telecommunications tasks.
Please drop me a line via the contact page or via info@telecomgreen.co.uk
Thanks for the contact.
Rob.
Hi I need a 3 m long cable from the modem/ router? to the house phone line but both ends are the smaller sized ones so I don’t know what to put for ordering one please can anyone help
What you have is probably a cable with an RJ11 connector at each end. See eBay item 401004183844. Rob.
Rob,
Thank you very much. My neighbour has issues with noise on his line. and slow download speed. We share an 8 pair overhead cable, the pair to my house is fine. BT have checked his line from junction box 0.3 miles away, down the overhead cable and then the section of cable that goes underground and cannot find a problem.
I have suggested cycling through the other spare 6 paris of wires to see if the signal improves or my other thought is combining cables, i.e using 2 wires combined together to effectively form a thicker wire with lower resistance which should improve the cable/signal.
So my question is in a low voltage system, in theory for a 8 pair cable if you used 4 wires combined to form one half of the pair and the remaining 4 wires to form the other half of the pair would this cause an issue as resistance would go down and if voltage constant then current would increase, how would this effect the system/signal?
Regards,
Ben
Ben, This fault really is in the realm of Openreach and should be kicked back to them. Any “fix” involving bonding legs of a cable is utterly up to them. But if the noise is on one of the legs bonded, then the noise will persist, and nothing will be gained. Noise can often be caused by water ingress to damaged cable or joints. Does the issue get worse in damp/rainy weather? With all line noise issues, I always try and call the customer services call centre from the line with the noise, get the agent to hear the noise for themselves, and insist that this is documented on the ticket. Just for your information, dialling 17070 from the affected line and choosing the “quiet line test” from the menu will make the noise more audible. I end where I started – this one most certainly needs to be pursued with Openreach. Rob.
The wires are twisted together in pairs to maintain the correct characteristic impedance ( 600 Ohms from memory) putting two pairs in parallel will result in all sorts of unwanted reflections. A telephone is designed to detect the line current and increase the transmit and receive levels as the line current falls due to greater (DC) resistance so decreasing the DC wire resistance will have no effect.
Incidentally if two pairs were paralleled it would show up as cable fault on the reflectometers OpenReach engineers carry. These can even see the change in impedance where the overhead cable is twisted onto the support wire when it is terminated at the house or pole.
Many thanks for the technical insight, lucidly explained.
What a great post – thank you. Like others, I have a noisy line. Being nosy, I can see that there has been water ingress (copper staining) into the Scotch crimps outside my house where the Openreach cable is joined to another short cable that goes inside to the socket. My master socket is actually in another room, and Openreach did this move when they installed Infinity. So my old ‘master’ socket just contains another set of Scotch connected cables. The right thing to do is to convince BT (supplier) to call out an Openreach engineer, obviously. Or I could get me some Scotch crimps 😉 Have you seen Openreach use anything to weatherproof the connection when outdoors? The grey cable cover doesn’t keep out moisture or creepy-crawlies.
regards
Bill
Thanks for your kind words!
If the Scotch crimps are in good condition and applied correctly, they should be fine for installation in a grey external box (Google “BT66B” to see if this is the one you mean).
They are jelly-filled, and when squeezed to terminate the wires, the jelly oozes out to protect the joint. BT/Openreach use them all the time in semi-weatherproof situations, such as their street cabinets,up poles and down in holes, which are out of direct rainfall, but can be susceptible to damp.
The fact that you can see the classic green copper staining means that moisture is degrading the cable core. As well as causing the “distant crisp packet”-type rustling line noise, this also slows down broadband. I have known of a marked increase in speed occuring simply by retermination of some incoming cables in a property which showed no outward signs of corrosion.
The choice is yours:- you can either report it to Openreach (“OR”) via your provider, and they will threaten you with a £160.00-plus bill if the problem is your side (which it probably isn’t). This is after you’ve spent time queuing at a call centre. You then have to be around for the OR person to turn up at your premises. And then correctly diagnose and fix.
Alternatively, you could buy some Scotch crimps from eBay and reterminate the joint yourself in 5 minutes. (Not that we’d ever officially recommend interfering with their side of the network, of course…. 😉 )
Tools required would be a pair of cutters and pliers. Cut each cable back to clean copper, insert each as far into the crimp as possible, and squeeze. Jelly should ooze from each channel of the crimp.
