New telephone master socket and rerouted drop cable.

[Bob]

For various reasons, I'd like to have our BT master socket replaced with an NTE5 one, moved a few feet from its current position, and have the drop cable rerouted so that it goes through the wall under the upstairs front bedroom floor before dropping down into the hall above the new master socket position.

I am aware that BT will need to do most of this but I have already drilled holes in the outside wall and hall ceiling and put a piece of wire in place that could potentially be pulled through. However, I have a couple of questions:

Ideally I would want to hide the drop cable by burying it in the plaster in the hall. Would there be any problem with this - e.g. it is something that BT would prefer I didn't do? I would use trunking if I really have to but would prefer not to.

Could I do more in preparation? Does the drop cable have to be continuous (without a join) from the outside to the master socket or could I put some cable in place in preparation that could be connected up outside the house and to the new socket by the BT engineer? If so what cable should I use? I am thinking in terms of making the engineer's job as simple as possible to avoid excessive charges.

If the cable has to be joint free, how far back does it go? To the telegraph pole or to the point where it meets the eaves of the house? One thing I am a bit worried about is that I don't think the existing cable is going to be long enough to reach the new location so some new cable will be required.

Thanks

Bob

[jgharston]

There were three lengths of cable between the telegraph pole and the master socket at my old place: pole to eaves - joint box - eaves to living room window - mini joint box - living room to master socket in dining room.

JGH

[Frank Erskine]

Openreach are more and more frequently resorting to external NTEs, where all their stuff is outside and you're responsible for everything from there, such as holes through the wall. I should think that if you provide them with something non-controversial, such as conduit (either surface or buried in the wall) to an outlet box wherever in the house, and lots of tea/HobNobs they're more likely to be amenable to your wishes. I'm pretty certain that under their current 'rules' their NTE has to be fitted at the first break in the dropwire from the DP (normally a pole). In GPO days the installation charge of £4-10s-0d covered all internal wiring, even using wooden casing and cover as appropriate, to your (their!) bakelite phone "blocks terminal" 8-)

[dom]

IME, BT engineers are very receptive to taking advantage of any suggested cable routings - in fact rather happy for a customer to have put in some thought/effort before they arrive.

OTOH, there are no checks or records of installations - if you know your work is good enough - DIY!

[TMC]

Although a few years ago, I set up a route with pull wires from the soffitt at the front of the house where the old cable terminated to the new location for the master socket I wanted in my downstairs office. It went through the loft through a filtted wardrobe in a bedroom under the floor for a metre or so and the through a buried conduit in the office wall.

When I explained this to the BT man he gave me a reel of cable and said "I'll get on with the wire from the pole while you do the inside" He even fitted the plate with the separate adsl connection which were chargeable at the time free of charge because of the work I had saved him

Off topic I had the same arrangement with the sky installer as I wanted the cable routed through the roof space etc. He came and looked, set the box up on the old cable and dish and left me the cable to run where I wanted. He came back when I had run the cables in and fitted the new dish and made the new connections

[Dave Liquorice]

No the pair still has ringing present on it, it is wired straight through. What the master socket does is remove the DC from the wire that the ringer is connected to. Also when other phones go off hook they short this "ringing" wire to the wire of the pair that the other side ringer is connected to, this is to prevent "bell tinkle" if pulse dialling is used.

There is also an "out of service" resistor across the ringer and across the pair a gas discharge surge arrestor.

When in instrument is off hook the exchange won't send ringing. When an instrument is on hook the mic/speaker are disconnected from the line.

[The Natural Philosopher]

BT don't need to do anything.

If there is enough existing cable, move it yourself :-)

[Bob]

That does seem to be the consensus.

Unfortunately I think that is the crux of the matter. I don't think there is quite enough without having the new socket in some weird position halfway up the wall. The problem is that it is currently on the window sill beside the front door and I want it on the adjacent wall but lower down. I am dubious that there is enough slack in the cable to make up the difference.

Also, I have had some problems in the past with the line for which BT blamed the burglar alarm and the burglar alarm people blamed BT. I ended up having to pay BT. I want this new arrangement to be completely above board so that I can resolve this sort of thing in future.

But for the sake of argument, let's say I was going to do it myself. Could I just buy one of these

and connect it to the drop cable?

-- Bob