Substitute for phone cable?

[Safety First]

Hi All,

I moved our phone cable (black, round maybe 4mm) from through a door to through a wall.

It connects to our phone socket with only two cables- red and white.
There are more (thin) wires in the cable but they are redundant, stuffed back into a black collar thing...

What I need is to extend it to go a longer route.

Can I add any old wire as an extension?

Having pulled red and white out and re-inserted them into their 'slots', phone an internet work fine.

Can I buy the cable on a roll and are there junction boxes for doing this?

Thanks

 

[Spark123]

I'd leave it where it is and run an extension from the master socket, I'd use proper CW1308 phone cable as if you use something else it may cause issues with the internet signal.

 

[Safety First]

I'd leave it where it is and run an extension from the master socket, I'd use proper CW1308 phone cable as if you use something else it may cause issues with the internet signal.

Thanks Spark. With the new routing of the cable, it runs out before it reaches the box. I have moved cable from through-door frame, to through wall- entering the house inside the consumer unit boxing...

If I could add some extra cable long enough, the end will reach original box position on the wall. A good place to join this would be in the boxing.

I'll look to buy some CW1308 cable- but the connecting/junctions???

I played about with phone lines a few times years ago; was surprised to see it all going on with only two wires these days? Clever

Are BT likely to get upset about any of this...?

 

[bernardgreen]

entering the house inside the consumer unit boxing...~~~~Are BT likely to get upset about any of this...?

Interfering with the cable between street and the master socket will upset BT / Openreach

Having the master socket too close to the consumer unit will upset BT / Openreach and may upset the quality of phone conversations and broadband speeds.

 

[Spark123]

If you have an NTE5 master socket the bottom portion unscrews and you can connect into the terminals using a punch down tool. If you are unsure if you have an NTE5 then can you upload a pic? Or just google for NTE5.
At the other end a standard slave socket, I like a decent brand such as MK, just avoid the very cheap ones.
These are the only two connection points you ought to need.

Phones have only really had 2 wires for years and years, the master socket derived the ring voltage which was sent around your house in a 3rd wire but isn't needed with modern phones and broadband filters.
Just use the blue and white/blue cores in the cable for 2 and 5, leave any spare cores unconnected.

 

[Safety First]

Interfering with the cable between street and the master socket will upset BT / Openreach

oops! My bad...

Thanks for your reply

Having the master socket too close to the consumer unit will upset BT / Openreach and may upset the quality of phone conversations and broadband speeds.

The socket will remain the 6' from CU that it's been for years. The cables are very close though.....Done it now...

 

[Safety First]

Thanks for your reply again

..Or just google for NTE5.

NTE5 Definately.

Sorry, though the other part you wrote I don't understand, are you saying to use a socket/box, in the CU, to join the lengths of cable, current and extended peice?

 

[Spark123]

No, leave the nte5 where it is and run an extension from it.

 

[bernardgreen]

No, leave the nte5 where it is and run an extension from it.

Fit a filter front plate
http://www.solwise.co.uk/adsl_splitters-faceplates.htm
and run separate telephone cables , One for ADSL to the broadband router / modem and the second to the phone(s

Separating ADSL signal from the phone wiring as close to the point of entry to the building as possible will give the best possible broadband signals to and from the router / modem.

Solwise is not the only supplier of filtered front plates.

 

[cajar]

running the phone cable close to power cables can certainly affect your broadband performance / stability. meant to keep 50mm separation on parallel runs, and if it has to cross, bridge the phone cable over it to maintain the 50mm.

as to the job itself, strictly not allowed though if it's done properly it's not generally an issue. if you complain of slow speeds or dropouts in the future though I expect the cables proximity to the power cables (and your work) will get some attention so be mindful.

 

[Spark123]

For what it's worth I ran in some CW1308 cable I got from TLC direct from the point that the cable entered a building to where I wanted the master socket and the Openreach bloke connected it up when he livened up the line, I think he was quite happy that he didn't need to run cables inside the premises!!

 

[Safety First]

.... meant to keep 50mm separation on parallel runs, ........if you complain of slow speeds or dropouts in the future though I expect the cables proximity to the power cables (and your work) will get some attention so be mindful.

Thanks for info- like most things I am late in finding out. Both mains (DNO), phone and 2.5t+E are all sharing a 23mm home through our wall

Wish I'd run a speedcheck prior to this reroute. Could compare

Could always put it out, check and then put back- bit of a pig getting it to go through the wall though....

Some thinking to do-.... not sure what to lookout for with lessened internet- we don't stream much....

Thanks for the info..

 

[cajar]

no need to pull and retread the cable - if you want to compare, just cut the cable outside, and run a temporary one through the door to your modem. just rejoin it and fit a box when your done.

if you look in the modem stats, look for CRC errors, HEC errors, errored seconds, (the more you have, the worse it is). SNR should be at a stable number, and your 'download speed' should be comparable with your neighbours. important that you test it with the electrical stuff on obviously, but then you can decide if it's worth re routing it or not.

important to go by the 'download speed' on the routers stat page, as this tells you what it's connected to the dslam at, whereas a speedcheck will depend on everything from your ISP, to your computers chip speed, to how many people are using the service at that time, and as such can vary more, than the difference you're trying to measure.

 

[Safety First]

Well, after apparently little interference with websites etc we noticed that YouTube and downloads were actually slow and not stable. We pay for what's supposed to be 2mb/s internet but the best we've ever had is 1mb/s. I decided to return phone line to original route as speedcheck showed 200k/s !!

So I just rerouted the phone line back out of the shared 23mm hole through which the 400v main came into the house. I.e. back as was.

Though it has always shared a route down front of house about 100mm from main elect cable hence I have just moved it to come down the side of the house- is now meters away..

Download speed is now 1.9mb/s !

You guys weren't kidding with the interference! .