OK, so I know I shouldn't be doing it myself.......
What is the cable spec for the incoming cable from outside the house to the master socket inside? It looks like solid 2-core, but past that looks nothing special or exotic. Any suggestions as to what to use?
Cheers
Oldskool
Might we ask why you'r doing it yourself? There may be other solutions.
In message , Oldskoolskater writes
best place to ask would be uk.telecom ...
[x-posted]
In the past I have used 2 of the cores from standard 4 core phone cable - never had any problems even on an ADSL line.
In article , Ric writes
I think you'll find common CAT 5 cable is very suitable for this. Or if you see a BT engineer around, cadge a bit of him. Most of them are very helpful.....
Did this inside (with verbal OK from BT). It is best to bring in as many cores as there are in the line for good practise, though this is likely to be only two from the road/pole to the master socket.
The cable is plain old telephone cable that BodgeIt Qwik sell, unless it's going to see the light of day outside, then I suspect that black UV resistant cable is a must. Don't have that spec to hand, but as someone else saie, uk.telecom would be able to help.
If making joints outside, make sure they are waterproof. I found RS sell the same little Scotchlok crimps that BT use (RS # 161-1140) - these are jelly filled so make a nice waterproof joint. Not expensive and also useful for random fan supply joints inside computers :-)
These clips are rated for solid core wire 26-19 awg if that helps.
Timbo
It is illegal to touch the BT stuff, article about it here.
Almost anything. I used cat 5.
As long as its not run outdide - the BT outside cable has a steel core for hanging, and its better insulated.
If you're making the connection inside the house, use just one pair of ordinary telephone cable.
Proper outside stuff as well as being black has a much stronger sheath and different colours. Ordinary inside cable would be rather too prone to damage.
I assume you need to move the socket at all? Can the master socket just stay where it is unused, with all the actual phones off extensions?
They seem to use any old filth. If doing it myself, I'd use Cat 5e, which I usually have a drum of lying around.
Christian.
They are often in horrible locations, with ugly junction boxes just inside the house and raggy old wiring with 23 coats of paint on top, between box and socket.
My original phone line came in through a hole in the front door frame. Said ugly junction box was screwed to the door frame. Said raggy old painted wiring ran (with odd loops) along and down door-frame and along skirting board. It looked terrible. When I came to have the hall redecorated, I booked an engineer to come and move it. He arrived and I then explained what my *preferred* solution was: to use the 2nd pair in the business line instead, already running into my cellar where I could run an extension to an in-place distribution box for all the home extensions. I thought he would run another cable from the business line junction box, but even that was unnecessary - he simply added another master socket and wired the two together, taking the 2nd pair to the new socket. A couple of minutes out in the street box to swap the wires to the exchange and it was all sorted. They even took down my unused overhead line, which was in amongst growing trees.
I've found BT engineers to be, in the main, very helpful. Granted they sometimes don't turn up on time, and the customer service droids aim to displease...
By all means! I'm having double glazing put in, and at the moment the phone cable comes in through a window frame to a master socket just inside the window. Naturally I don't want a cable in the way when the new windows go in, so I'm thinking of re-routing the cable to go through an air brick and under the house, popping up in the dining room - thus getting the master socket off the inside of the window altogether.
I will be replacing the vertical drop of cable from the box on the outside of the house wall, so it will be exposed to sunlight. The existing cable is solid core 2-core. Should I aim for something similar?
Cheers
Oldskool
Go and cut a length off a neighbours overhead phone line.
Never fails to amuse...:-)
In article , Dave Plowman (News) writes
Also ordinary PVC cable absorbs moisture (albeit only slightly) and if used outside would lower the insulation resistance, unless the cable has a moisture ("Glover") barrier.
External telephone cable is usually polyethylene insulated and/or sheathed.
Is this cable arranged in a flat "figure of eight" like cheap speaker cable? If so it is very old. I don't know when "Dropwire No.10" came in but it's a long time ago 20, 30 years? Dropwire is round, black and tough as old boots, may have several pairs and a number of steel strainer wires, it's also gel filled making it messy stuff to work with.
With that sort of move I think I'd pay BT to come and do it. Make access easy, for the under floor section already have a draw string loop in place etc. Doing so will make the engineer mor einclined to do the little bit extra for you.
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