Baffling telephone problem

[msheppard36]

Hello,

Im wondering if someone can help me before I end up calling someone out. Bear with me, it a bit long winded.....

Kitchen = Master socket (test socket type) installed by BT 4 weeks ago.
Living room - extension, wiring is connected to the face plate of the master socket, 1 blue in slot 2, 1 yellow in slot 5 and 1 red in slot 3. This corresponds wih the master socket wiring.

OK, 3 days ago we had a huge storm, lots of lightening. Came home to find nothing working. No phone, broadband, nothing. BT says pole struck by lightening, we'll sort it out.

Now, sitting room extension not working - have replaced socket to no avail. Master socket faceplate was knackered so replaced it. Now, faceplat working but broadband speed 0.1meg. Plugged into test socket, everything works fine and broadband speed is normal.

I have replaced the face plate of the master socket and the living room socket. What would be the problem here? The faceplate socket is working, but barely, however its brand new, but the living room extension which is connected to the faceplate is not working - suggesting the wiring betwen the master and extension is knackered. Could a lightening strike to a pole fry the faceplate, wiring, extension socket and phone? Im confident the wires are crimped in the slots correctly.

Sorry its a bit longwinded, but Id appreciate any advice.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Hello,

Im wondering if someone can help me before I end up calling someone out. Bear with me, it a bit long winded.....

Kitchen = Master socket (test socket type) installed by BT 4 weeks ago.
Living room - extension, wiring is connected to the face plate of the master socket, 1 blue in slot 2, 1 yellow in slot 5 and 1 red in slot 3. This corresponds wih the master socket wiring.

OK, 3 days ago we had a huge storm, lots of lightening. Came home to find nothing working. No phone, broadband, nothing. BT says pole struck by lightening, we'll sort it out.

Now, sitting room extension not working - have replaced socket to no avail. Master socket faceplate was knackered so replaced it. Now, faceplat working but broadband speed 0.1meg. Plugged into test socket, everything works fine and broadband speed is normal.

I have replaced the face plate of the master socket and the living room socket. What would be the problem here? The faceplate socket is working, but barely, however its brand new, but the living room extension which is connected to the faceplate is not working - suggesting the wiring betwen the master and extension is knackered. Could a lightening strike to a pole fry the faceplate, wiring, extension socket and phone? Im confident the wires are crimped in the slots correctly.

Sorry its a bit longwinded, but Id appreciate any advice.

Thanks
Mark

First of all it appears you are using alarm wire for your extension..its totally crap for dsl signal..second it could have been melted along the route by lightning damage and gone dis or short circuit,lightning does untold damage so the wiring and socket could be faulty..its up to openreach to provide you service to the nte5 but anything after that belongs to you..I would get some proper wiring and re-run it and watch your dsl signal go up

 

[SimonH2]

Could a lightening strike to a pole fry the faceplate, wiring, extension socket and phone?

Yes, it can do that and a lot more besides.
In fact, the damage you have experienced will have been limited by the relatively high resistance of the phone cable to your house.

Over my years in IT I've seen my fair share of problems. Even a lightning strike to ground a few hundred yards away can knock stuff out. Get a direct strike and "all bets are off".
One I particularly recall was a customer arriving back from Madagascar with a dead laptop and printer. The phone connector on the internal modem was visibly distorted from heat, the modem chip had quite literally blown it's top (lump of case blown off) and the power had arced over to the main board killing it. Then the surge went down the serial lead to the printer, and then through it's power supply to mains - the power supply (brick in the middle of the cable type) had blown it's case open to expose it's innards.

A few million volts and a few thousand amps can do "quite interesting" things