On the other hand, if you do call your provider, make sure you call them from the faulty line when it’s noisy (often in damp weather conditions). Then the call centre operative can hear the noise themselves, and might actually just believe you.
One professional secret:- If you call 17070 and select the “quiet line” option from the menu, you’ll be able to hear the sound of silence, proving that the noise has gone. But please note, some providers have inhibited use of this useful, age-old service.
I hope that this helps, and you get the fault cleared!
And now my standard request for a favour:-
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Cracking advice, and always very helpful to hear from a professional chap. I was just gonna ask you, how do you remove already fixed cables in an OR box. Do you cut them with side cutters or use the punch down tool. Cheers.
Thanks for your kind words! If they are punched down in “Krone” connectors, then you’ll need to gently pull them out. Cheaper, flimsy boxes can often be pulled apart this way, so take care. It i spossible to pull the connector block off the back board of a socket and sever the solder tracks.
Removing the old cable allows new cable cores to be inserted. Usually they will accommodate two in the same prong – but only if they have space in the first place!
Professional-grade punch-down tools have an integral fold-out hook that does the job very well. It also rips skin…
I hope that this helps!
Rob
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Thanks. Just the information I needed, presented in a clear, concise manner. And I just happen to have some spare ‘Scotch lock’s, so my problem is solved.
Thanks for your kind feedback. Hopefully, the Scotch crimps are of the jelly-filled type.
Rob
Hi Rob, thanks for a great article. I work from home so use a BT business internet connection throughout the day. Only problem is the connection drops for a second every time anyone opens the front door of the house, which is next to the Openreach box. This is enough to throw me off calls altogether and I have to restart.
I have had BT engineers over twice. First they diagnosed a faulty plug on the router, we changed that but the problem continued. Then they diagnosed a faulty router, again we changed but it did not sort the problem. I think the wiring is faulty/loose and opening the door is causing the connection to drop, but whose responsibility is this and how can I get it resolved?
Many thanks, Sam
Sam, Sorry for the delayed response – I can’t recall if I replied or not!
Thanks for your kind comments.
The intermittent fault sounds like it’s Openreach’s side, but they may quibble if they come and see you, and suggest that you have damaged their cable. They may then try and charge you £130-£160 for the remedial work. It very much depends who you get, though. Some engineers respond better to the pressure to get jobs done imposed on them, and are willing to spend time with customers to sort things out at no cost. Others are less helpful.
I’d suggest getting an independent engineer to take a look. Let me have your postcode, and I’ll check who is closest to you. Obviously there’s a charge, but dealing with your supplier’s customer service desk may drive you to self-harm. You may also get a faster response. Ron
Thanks for the information! I’ve accidentally damaged my phone line (before the master socket) so planning to repair it myself to save the cost of calling out an engineer.
I just have one question that I’m a bit uncertain of. Where the telephone line comes into my property there’s a junction box where the wires are connected together. It looks though that there’s 2 external wires connecting to the same internal phone line which has confused me.
I’ll of course be connecting it back up exactly as it’s already connected but I’m just puzzled about why there would be 2 different phone lines coming into the property and connected up to the same internal wiring (I’d assumed if one of them was e.g. virgin media and the other BT then they’d have separate internal wiring)
Hello,
There are usually two pairs of wires to a property. Normally, only one pair is connected, the other lying in the external junction box disconnected. They are usually orange and white (first pair used) then green and black (second pair for an additional line).
I’m as baffled as you! Maybe someone has fiddled with it in the past, and has connected everything “just to be sure”. I often see similar bodges.
HTH
Rob
Thanks for your reply 🙂
I had a closer look at it and there’s 4 wires in the internal line, and then there’s 2 external lines, each with 4 wires, but there’s 2 wires from each of the external lines connected up to the internal wiring, while the other 2 wires on each of the external lines aren’t connected at all. It’s really strange, but I’ll just put it back exactly as it is so I don’t cause any problems.
My background is business-to-business telephone engineering work. Most of my industry colleagues won’t touch residential work because of “surprises”like this. It takes time to sort out how someone has varied from a standard configuration even before remedial work starts!
Hi, I’m pulling carpets up in the bedroom and decide to cut through the wires of a BT80B box hanging from the skirting thinking it was dead. I now have no phone line.
Can you advise?
Thank Chris
Umm.. check which colour of wires serve your formerly live socket. Then reconnect what you’ve disconnected. Check for a dial tone. Lots of this stuff is calm and sequential checking.
