BT Master Socket - which wire?

[nickpowell77]

Hi - I've recently had a lot of building work done and the electricians have put in a new master socket as a favour rather than me having to call out BT.

We've moved back to the property and the BT Phone & Broadband has been switched back to our address but has a fault on the line. I don't know if the fault lies with the home move process or the wiring inside the master socket.

As you can see from the attached diagram there are a number of different cables and a lot of white wires.

Any idea which wires should be connected? One of the blue and one of the white wires is currently connected but I'm not sure how the electrician would know which white wire to connect?

Incoming calls are't being picked up. I can hear a dial tone but the line comes back with a message saying the number isn't recognised.

Thanks, Nick

Untitled

• nickpowell77
• 28 Mar 2015
• 1

Untitled

• nickpowell77
• 28 Mar 2015
• 1

 

[cajar]

"Incoming calls are't being picked up. I can hear a dial tone but the line comes back with a message saying the number isn't recognised. "

Wiring is fine because you can hear a dial tone, the problem is with BT's home move service.

The line at the house is still 'temporarily out of service' just as you or the previous person left it, which means BT have failed to realise which line went to your house and reactivate that. They'll invariably assign someone to go round to fix it.

FWIW the only way to know which white wire is twinned with the blue is to observe the twists in the pairs when you first strip the sheathing.

 

[bernardgreen]

Wiring Colours for CW1128 & CW1326 External Telephone Cable

Pair No.
1 White Blue
2 White Orange
3 White Green
4 White Brown
5 White Grey
White of the pair is the A wire.

Most times getting A and B reversed should not matter but some equipment ( such as fax machines and alarm diallers will not work wwhen polarity is reversed )

Do you have dial tone on this cable ? Or are you dialling the number from another phone when you get "number not recognised " ?

 

[nickpowell77]

Do you have dial tone on this cable ? Or are you dialling the number from another phone when you get "number not recognised " ?

I hear a dial tone on this cable and hear the "number not recognised" when dialling out. If I dial the number it just rings and rings

 

[bernardgreen]

This is confusing.

If the number is not recognised then it will not be ringing any telephone.

Can you be precise as to what is happening.

What do you get if you dial the number from a mobile or a different land line ?

What do you get if you phone a friend's land line number from this new master socket.

It might be that the white is not the white paired with the blue. Depending on several other factors this error could explain the symptoms.

How far is this location from the previous one ? Are they on the same exchange ? It may be you need to dial an area code before the number if the move means the line is from a different exchange.

 

[nickpowell77]

Thanks for your help

What do you get if you dial the number from a mobile or a different land line ? You can hear a ringtone from a mobile but it does't actually ring on the landline

What do you get if you phone a friend's land line number from this new master socket. I get the "number is not recognised"

How far is this location from the previous one ? About a mile

Are they on the same exchange ? It is a different exchange

It may be you need to dial an area code before the number if the move means the line is from a different exchange I have been including the are code

I logged a fault with BT and their diagnostic states:

It looks like the problem is in or near to your home, and we'll need to contact you before sending an engineer. We will be in touch with you on the details you have provided us with. We should be in touch within 24 hours.

Their diagnostic has ruled out problems with the Diagnostic Test Centre, BT Exchange or the BT Network

 

[bernardgreen]

The bell not ringing when the caller has ringing tone would happen if the white wire was not the white paired to the blue.

Getting dial tone from the blue and the wrong white would be possible if the wrong white connected to the socket was earthed somewhere. A current on the blue through the phone to ground via the white would be enough to alert the exchange that the phone had been picked up and then the exchange would offer dial tone.. But without the white being connected back to the exchange dialling may be compromised to the extent that numbers are corrupted beyond recognition.

Getting BT out is probably the best way.

 

[cajar]

The line that's in the house is not actually his bernard. it's a line that's been ceased when the last person moved out. BT have said they've provisioned his new service there, but they haven't.

I'm not sure why bt make this sort of cock up but they make it very often. Thankfully it's a very easy fix for any engineer (30min job)

 

[nickpowell77]

And BT will give me an update on when they will fix this on Thu 2nd April - ridiculous.

It's a point of detail which is probably important but to clarify on the line:

In Jan we moved the line from House A to House B

We have just moved the line from House B back to House A

We were in temp accommodation for 3 months due to refurb works in House A

 

[cajar]

did you keep your number each time?

 

[nickpowell77]

did you keep your number each time?

Yes I did keep the same number

 

[cajar]

Out of interest, if you dial 17070 does it read the correct number?

 

[bernardgreen]

It is a different exchange

In which case it cannot be the same number, ( or it is the same number but prefixed by a different exchange or area code. )

So it is not a line move ( same number ) but a contract / service move.

Their diagnostic has ruled out problems with the Diagnostic Test Centre, BT Exchange or the BT Network

The results obtained from diagnostic tests initiated from the public facing call centre are not always accurate. The accuracy comes when a technician gets hands on involvement.

 

[cajar]

They do move numbers from one exchange to another now bernard. Other operators have been able to do this for some time as they didn't really regard geographical numbers as important other than the area code, so it follows that bt would start doing it as well.

 

[bernardgreen]

From http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/switching_provider[quote]Can I take my number when moving home?

If you're moving home within your own telephone exchange area then you may be able to take your current phone number with you. However, this is not something which is regulated by Ofcom and you should first speak to your provider to check whether this is possible.

If you are moving outside of your local exchange area then you probably won’t be able to keep your number if you want to have a traditional landline.

However, you can keep your landline number by moving – or porting – it to a web based VoIP service.

A number of VoIP providers will allow you to port your landline number to their service for a one-off fee.

With a VoIP service you can make calls from your computer or use purpose built VoIP telephones or telephone adapters with ordinary telephones plugged in.[/QUOTE]