Options for relocation of a phone line

[bcjames]

At the moment, our phone line from the box where it enters the house (photo 1) is a crusty paint covered cable that runs from the front door to the kitchen at the rear of the house (photo 2), following the skirting and looping up and over all the door frames. It all looks old.





The previous owners (we only bought the house recently) drilled a hole through the skirtings and wall, and poked a phone extension cable through to the sitting room at the front of the house.

I'd like to permanently move the phone socket in to the sitting room, routing the cable via the basement beneath the sitting room, rather than around the skirtings. From there, I can run some cat5 up to the study. We are currently decorating all the aforementioned rooms, so a good time to make holes or fit sockets.

We've had an electrician in fitting some outside lighting, and he mentioned replacing the cable from the box to the socket with cat5. Is that advisable? Otherwise, am I likely to encounter any problems doing a like for like install, but with the phone socket on the other side of the wall?

Thanks for any input.

 

[bcjames]

Hmm just read that we shouldn’t move the master (only?) socket as it belongs to the phone company.

 

[BigBoy]

Cat5 is fine for telephone cables. It only needs to carry 50v so no massive load, standard phone wires are half the thickness of cat5. You phone only uses two wires out of a bunch of 6.

Although that does look like a master socket I would say its probably been moved before so don't worry about it move it again your upgrading the cables. BT will only guarantee it up to the first cable break (where the joint box is at the front door).

 

[Caged]

How does the cable get into the box in photo #1?

 

[bcjames]

How does the cable get into the box in photo #1?

Through the wood. That’s the bit above the front door. The other side is outside.

 

[Caged]

I assume it's an overhead line then? Is there a joint box where the cable lands at your house, or does it come straight down the wall?

 

[bcjames]

I assume it's an overhead line then? Is there a joint box where the cable lands at your house, or does it come straight down the wall?

It looks to go from the telegraph pole straight to the house and down to that white box

 

[Siliconslave]

yer, your not supposed to touch the master socket - you can ask openreach to do it for you but they'll charge about £150 for the first hours work. If however there are line faults and your getting a rubbish broadband speed you may be able to get them out to investigate and ask them nicely if they'll move it while they are there...

 

[Kol]

Mines like the above, comes in at the front sash window then has an ugly cable feeding a box BT mounted on my skirting. I've no intention to use it and if I do our house can get Infinity 3.

While it's naughty, can I get rid of the cable coming out of the junction but leaving the cable going in?

 

[psd99]

I ended up putting my master socket under the stairs. well out of the way
under the stairs is where all of the "magic" happens lol

I got my network switch, RAC, router, TV amp etc under there.

then I put an additional socket in the front room for future use, my only regret was not to run lots of HDMI cables + put the SKY cables there as potentially I could have put the SKY HD box and or PS4 all neatly tucked away.

 

[Midlife Crisis]

I had this years ago, I contacted BT about it they would not move the master socket for nothing, so I just I just ran some cat 5 from where it fixed to the front of the house in the little juction box
through the loft to where I wanted it. My broad band was a lot more stable doing away with a mile of fugly painted over [and frayed in places] phone line.
Never botherd me that BT may not like what I have done and don't really care.

 

[Felix]

If you ever did have a fault, openreach don't know where your master socket is...

 

[bcjames]

yer, your not supposed to touch the master socket - you can ask openreach to do it for you but they'll charge about £150 for the first hours work. If however there are line faults and your getting a rubbish broadband speed you may be able to get them out to investigate and ask them nicely if they'll move it while they are there...

We get about 8mpbs down on a good day. Basic Sky, edge of village, semi-rural location doesn't help.

I'm a bit worried that, given how crusty and shaped the existing cable was over doors etc, it's going to break if we tried to refit it. The box feels quite exposed in it's current location, especially with a cable sticking out the front. I'd much prefer to hide it somewhere behind some furniture.

I ended up putting my master socket under the stairs. well out of the way
under the stairs is where all of the "magic" happens lol

I got my network switch, RAC, router, TV amp etc under there.

then I put an additional socket in the front room for future use, my only regret was not to run lots of HDMI cables + put the SKY cables there as potentially I could have put the SKY HD box and or PS4 all neatly tucked away.

What sort of cable did you run between where it enters the house and your new socket?

I had this years ago, I contacted BT about it they would not move the master socket for nothing, so I just I just ran some cat 5 from where it fixed to the front of the house in the little juction box
through the loft to where I wanted it. My broad band was a lot more stable doing away with a mile of fugly painted over [and frayed in places] phone line.
Never bothered me that BT may not like what I have done and don't really care.