If you are struggling, I may be able to find engineers in your postcode area.
I cut a really old cable has 4 wires 2 orange and 2 blue all with different stripes and markings ihe. Black coax was oily inside we are in Mi mostly sand nothing stays buried too long could this be from the old cable company that came and left this 200 population years ago ? 4 wires what is this ?
Thankyou !
Are you in the US? We are in the UK, so won’t recognise your types of cable. Sorry!
Great tips here thank you but no meation of keeping the pairs twisted, vital for a data service. Data just like us will slow down when the interference increases!
Thanks for the comment. A good point! However, I try and keep things as simple as possible for readers, many of whom are keen DIY-ers with no background in comms. Maintaining a twist inside the confines of an LJU, module or connector may be slightly too much for some.
Hi and thank you for your write up! I’m in a bit of a pickle as the house I bought only has one phone box in the upstairs bedroom (the black cable from outside runs into this room. The room is my toddlers bedroom and he has pulled the black wire out of the box and now we have no Internet! Can I rewire this safely as there is slack in the wire that would allow for a portion to be removed and reattached and is there any step by step guide on how to do it? Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated as I have a 6 year old who loves a bit of netflix and cannot get online now 🙁
Thanks for the comment. It’s hard to diagnose the problem and advise on a repair without seeing the job.
It is likely that the wires have popped off the terminals in the socket. Have you taken it apart to check?
You are welcome to email me directly, and I could even suggest a local engineer if I had your postcode.
Rob
Hi Rob,
I’m in the process of connecting a pre-run extension to the master socket in my new build home. I bought a punch down tool and opened up the master socket but found that the electrician who ran the extension damaged the fine coloured wires when he stripped the outer insulation back (looks like he just ran a Stanley knife around it to strip it, pretty rough).
Unfortunately there’s no slack or excess so I can’t just trim the cable back re-strip it further up. Most of the inner wires are damaged with a small cut in them (the copper is slightly exposed). If I were to go ahead and connect the extension will these small cuts ‘upstream’ greatly affect/compromise the integrity of the cable? I will be connecting a broadband router to this extension (can’t connect it to the master, unfortunately). I’m worried about line speed and stability possibly being affected.
Cheers,
John
Hello,
Short version:- it’s always best to run new cable if the outer sheath and/or the insulation on the cores is damaged. You might get away with it, but the fault will be irritating and probably intermittent
I would recommend jointing the cable with a Box 78A somewhere convenient, and running in a new cable.
Hi Rob. Our broadband keeps dropping out and have tried most fixes, like changing the router and upgrading to BT Infinity, changing filter between socket & router – all to no avail. On investigation, I notice that the alarm engineer had spliced in to the black (master) cable before the master socket and joined the alarm coax to it with jelly joints. Could this be the issue and if so, what is the fix? Thanks, Adrian
Hello,
Thanks for the contact.
Has the alarm been installed recently,and/or do you have a maintenance contract with the installing company?
If so, I’d suggest getting them in remove their cable and come up with another solution. If Openreach came to check your line they wouldprobably charge for the call-out, as equipment has been tee-d into “their” side of the line.
Removing the alarm-side would allow you, by the process of elimination, to see if this is the source of the problem. However,thismay invalidate your home insurance if this stipulates an alarm with a fixed telephone connection.
Is there a set time-interval to the problem? Their equipment may have a regular “phone home” routine which is causing the disruption.
Rob
Hi Rob,
I hav a bt phone socket with two holes, one of top of the other. The top one which is for the phone has the plastic bit stuck in it minus the wire. Any suggestion how to get it out? Was considering some needle now pliers to try it. Failing hat would I be charged if an engineer had to come out and replace it when connecting a new line or transferring one?
Thanks for the question. As ever, it’s hard to diagnose this without seeing it. An Openreach engineer attending your property would charge. I would recommend using an independent engineer. Drop me your postcode via info@ and I’ll try and see who is close. Rob.
Hi Rob,
My fella is replacing the cable between the master socket and the exterior junction on the front of the house as it got cut in 2 places (say no more, it’s a sore point ????) the cable has 6 wires inside and he found that in the exterior junction only 2 of them were joined with jelly crimps (the blue and the blue and white) the rest were just left. Should they all be connected or should we just repair it exactly as we found it?
Thanks in advance.
