BT Open reach responsibility - master socket

ThriceNightly

ThriceNightly

ThriceNightly

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Joined
30 Nov 2003
Posts
2,499
Hi understand open reach responsibility for telephone cable up to master socket

This issue regards Elderly neighbours house
she is only getting 1meg upload 5 download speed. Masters socktet is hallway above front door and looks to be a very old 1960's gpo junction box with bellwire then running to lounge extension socket.

Are openreach liable for upgrading this old equipment at their cost?

Cheers :)
 
Silly question, but how far from the exchange? The wiring could look sub-standard but actually be achieving what it's meant to.

Oh, and moved the thread to networks :)
 
If the bellwire is connected at the master socket disconnect it and also disconnect it from every other socket and you will probably find you get an extra 1.5 to 2.5meg download.
 
Also look at putting a filter on the master socket. I think BT sells these for about £2. Made a hell of a difference at my parents, was getting around 1 down, and this jumped to about 4 down.
 
Semple said:
Also look at putting a filter on the master socket. I think BT sells these for about £2. Made a hell of a difference at my parents, was getting around 1 down, and this jumped to about 4 down.
Click to expand...

All the filters do is isolate the bellwire. This was such a con years ago when they were selling these filters for £10 when you can do the same for free with a pair of wire cutters. The new master sockets come with this built in. People with modern houses who wouldnt have the bellwire were conned into buying them also.
 
Openreach aren't responsible for upgrading it free of charge, they are however responsible for the circuit up to that point. If there's a line fault then you will likely get the socket replaced as part of the investigation of the fault.

Even ordering a completely new line is not always a guarantee of a new installation since if there's a spare pair on the existing cable then the new line will just be run out of that.
 
varkanoid said:
All the filters do is isolate the bellwire. This was such a con years ago when they were selling these filters for £10 when you can do the same for free with a pair of wire cutters. The new master sockets come with this built in. People with modern houses who wouldnt have the bellwire were conned into buying them also.
Click to expand...

Not true
They also isolate the rest of the property from the broadband
Filtering the line at the master socket means any interference within your house does not affect the broadband like it would using individual microfilters. This is even more significant on older properties where phone wiring is poor
We used a filter which gained us an extra 0.5Mb on what was previously a 1Mb connection even after removing the bell wire years earlier
Generally, you can still expect a few extra Mb
 
MonsterMoshi said:
Not true
They also isolate the rest of the property from the broadband
Filtering the line at the master socket means any interference within your house does not affect the broadband like it would using individual microfilters. This is even more significant on older properties where phone wiring is poor
We used a filter which gained us an extra 0.5Mb on what was previously a 1Mb connection even after removing the bell wire years earlier
Generally, you can still expect a few extra Mb
Click to expand...

Sorry but if you read what I put it is true. The filters that you could buy for £10 ages ago just blocked out the bellwire. Not talking about ADSL filters but the filters sold purely to improve broadband speed. I should have said for the pedantic - The master sockets with inbuilt filters you get nowadays also isolate the broadband as well as the ring wire to remove the need for the ADSL filters you used to get.

Oh never mind.
 
Last edited:
At one time they did provide interposer plates where the only function was to disconnect the bell wire from any internal extension wiring. They were not filters and I can't ever remember them been sold as such.

It wasn't a con, just a user friendly way to achieve the required result without the end-user having to understand what was actually going on.
 
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