I need to locate the BT Master socket in my home for a fax/data line.
The problem is that there are quite a few telephone sockets throughou the house and they all look similar (for that line and for othe lines). There is also a small telephone exchange but this line is no connected to it.
I know where all the lines come into the house at ground level near th garage in case it helps.
What is the best way to find it?
Is it a matter of unscrewing each socket from the wall until I find on that has capacitors, resistors and the like?
On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:33:23 +0100, asalcedo had this to say:
If all the sockets look alike you have the old style installation and all the sockets are the property of BT and legally they are responsible for all the wiring.
In reality you will have to open each socket to find the one which contains a capacitor and a gas discharge tube - this is the master socket. It's normally the one nearest to where the line comes into the house. Officially BT should change this (at your expense) for a new-type master socket from which you can wire your extensions in such a manner as to be able to disconnect your wiring for testing the line.
On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:33:23 +0100 someone who may be asalcedo wrote this:-
Why? If you tell people they may be able to help you more.
1a) Look for something that looks like the NTE5 that someone has provided a link to a photograph of. Probably near where the cables enter the house.
1b) If there is one unscrew and pull out the bottom bit. That should disconnect the extensions on that line. Check that these are now dead.
2a) If you don't have an NTE5 then, as someone has said, you have older style wiring and you need to proceed by unscrewing each one.
2b) If you have older style wiring then you can add your own NTE5 without great difficulty.
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you how.
Beware that there can be more than one master socket and some very non-standard sorts of extension wiring.
On 27 Jun 2006 01:07:53 -0700 someone who may be snipped-for-privacy@connectfree.co.uk wrote this:-
Possibly.
Debatable.
Eminently sensible.
Someone did once pay me to sort out an ADSL mess where the problem was an extension lead snaking through the house. OTOH I did recently sort out a computer mess where we had to plug the ADSL router into a (very neat) telephone extension lead on a reel, for reasons too long to go into. The extension consisted of flat cable, no twists. Having announced that this arrangement (which I had suggested in desperation) was unlikely to work, I was somewhat surprised when the ADSL modem not only synchronised but ran at the designated speed. This was in a rural location too.
I have installed ADSL routers from Draytek, Netgear and D-link recently and not noticed. Perhaps I should read the basic instructions:-)
Possibly. Dodgy extension wiring has certainly been blamed for the previous distance limits on basic broadband. This is also supposed to be a problem with the higher speed offerings now reaching the "real world".
The OP did mention that he had a PBX there, so it would not be uncomon for most/all the sockets to be masters (or at least PBX masters with a ring capacitor) since many analogyue PBXs will be designed for two wire wiring.
The problem is still present and is becoming a big issue.
I need to know where the master socket it because I have a 6Mbp bandwith when it should be about 15Mbps in my new ADSL2+ line. It is
24Mbps max connection, the 15Mbps is based on the 1.5 km distance t the exchange. My job (I work from home) relies totally on thi connection.
To isolate the cabling inside my home the broadband supplier wants t test the connection with the modem plugged to the master socket.
I have done a lot of detective work. I have unscrewed every singl socket and could not find a master socket for certain. The socket tha I am using at the moment is two floors above ground level and unlikel to be the master socket based on location. However, it has capacitor and resistors. There is only one other live socket (extension connected to that line but it does not have capacitors and resistors.
The socket that I am using at the moment, is sharing the face plat with another socket for a digital ISDN line, they both have simila resistors and capacitors.
Can I conclude that I do not have a master socket, or if I do that i is an old style one? If so, BT will install a master socket for free.
I have booked a BT engineer but I need to know what to ask him.
The only and critical objective is to know if the cabling inside m home is causing the speed loss. For that, I can tell the BT engineer t place a master socket in the garage next to the point of entrance of th
5 pair BT cable from outside. This way I would know for sure that ther is no internal cabling to consider but it would be only for testin purposes. If the internal cabling were found to be the problem I woul have to run a cable through the whole house under parque flooring, etc very difficult, but I would have to do it.
He may not want to install the master socket in the garage.
Even if he does, the second alternative is to place the master socke in my office, where I need it, two floors above, in my office. But fo that, he would be using the internal cabling of the house and then I a not sure we can isolate the speed problem.
What should I do?
Thanks,
Antonio
snipped-for-privacy@c> On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:33:23 +0100 someone who may be asalcedo
On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 03:36:20 +0100 someone who may be asalcedo wrote this:-
I would guess that your internal wiring is somewhat old and suffering from people fiddling with it over the years.
