Replacing BT master socket

[Kontiki]

Has anybody replaced the master socket themselves? (I know your not supposed to but) when I looked on the BT site it looked as if it was going to cost over £200 Rang a local telecomms engineer (ex BT) asked if he could do it & how much. I only want to connect into the outside box & go straight through the wall to the new socket, keeping the wire as short as possible. Said he would do it for £60 & then dropped it to £50 if I drill the hole through the wall.

Looks easy enough to do the only problem is the wiring on the outside box seems very short to be able to connect to .

I want it renewing as I am having problems with my phone & internet, almost certain it is the wiring connectors in the outside box.

 

[kangooroo]

Our cables became chewed so we relocated the master socket. From memory, it was very easy and took about 10 minutes. BT are none the wiser....

 

[Mick H]

Has anybody replaced the master socket themselves? (I know your not supposed to but) when I looked on the BT site it looked as if it was going to cost over £200 Rang a local telecomms engineer (ex BT) asked if he could do it & how much. I only want to connect into the outside box & go straight through the wall to the new socket, keeping the wire as short as possible. Said he would do it for £60 & then dropped it to £50 if I drill the hole through the wall.

Looks easy enough to do the only problem is the wiring on the outside box seems very short to be able to connect to .

I want it renewing as I am having problems with my phone & internet, almost certain it is the wiring connectors in the outside box.

Should be straightforward.
The standard domestic outside box should only contain "Gel" filled connectors and they can easily be replaced and the wires extended, if necessary, BUT I don't know where these connectors can be purchased.

If you need more info, just ask.

If your outside box contains "Screw" type connectors, then they will be quite old and are regarded as a fault liability.

 

[Nosha]

Yes dead easy, all parts available from Maplins... not the cheapest but nearest for me, or you could try ebay! Just make sure you fit a 'master' socket where it comes into the house, then all others are empty ones. Look on the BT site and make sure you get one compatable with the FREE accelerator; then it's 'Bobs your uncle' and quicker internet!

 

[Kontiki]

Being trying to look out for a BT van to see if I can get one of them to do it for cash in hand, looking at the prices BT charge the lads out in the vans must be approached a lot for doing what should be a simple job.

Not sure still whether to just pay the guy 50 quid to do it as looking at the bits I would need would cost about a tenner as long as nothing goes wrong but I can't afford to be without the phone if I do have problems.

Thanks for the advice anyway.

 

[shortcircuit]

The BT master socket has two screw connections only and if you have concerns about doing what is a very simple job, then don't.

BT engineer is putting a lot at risk if he is found out doing private work. Local paper will have as you said Ex BT engineers that can do. In addition contact alarm companies as this is a job an alarm engineer can do

 

[Kontiki]

From what I remember the outside box on the outside wall used to have screw terminals, I know because I moved the old socket & renewed the wiring (but that was years ago. Last time I looked they had cut the wire & connected it using the gel connectors & I think it's these connectors + the wiring I put in being quite a distance from where it comes into the house. The wire probably wasn't that good quality but for the phone line at the time I did it the job. Now with the faster internet speeds etc. everything can affect it.

I suppose my concern is that I start the job (what should be simple) but because of the difficulty with the access to the connectors outside the house I have to get BT out then be charged a small fortune to fix it.

I suppose the advantage of using the ex BT private contractor to do the job he can check out the line to see if there are any possible problems with the line coming to the house.

 

[mostin]

Hi all.

I suppose the advantage of using the ex BT private contractor to do the job he can check out the line to see if there are any possible problems with the line coming to the house.

This is a bit miss leading as most if not all testing is done from the exchange end & your "Ex BT" contractor has no access to the local exchange.

As for any works carried out later on i.e. fault reports etc in the future. BT will not touch any non BT installed wiring.

Saying that an Ex BT Engineer should be able to do this job with their eyes closed.

Ask the question how long they work for BT. If it was just for a short time, that could be why they are now "EX BT"

Thanks.
Mostin.

 

[lebesset]

not sure why you want to do this
in my experience a big improvement can be obtained by fitting a central filter , connecting the router directly there , and removing the individual filters on your phone sockets ; in fact at my house it was the only way to get adsl at all due to the distance from the exchange

as you are in the uk with BT equipment there appears to be an easy solution

NTE2000 ADSL Faceplate Filter for NTE5 BT Master Socket on eBay (end time 15-Jun-10 20:32:37 BST)

maybe something like this could be your solution as well presuming you have the master socket that is required ...being outside the uk this is not for me , so I just connected a master filter direct to the copper pair where it came to the house , then wired the router and phone sockets separately from there

if you still suspect the wiring between the outside and inside boxes you can always add a length of 6/8mm copper pair to supplement it , run it around through a window or door to make a test to begin with

btw , what sort of download speeds are we talking about here , how far are you from the exchange ?

 

[bevdrew]

Is it not up to BT to provide you with a working line in the house? If this is faulty, they should repair it without charge as part of your contract with them.

 

[lebesset]

that's a good point ; what did BT find when you asked them to run a line check ?

BT.com|Consumer|Your Account|Fault Tracking

 

[Kontiki]

Thanks again for the replies, but the problem is that at some stage BT changed the wiring on the outside terminal box. Originally it was screw type connectors, what they did was cut the wire very short & fitted the gel scotch lock type of connectors from the original wire to the cheap wire I had fitted which goes quite a distance to the master socket. When I was having problems I looked in the outside box & it was full of muck (spiders webs etc.) & while I was cleaning it out one of the gel connections fell off. So at the moment it's working with the two wires just joined together. If I call BT out I'm guessing they would still probably charge me to move the master socket & just reconnecting the original wire probably wouldn't help. On our phone line it sometimes won't get a dial tone or we get a lot of interference.

I want to have the master socket moved to just inside the wall from where the outside point is. As we now have cordless phones/wifi (none of these were around when I originally moved the master socket & it wasn't a problem with my 300 k modem) I can get rid of all the internal cables for the phones except the one master socket.

BTW lebesset my download speed can be from 0 to at the very best around 2500 kbs but usually I manage to get about 1000. I am about 3 to 4 miles from the exchange & have been told I should get at least 3000

Can't even get the BT website up!! Maybe it's because I'm with Talktalk

 

[lebesset]

if you get up to 2,500 [ not bad at all for the distance ]sometimes but more usually 1,000 , it sounds like too many users for the capacity ; I don't know the uk system but if talk talk have their own equipment in the exchange then a change to a better IP may well help

if you have phones then you will need filters anyway , and as I have found the micro filters attenuate the strength ,so a central filter is a must imho

but you really must get BT to check the line , if the copper pair is unbalanced that will have a bad effect ; if that checks out ok then connect a new copper pair between the inside and outside [ 6mm or more ] ; i would suggest you use standard connecting blocks to pick up the bt cable at the outside box then fit a new master box /filter wherever you want , running everything from there