Technology Driving Me Mad

Jan And John · 15 Aug 2017 at 18:05

I have just found this website so not sure if anyone can help or if I am posting in correct place !

We live in a rural area so not a very good BT connection they said it was because we are too far from exchange, after 3 plus years my neighbour and I have finally got Openreach to find the problems that have been going on for years and we have in the last week hopefully finally got a connection which will not keep dropping out but it is still very slow.

Thought I could look forward to using the internet without problems but that was short lived today suddenly for no reason my phone line went crackly then dead so I rang 151 who suggested I should remove the faceplate of my openreach 5C MK 4 box and plug straight into the socket behind it great everythings working again so faceplate must not be working which is a surprise because it is not even 6 months old yet. Not so great BT told me they are not responsible for the face plate as it is in my property think that is slightly unfair as I did not need a new box they only fitted it because they did not find the faults on one of their previous visits all they suggest is I either pay them 129.99 to fix it or I find a freelance engineer by googling for one.

Surely the box should last at least 9 months ? is their anyway to test the faceplate.

Any advice would be much appreciated as I am not only technically challenged but a female as well so no hope for me.

Caged · 15 Aug 2017 at 19:32

Do you have telephone extensions in your house?

Jan And John · 16 Aug 2017 at 07:12

Yes I have 3 extensions the upstairs extension is working when faceplate is removed but the two downstairs extensions do not work even with the faceplate removed

Jan And John · 16 Aug 2017 at 07:54

Success I have just done an online chat with BT asking if the master socket faceplate is still under guarantee and they said yes they are sending me a replacement so hopefully that will work but as there are no wires in the faceplate not sure if there is anything in it to go wrong fingers crossed it will solve problem or else I will be back to square one

ChrisD. · 16 Aug 2017 at 08:19

The extension wiring may be causing issues and not the faceplate itself.

Steveocee · 16 Aug 2017 at 08:28

Jan And John said:
I have just found this website so not sure if anyone can help or if I am posting in correct place !

We live in a rural area so not a very good BT connection they said it was because we are too far from exchange, after 3 plus years my neighbour and I have finally got Openreach to find the problems that have been going on for years and we have in the last week hopefully finally got a connection which will not keep dropping out but it is still very slow.

Thought I could look forward to using the internet without problems but that was short lived today suddenly for no reason my phone line went crackly then dead so I rang 151 who suggested I should remove the faceplate of my openreach 5C MK 4 box and plug straight into the socket behind it great everythings working again so faceplate must not be working which is a surprise because it is not even 6 months old yet. Not so great BT told me they are not responsible for the face plate as it is in my property think that is slightly unfair as I did not need a new box they only fitted it because they did not find the faults on one of their previous visits all they suggest is I either pay them 129.99 to fix it or I find a freelance engineer by googling for one.

Surely the box should last at least 9 months ? is their anyway to test the faceplate.

Any advice would be much appreciated as I am not only technically challenged but a female as well so no hope for me.

If you live in a rural location that truth be told, you'd be crazy to think you would get good broadband. Out of interest roughly where in the country do you live as there are many viable alternatives to using copper delivered service.

Jan And John · 16 Aug 2017 at 10:04

I live in East Devon and have know a good broadband service is not going to happen I get 1.3 which I have got used to living with my problem was it kept dropping out and BT never seemed to fix it but last week they found numerous faults and actually went up poles and fixed it so I am hopeful that broadband will not keep dropping out but time will tell my recent problem has been telephone line going dead when using faceplate on master socket but working when removing faceplate and plugging into box directly.

Caged · 16 Aug 2017 at 10:18

If a phone extension upstairs stays alive when you unplug the faceplate then that extension is wired incorrectly.

Sp00n · 16 Aug 2017 at 11:10

Sounds like it's wired up weird, if you remove the faceplate on the master, all your internal extensions should stop working as they are typically daisy chained off of that.

If you remove the extension wiring from the master faceplate and plug it back in, does the internet work?

Rainmaker · 16 Aug 2017 at 12:56

As said above, your internal wiring isn't done correctly. The reason BT asked you to plug into the master socket (behind the face plate) is that it should bypass all your internal wiring and extensions. If that then works, BT know the fault lies with your own internal wires and extensions, not 'their end'. That's the reason they told you to pay for a visit, or find your own 'engineer'. The faceplate is very likely a red herring here, and it being under warranty is nothing to do with the situation. You need to get someone - BT or otherwise - to sort out your internal wiring.

Steveocee · 16 Aug 2017 at 13:41

Jan And John said:
I live in East Devon and have know a good broadband service is not going to happen I get 1.3 which I have got used to living with my problem was it kept dropping out and BT never seemed to fix it but last week they found numerous faults and actually went up poles and fixed it so I am hopeful that broadband will not keep dropping out but time will tell my recent problem has been telephone line going dead when using faceplate on master socket but working when removing faceplate and plugging into box directly.

Try googling "east devon wireless broadband"
There are a handful of companies coming up who offer fixed wireless access as well as some other 4G and sat services. You don't need to use copper to get service.

Caged · 16 Aug 2017 at 13:49

Rainmaker said:
As said above, your internal wiring isn't done correctly. The reason BT asked you to plug into the master socket (behind the face plate) is that it should bypass all your internal wiring and extensions. If that then works, BT know the fault lies with your own internal wires and extensions, not 'their end'. That's the reason they told you to pay for a visit, or find your own 'engineer'. The faceplate is very likely a red herring here, and it being under warranty is nothing to do with the situation. You need to get someone - BT or otherwise - to sort out your internal wiring.

The cheapest way to do this being to rip the extension wiring out the back of the master socket and buy a cordless phone.

neodude · 17 Aug 2017 at 12:41

As above, no extensions should work without the faceplate attached. I'm not sure how bt do their installs these days but you can get a filtered faceplate from many online shops. You can wire all your extensions into this negating the need for microfilters hanging out of every extension socket.