Moving master socket

Yaayuh! · 14 Jun 2019 at 15:43

Now, I know I should really get Open Reach to do this, but it's so damn simple and easy in my case I really don't want to pay someone else to do it.

Basically my connection is off a pole to my house and runs down the opposite side of the wall where I want it, before running round the other side of my house.
I could easily cut it, punch through the wall, move and rewire the mast socket.

Question is, do I dare? What's the risk?

Has anyone done this?

bremen1874 · 14 Jun 2019 at 15:50

The risk is that you F it up and end up having to get BT out to fix it.

If you do it properly, and in a way that doesn't shout 'diy idiot', they'll probably never know or care.

It is a simple job, but evidence from this forum shows that people are capable of making it extremely complicated.

Avalon · 14 Jun 2019 at 22:48

Officially you are breaching your contract with the telecoms provider/openreach and this is enforceable under civil law, it’s not your property and in years gone by I personally witnessed people being charged for faults where they had deliberately caused them and in some cases where service was withdrawn as a result and contract termination fees charged, in some cases those debts were passed to collection services.

Unofficially you’d have to be utterly inept to f’up something so stupidly simple. If you do f’up, deny everything or in addition to the potential bill, you will be laughed at.

Caged · 15 Jun 2019 at 16:44

You'll be fine. Just don't do it badly, and don't do it with bell wire that you found in a skip.

I helped a friend of mine with this - the overhead line terminated in a joint box as it met the house, and then normal external grade cable ran down the outside and through the wall. We bought new cable to the same spec and ran it through the loft and down to a central point under the stairs, and gel crimped the connection in the joint box before zip tying it shut again. Openreach guy came out to do the FTTC enable and didn't bat an eye even though the master socket was clearly brand new.

bremen1874 · 15 Jun 2019 at 16:53

When my mother had her line BT reinstated after having a Virgin phone line for years the BT engineer arrived to find no socket and just wires hanging out of the wall. He didn't bat an eyelid either. I really don't think they care unless you do something stupid. That said I'd be very circumspect about working on someone else's phone line.

Deleted member 77746 · 16 Jun 2019 at 16:07

Not going to tell you to do this but if you F up cut the line outside and tell them it was criminal damage.

**

** Don't do this!

V F · 16 Jun 2019 at 16:56

bremen1874 said:
The risk is that you F it up and end up having to get BT out to fix it.

If you do it properly, and in a way that doesn't shout 'diy idiot', they'll probably never know or care.

It is a simple job, but evidence from this forum shows that people are capable of making it extremely complicated.

With everybody having decent cameras on their phone, you'd take many photos of all the wires before disconnecting. What could possibly go wrong?

Stephanie Peterson · 16 Jun 2019 at 16:58

Its two wires, its not rocket science.
I have moved mine twice, used cat 5 as the extension and this time soldered the connections instead of blocks - gained 2Mb/s sync lol!

bremen1874 · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:01

Stephanie Peterson said:
Its two wires, its not rocket science.
I have moved mine twice, used cat 5 as the extension and this time soldered the connections instead of blocks - gained 2Mb/s sync lol!

And if you ever have a line fault it'll be completely obvious that it's a DIY job.

Wrong cable.

Wrong connection type.

If you're going to do it at least attempt to leave it in a state that looks like a BT job.

V F · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:04

Stephanie Peterson said:
Its two wires, its not rocket science.
I have moved mine twice, used cat 5 as the extension and this time soldered the connections instead of blocks - gained 2Mb/s sync lol!

Most people has poor memories and it depends on what extensions you've got setup. One time I used to have 5 then cut it down to 2.

bremen1874 · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:09

Extension wiring is a different issue to moving a master socket. You can do what you want with extensions.

Stephanie Peterson · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:10

And if i have a line fault it will take me 5 mins to replicate the initial setup, complete with crap crimps and rusty wires lol.

I did even ask the BT chap out at my last line problem (before i moved it) and he said as long as its not proved to be a problem then they would likely not mention it.

V F · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:15

bremen1874 said:
Extension wiring is a different issue to moving a master socket. You can do what you want with extensions.

There are some plonkers who has screwed that up. Requiring BT to come out.

Stephanie Peterson · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:19

Ohh yeah there is indeed, mate of mine moved to a house where he trebled his sync by removing a crap extension ran past a door.
Another i heard about from a colleague needed to spend loads for BT to rewire the extensions (they were not technical folk) as nowt would work properly.

Dunno how folk can mess it up, its really exceptionally simple and kits make it virtually noob proof.

V F · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:23

Stephanie Peterson said:
Dunno how folk can mess it up, its really exceptionally simple and kits make it virtually noob proof.

Well anything in life is simple if you know what you're doing. After all, why do they stick L & R on things even though most times there is only one way.

Rroff · 16 Jun 2019 at 17:24

Just bare in mind that the master socket represents a (somewhat imaginary) liability boundary as well. As in nominally if something happens on the BT side of it whether that is as simple as a fault, more complex equipment failure or even someone getting electrocuted then the liability is on BT - if you mess with it potentially the liability could be on you.

Jez · 20 Jun 2019 at 11:37

Stephanie Peterson said:
Its two wires, its not rocket science.
I have moved mine twice, used cat 5 as the extension and this time soldered the connections instead of blocks - gained 2Mb/s sync lol!

I did exactly the same with my FTTC line before i moved to FTTP. I gained quite a lot of sync by removing all other wiring and instead soldering cat5e to the incoming tail from the dropwire down to a new filtered master socket. I was getting 80/20 on a reasonably long line.