Installing telephone extension socket - newbie questions

[tristan]

Hi,

I wish to install BT telephone extension socket in our study. We currently have one socket in the living room and one upstairs. I haven't checked yet which is the Master.

Anyway, I want to do this by properly wiring it in.

So some questions:

1. I'm going to get a faceplate which has a built-in ADSL filter for simplicity. Now, what sort of "box" do I need to sit behind this? I presume I will have to cut into the wall if I want to mount this without it sticking out a lot. What helps keep it in place once installed? If I decide to just stick the box on the wall, what keeps _that_ in place?

1. If the socket upstairs is an extension it will be easiest to run a second extension from that. I'll chekc whether the existing one is crimped or screwed. Either way, what's the best way of running the wires? Some form of joining block? Will this joining block fit in the box along with everything else?

Hmm, that's actually it for now, my Google searches have answered the rest for me so far.

Thanks in advance,

Tris.

[Owain]

You can only wire in if you have a Linebox with a removable front part, and wire into the removeable front part. If you don't have a Linebox then you are not allowed to hard-wire extensions and must use a plug-in adaptor.

These are usually intended as a replacement for the front part of a Linebox.

If it's the same size as an ordinary electrical accessory, an ordinary electrical back box (pref. plastic, but doesn't really matter).

A screw through the back box into the wall.

Two screws through the back box into the wall.

An IDC (insulation displacement connector) will take two wires in each terminal, a screw connector will take as many as you can twist together and squeeze in.

This assumes that the upstairs socket is a Linebox (which will be IDC connectors in the front part) or an extension from a Linebox. If it is a hardwired extension (fitted by BT before they started using Lineboxes) then you are not allowed to hardwire in and must use a plug in adaptor.

If you're wiring in to a Linebox or a BT socket, remember it is probably marked the other way round to extension sockets you buy in shops i.e. pins 2,3,4,5 on one go to 5,4,3,2 on the other.

Owain

[Dave Liquorice]

Right as you are doing some rewiring or at least something into the study. Put the ADSL filter as soon as you can after the line enter the building. Place your modem there and feed ethernet (CAT5 cable )to your router/switch/WHY in the study. ADSL signals are rather delicate and the less chance you have picking up noise the better, ethernet is robust and works. You'll also need to run a phone cable or another length of CAT5 for the phone in the study.

There are filtered face places about that fit onto the BT Line Box, get one that has the filtered (analogue phone) side available on the rear so you can wire in your analogue phones to that.

First check waht your wall is. Plaster board or a real wall. If going into a plaster board you need a dry lining box. Into a real wall a metal back box deep enough to accomodate the depth of the filter, 25mm should do but check. 35mm I'd expect to be ample and leave space for wiring. You keep the metal box in place with a plug & screw, the dry lining box clips to the plasterboard.

A couple fo screws through the back into fixings suitable for your wall.

Not likely to be crimped, most likely IDC (wires are pushed into a slot with a special tool). You can put two wires into each IDC without trouble.

[TMC]

25mm deep single metal box fixed with a screw in the back (the extention cable in normally buried in the wall as well) unless your walls are stud partition in which case there is a inset box in plastic with lugs that fit behind the plasterboard

Box on wall about 25mm deep in plastic fixed by 2 no 8 screws though back into wall cable also fitted on the surface

Difficult to say really as we have no idea where the study is in relation to either socket

If you are fitting at BT front plate with separate adsl connection and filter it also has built in the connection block for extension wiring

Tony

[Andy Cap]

You are not meant to touch the BT part of the master socket and so your faceplate will plug into the existing arrangement.

Any existing extension wring will have to be removed from the back of the existing face plate and reconnected to your new one.

It's most likely to be inserted wires and a second lot will be able to be pushed in on top. Cheapo inserters are availble everywhere. If it is screws, then obviously you can loosen them off and add your extension on top.

Sometime it improves broadband performance, to disconnect the bell wire from the master socket, which will be connected to 3 and be orange/white or green if the wiring is very old.

Andy

[David Hansen]

On 18 Apr 2007 03:58:28 -0700 someone who may be " [e-mail]" wrote this:-

None. Fit a

or something similar at your master socket. Run the extension wiring to the telephone sockets old and new from that.