Did you ever get this sorted? I may or may not have the same issue due to some vigorous ivy removal from the front of the house ????…
Hi Rob,
I have cut through the ‘BT Dropwire 10’ that comes up out of the ground and goes into a BT66 Box on the wall.
I purchased one of these: DexSeal 2/4 ‘Above Ground DropWire Closure’ on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252801950816
However I could not get the box to close, and the above box is only suitable for smaller diameter BT cables, from my observation the proper drop wire has a thicker sleeving and 4 wires, where as the thinner wire has 8 wires and thinner sleeving (can you advise the BT name for this cable)
The supplier has suggested a 16a box:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261997399800
However these are not waterproof and designed for use under the eaves of a property, I ned to stick this on the front of my bay near to the ground (where the cable comes up and has been cut).
I want to make a repair that BT would not make a fuss over, and is water proof, can suggest anything more appropriate, or has whats been suggest suffice.
Thanks
Frank
Which color wires connect to where
Usually white-blue to pin 5, blue-white to pin 2, depending on if it’s been wired correctly in the first place!
A few years back the lead gutter on my roof leaked so badly water came down the walls downstairs during a storm. I have had the lead replaced and the roof beams repaired on that side. My BT master (only) socket is sadly situated by this wall. It used to be fitted onto the wall but fell off when the plaster crumbled. In the last year or two I have had problems with my broadband. The speed is slow and I get 3 blue lights for a bit then back to flashing orange. BT say the problem is in my house from their online diagnostic. I have mended it a couple of times by replacing the master box (or sometimes just replacing the front works). Last time changing the ADHL filter sorted it for a few months till now. All of my ADHL filters give a crackling noise on the phone line, the worse the crackling, the less broadband connection. My boyfriend took apart they first frontplate we removed off the box and it had water inside. Obviously the damaged gutter allowed water to come in which caused this problem. However why is it still occuring? My boyfriend has tried to connect the new box to a bit of decent wire as there are several burnt bits. There is not much wire to choose from as it disappears under the suspended wooden floor. Is there anyway to solve the problem without having to call someone in to rip up the flooring and cost a small fortune?
Hello. Hard to diagnose without seeing it. I have some suspicions and ideas for a fix. However, it sounds like time for an independent engineer to call. If you need help, please be in touch. Sorry for the delayed response. Rob.
Hi Rob,
I am wondering whether you could recommend a telephone engineer for the South East London area. We are having external works undertaken on a Victorian mansion that has been converted into 4 flats which includes new roof, repointing, rerendering and decoration. We are trying to do everything necessary on one scaffold as the property stands quite high. There are many external wires that are probably now redundant due to different telephone connections in each flat. We would like to clean up these wires and refix or renew what is necessary plus remove whatever is redundant.
Thanks in advance in terms of any advice you can give.
Lisa
Hello,
We have informal contacts across the UK, including several in your area. The feasibility of the job for an independent engineer can only be assessed bu actually seeing the site! If you need further help, please be in touch. Rob
Hi it is great to find someone who is willing to offer advice so freely.
I have two termination boxes next to each other in my attic, one circuit for house and the other one for annex. I no longer want them to be two circuits I want one line in that covers all over. Is it possible to connect them?
Thanks for your kind words. I make next to no advertising revenue from this site, so Google Reviews are always appreciated! 🙂
It’s hard to diagnose your situation without seeing the whole layout of cabling. I would recommend involving a local independent engineer. Let me have a postcode, and I’ll see if I can find one from my range of contacts.
Hi Rob,
Great article, some really good info here. Quick question regarding wires, I have an older property with a thin old grey phone line running down the side of and into the house from a junction box near the roof which is connected to the (i believe drop wire?) linking it over the road to the BT pole.
Now, so far in working on this property, I have found A LOT of interesting bodges and old wiring. After having ivy removed a few weeks back, our internet speeds dropped dramatically pushing packet-loss and ping way up – this all happened around the time the ivy was removed, and to be honest the wire coming down the house doesn’t look like its in the best state anymore and has definitely been pulled around a lot to remove the ivy underneath and on the top.
Looking in the junction box and what is coming into the house, 2 wires are connected by jellys. Replacing the wire would be pretty simple, but what wire do i need to use? Is it CW1308?
Cheers
Stu
Thanks for your kind words. It is likely that the grey parallel-wire drop wire has a damaged sheath, or has fractured. Be kind to it, though – it is probably over thirty years old!
