Installing a New BT Master Socket

Installing a New BT Master Socket

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Turtle Shed

Original Poster:

1,723 posts

32 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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This old thing is on the end of the phone line coming into my brother's house. I know I'm not supposed to mess about with it, but I'm going to.

I have a new BT Master socket, This is just a case of connecting orange/white and white to pins 2 and 5 respectively isn't it?



The extension wired in can go, they don't need that. In fact they don't need a phone at all, just the broadband which might be improved by losing this 40 year old oxidised 'thing'.

Cheers

Mr Pointy

11,688 posts

165 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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That's a junction box, not a master socket. The line is usually on Blue/White & White/Blue withe the ring circuit on Orange/White, but it could be anything.

sjg

7,519 posts

271 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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Yes, you're not supposed to mess with them but very easy to sort - the newest NTEs don't even need punch downs.

How far off full fibre (FTTP) are they? That'll be a whole new line in and that thing can just be chopped off and binned. The checker at https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADS... might show it's available or coming soon. Just about everyone should be moved over in the coming years.

Turtle Shed

Original Poster:

1,723 posts

32 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
quotequote all
Mr Pointy said:
That's a junction box, not a master socket. The line is usually on Blue/White & White/Blue withe the ring circuit on Orange/White, but it could be anything.
Yes thanks, they have a master socket but it is downstairs on the end of a pair that leads out of this junction box. This junction box is absolutely the first thing on the cable to the house.

As to the other reply, I'll check about full fibre. Cheers.

beko1987

1,666 posts

140 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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Similar sort of state my home wiring was in! I bought some jelly crimps which is apparently what BT use and some cheap but new cat5 and ran a new line in the house straight from there to behind my desk in the lounge!

That coupled with a filtered ADSL faceplate on the other end with zero other join netted me a good 15mb improvement! All dormant now though whilst I have 4g as my main internet

megaphone

10,881 posts

257 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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Yes easy to do, I've done it many times. You just need a pair of cables into the master socket, looks like it is orange and white from the pic, but check through to the existing socket to be sure.

Who me ?

7,455 posts

218 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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Simple on a single telephone installation ( but BT/OR regulations promise dire penalties for messing with ther lines, before the NTE( IN A HOUSE mASTER SOCKET) although Ive never heard of an engineer report it.
BUT, if you have extensions in other parts of house, have a look at any extension and check wiring.
Convention is that speech is connected to terminals 2 & 5 on the front plate of a BT Master, with another wire to pin 5. ( speech pair is usually a white wire with blue marker and a blue wire with a white marker. And orange wire is usually a white wire, with orange marker). .You need to check which colour goes to terminals 2/3/5 and replicate).
But with that level of "greenerey" around, I'd report a fault as noise and get BT to convert the system.
DID someone say "Jelly crimps". I'd be careful , as with that amount of damp, it gets into crimp and soon, the wire ends up as mould.

Edited by Who me ? on Wednesday 12th April 18:06

Grumps.

8,949 posts

42 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
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I did this very thing a few years ago, and got an almighty shock off the cables. Apparently there can be 50V on the wires!

Who me ?

7,455 posts

218 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
quotequote all
Grumps, up to 75 AC if ringing on line ,as many ex GPO blokes will testify. Not nice if up a pole on a wet day and your ear touches a rining line. 17/25 at 75-90 is not nice on a cold wet morning.
I believe 60vDC is common on some exchanges. But only way you'd get a shock of that is if a relay was connected on line . di/dt times L( induction of line) .

Edited by Who me ? on Wednesday 12th April 18:15

Turtle Shed

Original Poster:

1,723 posts

32 months

Wednesday 12th April 2023
quotequote all
[quote=Who me ?]Simple on a single telephone installation ( but BT/OR regulations promise dire penalties for messing with ther lines, before the NTE( IN A HOUSE mASTER SOCKET) although Ive never heard of an engineer report it.
BUT, if you have extensions in other parts of house, have a look at any extension and check wiring.
Convention is that speech is connected to terminals 2 & 5 on the front plate of a BT Master, with another wire to pin 5. ( speech pair is usually a white wire with blue marker and a blue wire with a white marker. And orange wire is usually a white wire, with orange marker). .You need to check which colour goes to terminals 2/3/5 and replicate).
But with that level of "greenerey" around, I'd report a fault as noise and get BT to convert the system.
DID someone say "Jelly crimps". I'd be careful , as with that amount of damp, it gets into crimp and soon, the wire ends up as mould.

Edited by Who me ? on Wednesday 12th April 18:06

[/quote]

Thanks for that, very helpful. No extensions required, just the master socket and the broadband plugged into it. They don't even have a phone (like so many people these days). I suspect I just need terminals 2 and 5 connected.

I will check and photograph how things are connected before putting in the new socket.

gus607

939 posts

142 months

Friday 14th April 2023
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I always thought the consumer wasn't allowed to replace the master socket.

somouk

1,425 posts

204 months

Saturday 15th April 2023
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gus607 said:
I always thought the consumer wasn't allowed to replace the master socket.
They're not meant to.

The reality is most do as it avoids having to mess about waiting for BT when really it is a simple 5 minute job.

I had a similar junction box to the OP, swapped out the internal side for some nice fresh CAT 5e and terminated the pairs in to a new master socket. Worked a treat and meant I could have the line where ever I wanted.

Turtle Shed

Original Poster:

1,723 posts

32 months

Saturday 15th April 2023
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A quick update that this all went fine.

Very satisfying to lose a whole load of unneccessary wiring.

Thanks for everyone's help. Didn't think it would be difficult, but never a bad thing to ask the PH collective first.

James6112

5,209 posts

34 months

Saturday 15th April 2023
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Just 2&5 connected, likely to improve BB speed.
Noticed any difference?


Turtle Shed

Original Poster:

1,723 posts

32 months

Monday 17th April 2023
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James6112 said:
Just 2&5 connected, likely to improve BB speed.
Noticed any difference?
Sorry but I can't reply without bumping the thread. No instant increase but my understanding is that speed adjustments might happen dynamically over a few days. I'll check next time I'm there.

He was getting 20Mb/s, same after the wiring simplification, which is perfectly fine for his household of two adults who don't do much computery stuff anyway.

Getting rid of an ungly wire at the front of the house, a horrible junction box, and unwanted extension wiring and outlet inside the house was worthwhile regardless.