Clarity and other suppliers will sell suitable telephone sockets to fit in with your aspirations. Some will fit into standard boxes, which can be flush or surface mounted. There are also smaller sockets, which must be surface mounted. The site has plenty of information.

If you need to ask these elementary questions then get someone in who can do the work as you don't know enough to do it or stop trolling. Boxes are normally held in place by screws of various sorts.

Run the cable from the existing terminations. They will take two cables.

[Peter Crosland]

Start here.

Crosland

[tristan]

Just as a follow-up for my progress.

First of all, thanks for the replies - very useful!

I went to B&Q and bought myself a standard face plate and box, and 50m of telephone cable.

The master socket turned out to be the one upstairs, of the NTE 5 variety so no worries there. The extension downstairs was predictably already wired to this, and the colours were as expected. As a test, I have simply IDC-tooled the extension cable into here, and connected the other end to my face plate - really to test that my rudimentary IDC skills are working...

Thankfully, it all worked first time -- my router is now plugged into the test face plate, therefore 50m from the master socket. Speed test results are the same as before.

I do have some questsions now though:

1. The references I have seen have said it is not _ideal_ to IDC tool more than one cable onto a connector, but it isn't the end of the world either. I know it would be better to use a joining connector of some description, but is it really something to worry about at this point?

1. The basic extension box I have seems to be designed to be inset into the wall... there are punch-out holes in its rear, but not, say, underneath so I can't see how I can mount this ON a wall with the wire going into it -- not without DIYing the box. Can someone recommend a better box to go for? Built-in microfilter ideal....

Once I have a nicer box, I'll wire it into the study - either round the walls or an under the carpet job.

Thanks in advance,

Tris.

[tristan]

Thanks -- as per the reply to myself that I made, it is thankfully a Linebox with the removal front part.

This confused me for a bit when I had performed the initial wiring and suddenly the existing extension had failed. Of course, the extensions only function when the removable front part is actually pushed back into place... oops.

Tris.

[Newshound]

If you are thinking about wiring up many phone sockets or Cat 5 it's worth getting a better IDC tool than the plastic joke which comes with some phone socket kits.

do a reasonable priced one, also good quality ADSL leads, sockets, etc. I just ran one down from third floor incoming BT socket to second floor where wireless router lives. No connection, just happy customer.

[Graham]

Tris, I don't think you have understood what has been said about faceplates with built in filters. The place where you need it, is where the line comes in, the NTE5 with the removerble lower half faceplate. You remove it, and replace it with one of these

wire the rest of your phone sockets to the back of this faceplate, you do not need any other filters in your installation.

If your ADSL router needs to be in a location away from the NTE5, then you can wire a remote unfiltered socket from another pair of IDC connectors provided for that purpose.

[tristan]

these

you wire the rest of your phone sockets to the back of this

I do understand about the NTE5 lower face replacement bits which implement the filters. I have decided not to follow this solution.

Why?

The master comes into the bedroom. I don't want the router there as it is away from my other geeky gear, and Mrs Tris complains about the green flashing lines.

So, as you say, I could fit the NTE5 lower face replacement and run an unfiltered socket to the study. This would be great for the ADSL. However, I want to keep my options open for installing a phone in there at some point.

Hope that clarifies things!

Tris.

[Owain]

Maybe a different position would help?

The Clarity faceplates have IDC terminals for both filtered and unfiltered.

You run a 3-pair cable from the faceplate to the study, two pairs from the filtered terminals (A, B and bell wires) to the extension socket for the phone, and the 3rd pair (A and B wires) to a different socket for the modem.

Terminate the modem with a RJ11 socket and you won't accidentally plug a phone into it.

Owain

[JohnW]

OK, but you will still need a filter there if you intend to plug-in a phone at that point. If you don't intend to use a phone here, then I would still recommend installing a filter since it removes the possibility of someone plugging a phone into the unfiltered BT socket there in future.

Don't forget you need all the BT-style telephone sockets wired off the *filtered* side of the installation. It is only the one DSL modem/router that can plug into the unfiltered side, normally into an RJ11 socket.

No problem. The unfiltered socket in your study, fed from the unfiltered side of the master faceplate, can have a filter installed locally as well as the one in the master. This study filter will provide the necessary RJ11 socket for the unfiltered supply to the modem/router and a filtered BT socket for a phone. You can use a plug-in filter or, preferably, something like

your other house sockets, if any, are wired from the filtered side of the master faceplate.