My preference would be for Dropwire 10, which can be bought by the metre on eBay. However, it is tricky to strip without the right tool. I have blogged about it recently. It is very strong!
However, some external-grade 1308 with a black weather-proof sheath will suffice. There is some on eBay as item 331575968877.
I hope that this helps- please leave me some social media feedback if you can – this helps me to justify giving free advice on this ad-free (so far) site. Rob
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Rob
Cheers Rob, I’ve opted for the 1308 for now to do a test run. It should be easy to notice an improvement with the service ima, currently getting!
Rob after your recommendation I went and got myself some dropwire 10 and have replaced the old wires on the house (and ancient extension within the house) so there is a continuous run of cable from the new master socket to the connection box near my roof.
Final question, as I now ha e real internet speeds again, I have left several metres of dropdown 10 spare coiled up, will this degrade service? Should I cut the wire to near what I want and just extend IF I ever want to move it again?
Thanks again for the article – I was losing the will to love trying to get talktalk to acknowledge a problem!
The coiled dropwire 10 should not have a noticeable effect on speeds. It is of such robust construction that the twist in the cable (vital for speed maintenance) is maintained. I always avoid joints if at all possible, so I’d recommend leaving it as it is.
Yes, TalkTalk are cheap, but dealing with their customer service department is character-forming.
Hi Rob,
Great forum by the way. I have been head scratching over this for a few days and looks like you may be the person to advise.
Old Victorian House. Master Socket by the front door.
One extension (EX1) runs round the door frame into a very old (and now yellow) phone connection point, which then runs from this, up the wall, through the floor and into master bedroom (into another socket and old (again yellow) panic alarm).
A second extension (Ex2) also runs from the master, all the way out to the back of the house (old office space).
I want to remove Ex1 and all the old yellow boxes and wires associated with it.
I opened the Master socket to look at whats what and was confronted with a nest of wires.
Main BT line in-6 wires. Blue+W & White+B connect to the main screw down plates (not very clean connection btw but ok). Green+W & White+G do not connect to anything.
Orange+W then connects to EX1 Blue+W (by jellyfish). Finally White+O connects to EX1 White+B (by jellyfish).
EX1 is what I want to remove. Am I able to simply cut the Orange+W & White+O wires? (as they are feeding EX1 that is no longer wanted). Or will this ruin main connection.
NB: we have no phone – only used for broadband.
Thanks for your kind words.
It’s odd that the org/wt pair in the incoming cable are connected direct to an extension. If they were an additional line to that carried on the bl/wt pair, they should have been terminated on a separate master socket.
If there is no tone on the org/wt to ex1, then you should be OK to sever them.
I hope that this helps!
—
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Rob
Hello
Bit of a random question. My dad has dementia and is in the habit of unplugging everything including the phone socket which means I can’t contact him. In addition he has now had telecare installed so it is more vital that it remains plugged in.
Signs and or tape don’t work.
Is there any way of securing the plug in the socket or a d4vice you are aware of that may help.
All ideas appreciated.
KA
Voila!
https://www.systemstl.co.uk/item/12368-connect-plus-3cb-captive-bar-3-series-for-locking-plug-in-socket-85mm-x-85mm
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Captive-Bar-3-Phone-Socket-Lock-For-3-1A-3-2A-3-3A-3-4A-or-3-6A-sockets-/391547364959
Rob
Hi Rob, I have moved my master socket upstairs by cutting the phone line shortly after the telegraph pole feed hits the eaves of the gutter area at my house and iv run the cable in through a hole in the wall of the upstairs bedroom, everything is working but I wondered If this would have an affect on my service as the length of cable has changed, I have been suffering from poor download speeds and connection loss under load and wanted to move the router upstairs for better connection to pcs and games consoles, I had a torpedo style JB which was sodden with water ingress I removed this and soldered the connection inside the house with insulation and enclosure. Download speeds haven’t changed I’m with sky broadband thinking of upgrading to fibre (Plusnet) we don’t have a phone plugged in and have only one other by socket downstairs which doesn’t work. Any advice would be much appreciated as I don’t have much experience dealing with data cabling.
Many thanks in advance.
Dean
Hello! You wrote:-
Hi Rob, I have moved my master socket upstairs by cutting the phone line shortly after the telegraph pole feed hits the eaves of the gutter area at my house and iv run the cable in through a hole in the wall of the upstairs bedroom, everything is working but I wondered If this would have an affect on my service as the length of cable has changed…
>If done properly, then it should have no effect on the speed.
