Change drop cable

[ptaylor]

I am hoping someone could give me some advice about the telephone drop cable?

I have attached a picture so that you can see how it is currently connected. Currently the cable joins the house and then runs all the way down the outside wall. Ideally i would like it to feed into the loft and then down through conduit in channels in the wall leaving the master socket in the loft. I know that it is illlegal to move it yourself.

1. From the photo does the current connection look correct? I was under the impression that the dorp cable should be joined in a junction box and not just wound around the cable from the main pole

2. When drilling the hole for the cable is it best to drill in just under the soffits and feed it into the loft that way or is there a better way of doing it?

3. If a drill the hole and prep the loft can i ask BT to change the drop cable and feed it into the loft and fit the new NDE5 master back on in the loft?

Any help would be really appreciated

 

[AlanE]

1. By wrapped around cable are you referring to the way the drop wire is attached to the building? If so this seems normal.

Drop wire is Openreach property and should not be tampered with.

Before you even think about it DO NOT remove the fixing from the house as the tension/weight of the cable could easily pull you off a ladder!!

 

[plugwash]

Looks pretty normal to me, the winding is not an electrical connection, it's just a way of mechanically fixing the dropwire to the hanger. Sometimes they use outdoor junction boxes but normally they just bring the dropwire all the way to the master socket.

You can call BT and ask for a service move but they will charge for this and I have a feeling they consider lofts an unacceptable location for thier engineers to work in.

You aren't supposed to touch wiring before the master socket yourself but afaict BT don't really care.

I echo what allanE says about the fixing that attaches the incoming dropwire to the wall. DO NOT MESS WITH IT, EVEN BT ENGINEERS SOMETIMES GET PULLED OFF LADDERS AND KILLED WHEN THEY GET COMPLACENT WITH OVERHEAD WIRING.

 

[bernardgreen]

I second the warning about the hazards of working with the drop wire.

Having the NTE5 ( master socket ) in the loft is NOT a good idea as you will need access to it when reporting a fault. BT will ask you to plug a known good telephone in the NTE5 so they can test the line without your internal wiring being connected.

 

[AdrianUK]

I'll third the warning about the overhead cable!

I might have 'accidentally' moved the drop cable from the front of our house to the side.... But I did it when the house was covered in scaffolding & I had a hand rail to stop me from being pulled over. I was expecting some pull from the wire but I was surprised when I took the weight/tension as I released it from the wall.... if I was at the top of a ladder this would have been much nastier!

 

[cajar]

OP, you can ask bt for a 'shift line' product and they'll send an engineer. Usually the guy will go in the loft for you, but if he's iffy about it there's nothing stopping you going in the loft and pulling it through when he feeds it through the soffit.

word of warning to anyone thinking of doing a job like this themselves. do NOT mess about with dropwire, it's set to a height above the road and if you let the tension go it can fall to a height a lorry could strike it and you will not get the tension back. the wires are pulled taut while the engineer is belted on the pole, it's not usually possible to tension it from a ladder as it takes both hands and a bit of weight behind it. people have been killed when a vehicle has struck low wires on a pole so dont risk it.

 

[Europlex]

He's not listening.

 

[bernardgreen]

Probably lost his phone and broadband connection.

 

[ptaylor]

Thanks for the advice. I think i probable asked the wrong question. I was not going to undo the cable from the pole as i know that is illegal and highly dangerous, i just wanted to change the feed from it into the house.