External Telephone Cable - Securing for Burglar Alarm

[cwcw]

We are having a new burglar alarm put in and it will have a dialler to contact us if it goes off. I'm also planning to hook up a DIY webcam system which will be available online.

However, both of these features are pretty useless against any burglar with an IQ above 3, because our outside telephone cable has been bodged by the previous owners or BT/ Sky. It runs from the top corner of the house, clipped down the wall, around the ground and into the house under the front door to the main socket in the hallway. Any burglar would be stupid not to spend 3 seconds giving it a snip before breaking in.

So, my question is, what can I do to remedy this? I understand BT own everything up to my socket and technically I'm not allowed to touch it. If I decided to route the cable into the house upstairs and then to the main socket internally, am I doing anything wrong? What's the worst that could happen? e.g. if it goes wrong I'd have to pay BT loads to put it right, or is it actually illegal?

If I'm not allowed to do anything about it myself, would/should BT come and sort it out since they probably bodged it in the first place? To me it's unacceptable. It looks messy and is completely unsecure.

Thanks.

 

[bernardgreen]

Explain to BT that you want to have the external cable made secure to ensure the alarm can raise the alarm via the telephone. Do it by e-mail or written letter as the customer service call centre agents will not have a script on their system for this type of request. No matter how much they will want to help they do not have access to the necessary routes into the system.

You could offer to install the cable internally so the OpenReach technician only has to diss the existing cable and connect your cable to the drop wire and the NTE 5, tea and choccy biscuits help him or her in this work.

It is not illegal ( criminal ) to interfere with BT equipment and cables but it is a breach of your contract with BT and they can ( and have ) disconnect people where the interference has create problems or hazards.

 

[cwcw]

Would this be chargeable or would they fix it as a fault caused by their own shoddy workmanship?

I don't know if it makes a difference but we changed the line to Sky when we moved in so I guess they now "own" the external cable up to the main socket.

Also we don't have a junction box where the cable comes from the telegraph pole. Not sure if this is normal or not. The cable just comes from the pole, to a hook on the corner of the house, and runs down the wall from there. My proposed new route would involve slightly more cable as it's not as direct and there is not much slack in the current route. Does this mean the whole wire from the pole would need redoing, or would they put in a junction box on the house and then run new cable from there?

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Would this be chargeable or would they fix it as a fault caused by their own shoddy workmanship?

I don't know if it makes a difference but we changed the line to Sky when we moved in so I guess they now "own" the external cable up to the main socket.

Also we don't have a junction box where the cable comes from the telegraph pole. Not sure if this is normal or not. The cable just comes from the pole, to a hook on the corner of the house, and runs down the wall from there. My proposed new route would involve slightly more cable as it's not as direct and there is not much slack in the current route. Does this mean the whole wire from the pole would need redoing, or would they put in a junction box on the house and then run new cable from there?

Yes it would be chargeable ,by the hour ...what you should do is run the cable yourself,you can get it off ebay...run it from the nte up to the loft so the engineer can reroute the dropwire from the outside of the house into the loft,put a junction box on it and terminate at the nte... openreach own the wiring and sky is just your service provider... just a thought openreach charge a small fortune but haven't your local paper got ads from ex bt engineers? it will be a lot cheaper

 

[cwcw]

Would this be chargeable or would they fix it as a fault caused by their own shoddy workmanship?

I don't know if it makes a difference but we changed the line to Sky when we moved in so I guess they now "own" the external cable up to the main socket.

Also we don't have a junction box where the cable comes from the telegraph pole. Not sure if this is normal or not. The cable just comes from the pole, to a hook on the corner of the house, and runs down the wall from there. My proposed new route would involve slightly more cable as it's not as direct and there is not much slack in the current route. Does this mean the whole wire from the pole would need redoing, or would they put in a junction box on the house and then run new cable from there?

Yes it would be chargeable ,by the hour ...what you should do is run the cable yourself,you can get it off ebay...run it from the nte up to the loft so the engineer can reroute the dropwire from the outside of the house into the loft,put a junction box on it and terminate at the nte... openreach own the wiring and sky is just your service provider... just a thought openreach charge a small fortune but haven't your local paper got ads from ex bt engineers? it will be a lot cheaper

Could I just cut the cable somewhere down the wall, pull it into the loft and hook that into a junction box, and then get some longer cable and run that from my main socket to the junction box in the loft? What could go wrong with this? As long as I take a photo of how the cable connects to the socket, and buy the right kind of cable to replace it, it should be really simple.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Would this be chargeable or would they fix it as a fault caused by their own shoddy workmanship?

I don't know if it makes a difference but we changed the line to Sky when we moved in so I guess they now "own" the external cable up to the main socket.

Also we don't have a junction box where the cable comes from the telegraph pole. Not sure if this is normal or not. The cable just comes from the pole, to a hook on the corner of the house, and runs down the wall from there. My proposed new route would involve slightly more cable as it's not as direct and there is not much slack in the current route. Does this mean the whole wire from the pole would need redoing, or would they put in a junction box on the house and then run new cable from there?

Yes it would be chargeable ,by the hour ...what you should do is run the cable yourself,you can get it off ebay...run it from the nte up to the loft so the engineer can reroute the dropwire from the outside of the house into the loft,put a junction box on it and terminate at the nte... openreach own the wiring and sky is just your service provider... just a thought openreach charge a small fortune but haven't your local paper got ads from ex bt engineers? it will be a lot cheaper

Could I just cut the cable somewhere down the wall, pull it into the loft and hook that into a junction box, and then get some longer cable and run that from my main socket to the junction box in the loft? What could go wrong with this? As long as I take a photo of how the cable connects to the socket, and buy the right kind of cable to replace it, it should be really simple.

Yes, its that easy....when you cut the dropwire depending on the type but it will have 4 conductors --orange/white and green black..there will also be three other wires possibly yellow or red just ignore them...anyhow connect orange/white to the new internal cable on pr1 white with blue rings/blue with white rings anc then connect to a+b on your master socket....make sure you use the right wire ..try this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10m-BT-In...pplies_Electrical_ET&var=&hash=item33824f7ae2

 

[AdrianUK]

There are some cleverer dialers on the market. Our SD3 has both a PSTN (normal phone) & GSM (mobile) connections. The unit is able to detect the PSTN line being cut & then contacts us via the mobile network to report that event. It also sends a text for other, less important events, like the mains power failing.

 

[Europlex]

It also sends a text for other, less important events, like the mains power failing.

Less important? Ok. if you say so.