…I have been suffering from poor download speeds and connection loss under load and wanted to move the router upstairs for better connection to pcs and games consoles…
Do you know what speed your provider predicts for your location?
…I had a torpedo style JB which was sodden with water ingress I removed this and soldered the connection inside the house with insulation and enclosure. Download speeds haven’t changed I’m with sky broadband thinking of upgrading to fibre (Plusnet)…
If this is fibre to the cabinet, rather than fibre to the premises, you will still be supplied via the same copper pair of wires to your house. If there is a problem with this part of the network, then changing supplier won’t change matters.
… we don’t have a phone plugged in and have only one other by socket downstairs which doesn’t work. Any advice would be much appreciated as I don’t have much experience dealing with data cabling.
I’d suggest seeking the help of an independent telephone engineer. He could do basic tests and find out if there is a problem on the exchange side. Let me have your postcode, and I’ll see if I know anyone local to you.
Rob
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Hi Rob.. Problem– BT/Open Reach MS is stuck 8ft up an rear kitchen wall. An extension is planned to rear of this wall, so there will be a large hole knocked through where this MS is situated. Quite why it is in that position beats me! It was installed by previous owner. The supply cable actually runs down front house wall adjacent to neighbour’s house (Semi det) along front, side and rear walls of house into kitchen–a cable length of approx. 25m! I want to move the MS / Cable, to front wall of house to enter at bottom of cable drop from roof. Could I do this myself without recourse to Open Reach?
The two wires–white (A) and Orange (B) seem to be pressed into knife contacts–which cut through the insulation. Can I remove them and reconnect by pressing into same connectors after repositioning the MS?
Have read your answers on many aspects of this situation, but not seen anything to exactly match my situation. Cheers, Bob
Hi Rob..
>Hello!
Problem– BT/Open Reach MS is stuck 8ft up an rear kitchen wall. An extension is planned to rear of this wall, so there will be a large hole knocked through where this MS is situated. Quite why it is in that position beats me!
>Not unusual! Domestic installations/amendments made by previous owners are frequently a source of puzzlement and amusement!
It was installed by previous owner. The supply cable actually runs down front house wall adjacent to neighbour’s house (Semi det) along front, side and rear walls of house into kitchen–a cable length of approx. 25m!
>Again, quite common!
I want to move the MS / Cable, to front wall of house to enter at bottom of cable drop from roof. Could I do this myself without recourse to Open Reach?
>Of course, you shouldn’t touch Openreach’s kit…
The two wires–white (A) and Orange (B) seem to be pressed into knife contacts–which cut through the insulation. Can I remove them and reconnect by pressing into same connectors after repositioning the MS?
>Yes, but you will need the correct wire insertion tool, commonly available on Amazon/eBay, etc. A screwdriver will damage the prongs.
Have read your answers on many aspects of this situation, but not seen anything to exactly match my situation. Cheers, Bob
>N.B. Your cable may be dropwire, which needs special handling to strip properly. See an earlier blog on dropwire.
Rob
Rob, Hoping you can help me as you definitely seem to know your stuff.
I recently ditched BT in favour of a VOIP service from my broadband supplier.
There are three phone sockets in the house fed from the BT master socket by wiring that was plugged into the BT master socket by a RJ11 adaptor. It all worked fine with BT.
The broadband supplier has provided a Grandstream voip adapator with an RJ11 socket on the rear and their own RJ11 to BT in-line adaptor. If I plug my RJ11 line directly into the voip nothing works. If I use their in line adaptor and then my own (crossover type) to change back to RJ11 my phone rings when there is an incoming call but it cannot be answered. Also there is no dial tone.
If I plug a phone directly into the Grandstream it works but as this is in a cupboard it’s not very convenient. Everything worked with a conventional BT line so what is different? Do I need some sort of custom wired RJ11 to BT adaptor?
Rob, Hoping you can help me as you definitely seem to know your stuff.
>Thanks for your kind words.
I recently ditched BT in favour of a VOIP service from my broadband supplier.
There are three phone sockets in the house fed from the BT master socket by wiring that was plugged into the BT master socket by a RJ11 adaptor. It all worked fine with BT.
The broadband supplier has provided a Grandstream voip adapator with an RJ11 socket on the rear and their own RJ11 to BT in-line adaptor. If I plug my RJ11 line directly into the voip nothing works. If I use their in line adaptor and then my own (crossover type) to change back to RJ11 my phone rings when there is an incoming call but it cannot be answered. Also there is no dial tone.