Quite the attitude I'm willing to take

Do you have any more details on how you wired it up? I've only been able to find one example of a BT to cat5 crossover, and I can't find anything to verify it against. I don't suppose it matters so long as both ends match, but if there's a particular way of doing it, I'd prefer to. I'm not averse to running the cable myself if I can confirm what's what.

Is this what I'll need to replace the horrid brown existing box?

 

[Midlife Crisis]

I do not remember but it is safe to say its the same both ends or it would not work at all, easy job really. I terminated the cable into a box with a built in ADSL filter in it, it was a Homebase or screw fix item.

 

[Caged]

It looks to go from the telegraph pole straight to the house and down to that white box

I don't know where the cable entry is in relation to the room you want it in, but I'd pull the cable back to where it joins your house and run it into your loft space. At that point you can run it into a small enclosure and use gel crimps (3M scotchlok or equivalent) to join it to a new length of external-grade 2-pair telephone cable - make sure it's copper. I wouldn't use Cat5 here just because it's a really easily discovered thing for people to use to bill you for future faults - why give them the ammo?

Run this cable through the loft to the other side of your house, or back outside and down the front depending where you want the socket, and terminate with an NTE5c socket acquired from eBay or similar - or the FTTC filtered version if you prefer.

Yes you aren't supposed to touch this wiring, but as people have said it's more or less impossible to get Openreach to do it as most retail providers don't understand the request. If you don't mess it up then as far as you're concerned it was like that when you moved in. I did exactly this at a mates house in the days when FTTC installs were done with an engineer visit, and they didn't blink at the impossibly new installation compared to the age of the house.

 

[DXP55]

All you have to remember is - The BT wire from the pole is two wires - from the end of those two wires run some 2-3 or 4-pair telephone cable to where ever you want the NTE5 - Join the incoming in a junction box to a pair in the telephone wire - Blue/white blue - at NTE5 end connect to A & B terminal - That is then the BT cable - say it was there when you moved in -- From there run your own extensions from the face plate - the bit your sky is plugged into- Just make sure if you run anymore cable to extensions use the same colour to same terminal number- Blue to 2 - white/blue to 5 -if you do that all round you won't have a problem - you do not need a bell wire. - Pay 4 quid for a punch down tool - makes life easier

 

[bcjames]

Wow, great replies guys. Loads of info!

While the in bound cable does meet the house up near the gutter, my intended new position is in the middle of the house, so not really suitable for accessing from the attic.

Here's a basic diagram of (red dot) where it comes in, (blue dot) the new proposed location, and (green line) the route via the basement. The blue dot it actually in the middle of the house, not on an external wall.



Here's a wider shot of the front door, showing the BT junction box at fanlight level. From there, I'm thinking of dropping it straight down and behind the skirting, into the basement. Would it be a good idea to use the external-grade cable in this environment? It's not far off outdoors down there.

Excuse the mess, lots of work currently in progress, most recently finishing plaster!



I've only had a cursory glance at it up close, but any ideas how to get in to the junction box on the door frame?

 

[Caged]

I would take the external cable into the loft, join it there, and then run new cable straight down the outside of the house and into the basement and back up into the living room. This way you don't have a join in your hallway and have to lose a box somewhere. External cable isn't just protected from UV, it's gel-filled to prevent moisture getting in.

To get into the existing junction box tap it with a hammer until the front falls off. It's just clipped together and I think several layers of paint have sealed it up.

 

[DXP55]

The whole idea of a BT line is there must be a NTE5 easily available to a BT engineer to test your line if there is a fault - ideally it should be close to the incoming line where it enters the house - I don't think you will find BT put them in loft.

Looking at your drawing I would be inclined to open the white box up -there are plastic notches on inside - just pull long sides out -- disconnect the outgoing wires - drill hole back outside and run a black telephone wire down to the corner of your sitting room - drill though and put the NTE5 in that front corner (red arrow)- then rewire to where every you need to through basement and extension socket - If you get a fault and BT say it's in outside wiring they will replace it all (I think) - if it's inside you pay - This is why I would rip out all the old BT wires and run new wires. - It really is an easy job - cable -cleats/staple gun- hammer -cutters -roll of black cable - not external stuff.

 

[flea.rider]

really if it was me .. while you have a windy day/night (better at night late on )
get some cable or rope chuck it over the wire and pull .. then they will put you a brand new wire from post to house ..