I think that the solution to this is to get them to install a new master socket, then you can rule the external wiring in or out and by inference do the same with the internal wiring.
From this new master socket you could run new internal wiring to the office. Use data cabling for this and there should be little difference between the speed at the master socket and the office. You already have a link to where to get the bits for this.
The alternative is to get them to provide new wiring to the office. Personally I would avoid them doing this, as cables stapled to skirting boards not only look crap but they are not good for data rates.
Personally, I'd fit a new master socket where the line comes in, and use the type with an internal ADSL filter. Then fit a router next to it and run to the computer(s) in CAT5 - if need be externally. Unknown buried phone house wiring could have all sorts of nasties on it if run too close to mains, etc. Things like dimmers and SMPS can put all sorts of rubbish on the mains wiring which if induced into the phone wiring can cause havoc with digital signals.
Is an internal wireless network out of the question? I had a similar problem here (old victorian stone house with lots of nice thick stone walls) and sorted the issue by installing a new master socket in a suitable location (the garage i guess in your case), adding a wireless router to it, and then placing a couple of access points in areas where the signal was weak. Although I don't have a 15mb connection, the data rate is usually pretty near (~90%) of the 'published' rate - somewhat better than your 40%?
Further to the comments that have not been updated when I wrote my mos
recent post:
There is a Panasonic 816E digital hybrid telephone exchange that I kno well (I have reprogrammed it in full and check for wiring). The mode line is NOT connected to the exchange. I know for sure because th exchange deals with ISDN lines and two separate analogue lines that connected myself for VOIP. Also, if the exchange is switched off, th modem line still works (although this is not total proof because th exchange does have the possibility to have some lines connected in th event of a power failure, but it is not in place)
I have found the following post most relevant:
"The OP did mention that he had a PBX there, so it would not b uncomon for most/all the sockets to be masters (or at least PBX masters with a ring capacitor) since many analogyue PBXs will be designed for tw wire wiring."
I think that this is what is happening in my wiring. All sockets fo the PBX hibrid (analogue-digital) extensions have the ring capacito and some resistors. Then, next to that extension socket, some have second socket in the same face plate with a similar ring capacitor an resistors. It is to a socket like that that my modem in the office i connected. So, it seems that indeed, most/all sockets are masters in m installation.
I am concluding that the best thing is to convince the BT engineer t put a master socket in the garage and test the connection there. Bu your ideas are more than welcome.
No guarantee on either of those, BT don't normally hide junction boxes but who knows what happens after installation... My parents old house had the incoming line wired in 2 pair CW1308 from the junction box outside around the bay window and through the door frame...
If you are lucky then then you have PBX master sockets and not full master sockets - the difference being that the PBX version lacks the surge arrestor. This makes it possible to tell them appart, but not as easy.
If you need to identify an analogue line one useful trick is to plug a phone into it and dial 17070. This will connect to the BT line test facility which then has a automated service to read back the phone number (and a menu to allow things like a ringback test etc).
Not quite aure if I follow your terminology here - it sounds a bit like you are describing modular sockets with plug in modules, vis:
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resistors. It is to a socket like that that my modem in the office is
Are you able to identify where your telephone lines enter the house? If so, is the only problem working out which of them is which line?
On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:33:48 +0100 someone who may be asalcedo top-posted this:-
Yes. The modem can be considered to re-generate the signal, cutting out interference. How much difference it makes is impossible to guess. It could only be measured by visiting your house.
However, running a new cable, telephone or data, is almost certainly going to be better than the, probably dodgy, existing wiring.
The third alternative is to fit a filter to the new NTE5 in the garage and then run an unfiltered cable from there to a modem socket in the office, doing whatever you like with the (filtered) extension wiring. The links already given show how to do this.
The latter is my preferred solution, in most circumstances. One can then keep an eye on the flashing lights on the modem while taping on the computer in the office. One can even run a single cable with a pair for the unfiltered signal to a modem socket and a filtered pair and a half for a telephone socket, both in the same box.
A wireless access port costs very little and can be best located in a suitable position, which is unlikely to be where a modem/router is best located.
Connect these to suitable telephone wiring.
Short distance slow connection. Useful for some things, but hardly worth changing the position of a router in order to use.
What connector does any video port have?
What backup do you have for a failed broadband connection?
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