If I plug a phone directly into the Grandstream it works but as this is in a cupboard it’s not very convenient. Everything worked with a conventional BT line so what is different? Do I need some sort of custom wired RJ11 to BT adaptor?
>I’m a bit confused as to your set-up. Most VOIP phones run over data cabling (Cat 5, “Ethernet”, etc). Maybe time to call your supplier’s helpdesk. Sorry I can’t help. Let me know how you get on!
Hi Rob can you help how great you share your knowledge so freelymy son has moved into an lod house he has no land line does not want one the is an old lozange shaped junction box? he would like to remove it will he get a shock cuts the wires is it live so many thanks for your help Chas
Thanks for your kind words. Officially, it shouldn’t be touched as it’s Openreach’s hardware. However, I’ve never known of any action taken by them. If it’s connected to the exchange (which it may not be), it will have around 50v DC at idle, and not much amperage. It’s enough to give you a tickle if you put your finger across the pair of wires, but not much more.
Good Morning Rob
Advice/ideas please . I have an incoming BT land line that is now in an inconvenient place and a now unused 2nd line that is in a convenient place – I would like to swap over the incoming pairs so that the active line is presented to my ‘idle’ master socket. The incoming line is terminated in a white box 65mm x 65mm attached to my roof soffit with what appears from a distance to be crimp joints – I have photo if it helps – what type of crimp joint should I use to affect the swap – I have an comms engineering background so am comfortable with this sort of stuff
Thanks
Mike
Hello Mike,
Of course, this side of the master socket is Openreach’s property… However, a Google of “Jelly Crimps” should take you to the correct item. These are commonly-used by Openreach in street cabinets and enclosures such as the one you have described. Rob.
We have a 3 year old that has cut the wire from a master socket to another socket, and killed the internet. The wiring is pretty ancient and we’ve had a go at following online pics to try and rectify the problem, to no avail. We’ve been trying to avoid hefty charges but it’s looking like we might have to fork out after all.
Oh dear! If you take the front off your master socket, (two screws, half way down the front), there is another socket there. Plug your router in there for now. At least you will get wifi back.
Please advise your postcode (are you Poulton-ish?) and I’ll see if one of my local contacts might be able to help.
Recently cut an internal phone line to a box (with single phone connection). Has capacitor, resistor and another item in. This was just to shorten the cable. Other connection in flat working – but now not this. Didn’t have tool (now ordered) and tried screwdriver to reconnect 2 wires in box. Now not working. I cut the wire live – could it have caused damage to something?
Hello,
You have not damaged anything on the Openreach network (no fuses pop out!), but you may have either:-
1/- Damaged the punch-down pins (IDC connectors) on the socket, preventing firm connection – this is easily done and hard to detect. Proper punch-down tools are the only thing that should ever be used on these sensitive and easily-distorted connectors.
2/- Put a short-circuit on the line some how. If you ring your number and it’s engaged,this may be it.
I would suggest buying a punch-down tool and new master socket. The old one may have a surge arrestor in it (silver and barrel-shaped) which is known to slow down broadband.
I hope that this helps.
Rob
Thank you for the info.
The other phone in living room rings when I call from mobile and wifi router is connected to that – appears ok.
Have already ordered tool and will try again and if no luck then will get a new master socket box – as you suggest.
Thanks again.
You’re welcome! I would recommend getting a new master socket anyway in order to eliminate the surge arrestor.
External wire to neighbour cuts across front of my house – it often makes noise like a steam train! Open Reach say ‘it shouldn’t have that kind of voltage’ & do nothing. BT won’t respond to neighbour’s request to move the line. What could possibly be causing so much noise that it wakes me in the night, and how can I get BT /OR to deal with it?
This one has me struggling! Is the noise due to physical movement of the wire, that is, is it chafing against something? Is the service to the neighbour’s house acceptable? If there was a high voltage on the line, there is a possibility that voice and broadband wouldn’t work.
A second opinion from an independent telephone engineer might be helpful. If you need to find one, please let me have your postcode via direct email.
My landline is not working and the phone shows the message: “check phone line.” The Open Reach socket cover is detached from the wall and there are 2 stray white wires which I presume need to be connected somewhere. Can I send a photo to show what I mean?
info@telecomgreen.co.uk