how to remove unused telephone wiring

[600rob]

Hi folks,

Im currently decorating the place that i moved into a while ago
Ive got several telephone sockets around the house, all of which were installed by the previous owner.

Id like to remove the sockets in all but one oe two locations as i dont need a phone in every room.

What sort of voltage do telephone cables carry and once ive unscrewed the socket and de-wired it can anyone advise on the process for terminating the unused cable safely?

Ive not checked each socket that id like to remove with a phone yet however when testing, if i plug in a phone to the socket and the line is dead is it safe to just dismantle the socket, cut the wires, push the cable into the wall and plaster over?

Thanks

 

[OwainDIYer]

You need to disconnect the extension wiring from the master socket or linebox where the line comes into your house. If you leave the wires unterminated and hidden in the walls they could become damaged and that could cause a fault on your line - which BT Openreach would charge you for repairing.

Voltage is about 75 volts when ringing, which will give you a tingle.

 

[TonyW2]

Unfortunately it is not that simple.
Depends on the route taken by the former owner. If the extensions are daisy chained then you will need to maintain continuity but adding hidden connectors is not a good idea.
If each extension is wired back to the master then each will need disconnecting from the originating point. (If there are several extensions, then it is unlikely that each is an individual service from the master.)
Do you intend to use broadband from any of the phone circuit, as this will require thought as to the best means of filtering and the quality of cable used.

 

[600rob]

Ive already got a phone and broad band running off from one of the downstairts sockets so i dont want to affect this service as advised

How do i identify the master socket?

once ive done this i guess i should be able to do a bit more investigation and post back?

Thanks

 

[TonyW2]

The master socket is the one that the outside wiring from BT leads to first. I suggest that you locate the outside cable and then follow it. There are several types of master sockets and their front plates. Perhaps Google for photos, but only the more recent ones will be readily identifiable.

https://www.claritybroadband.co.uk This site has some very helpful explanations for your project.

 

[600rob]

Right heres a little update....theres actually a fair load of wiring and other stuff that ive found around the house. ( i think the previous owners ran a business from the house so probably had a load of phones/fax machines hooked up)
all of this will eventually need to go as we decorate each room)

Any way The socket in question has now been disconnected by my other half who cant remeber which colour wires went where and never checked to see if the socket was working in the first place!!!

it looks like this now
View media item 95810
i dont know how to rewire this so if anyone can advise me i will have a go and see if the socket was live or not


luckilly most of the other sockets in the house (5 out of 6) are still working, and my broadband is still okay.

i had a look around the house for a master switch and have the following findings:

in the front porch i have this box:

20150803_200547

• 600rob
• 3 Aug 2015

i think the thick vertical cable is the incoming phone service cable from the street but i can only see as far as the concrete which it goes into so i cant be sure.

one of the thinner cables coming from the box in the porch goes outside of the house, all the way around the back and into the upstairs wall where the now disconnected socket shown in the first pic is in the bedroom.

The other thin cable also goes outside the house and leads into this box from:

20150803_200653

• 600rob
• 3 Aug 2015

the wire exiting this box goes a bit further around the house leading to another identical box which has two exit wires that lead into the other back bedroom wall which has this socket.
View media item 95811
(both of these sockets work with a phone)



back downstairs, directly opposite the grey box in the porch but on the inside wall as you enter the house is this one which is completley blank on the front

20150803_212658

• 600rob
• 3 Aug 2015

I could the upstairs socket be the master? i cant find anything downstairs that looks like the NTE5 master detailed in the links poster earlier.

not sure what to do next

 

[TonyW2]

Firstly get rid of the wife.
On the socket that you have disconnected, the cable is not really suited for broadband, but of the 4 wires, one goes to connection 2 on the socket and one to connection 5. Unfortunately without tracing equipment there is no way to identify which except by a slow process of trial and error. (the other two may be unused, or some clever clogs may have connected them back to another phone extension via a junction box.).
To get to a better set up;-
The thick cable coming up from the ground to the outside box is the incoming BT line. Open this box carefully (You should not be playing with BT stuff ) and identify the incoming pair of wires. These are A & B. Ideally you would want these to continue on & into the master socket, but I suspect that they have been split onto the two thinner cables to provide two circuits. The polarity of A&B is not material.
It would be worthwhile fitting an NT5 master socket on the interior wall opposite to the incoming junction, with the A&B incomer connected to the A & B on the backplate of the NT5.
Then the two thin cables could be brought through the wall and into the NT5 and connected using their existing pairs onto terminals 2 & 5 of the faceplate.
To complete the job, use an NT5 filtered (replacement) front plate and use a separate Cat5 minimum cable from the A&B connectors on the faceplate to an outlet on a socket used for your broadband router.

 

[600rob]

Thanks for the reply tony

On the socket that you have disconnected, the cable is not really suited for broadband but of the 4 wires, one goes to connection 2 on the socket and one to connection 5. Unfortunately without tracing equipment there is no way to identify which except by a slow process of trial and error. (the other two may be unused, or some clever clogs may have connected them back to another phone extension via a junction box.)

I don't need to connect this to broadband or a phone. I just want to remove the socket and its wiring completely then plaster over it.
Since its already removed from the wall and none of the other sockets that i am using seem to have been affected is there any reason that i cant/shouldn't i disconnect the wire at the grey ground box.

To get to a better set up;-
The thick cable coming up from the ground to the outside box is the incoming BT line. Open this box carefully (You should not be playing with BT stuff ) and identify the incoming pair of wires. These are A & B. Ideally you would want these to continue on & into the master socket, but I suspect that they have been split onto the two thinner cables to provide two circuits. The polarity of A&B is not material.
It would be worthwhile fitting an NT5 master socket on the interior wall opposite to the incoming junction, with the A&B incomer connected to the A & B on the backplate of the NT5.
Then the two thin cables could be brought through the wall and into the NT5 and connected using their existing pairs onto terminals 2 & 5 of the faceplate.
To complete the job, use an NT5 filtered (replacement) front plate and use a separate Cat5 minimum cable from the A&B connectors on the faceplate to an outlet on a socket used for your broadband router.

Thanks for the advice to get a better set up. At present everything is working fine ( even with the socket that the mrs took apart yesterday) So i will probably leave upgrading the sockets until a future date.

My main objective at the moment is just to permanently remove all of the unused sockets and gear located around the house as i decorate each room.

I really just wanted to check how to do this with out causing problems on those sockets that i intend to keep.

 

[TonyW2]

OK.
For that socket, just trace back the cable and remove it.
When you come to removing other sockets, though, they may have an incoming cable and an outgoing cable daisy chaining to another socket that you wish to keep. If there is only one cable to a socket, you can remove it.
Suggest that you do it one at a time and ensure that the remaining circuit does what you want before you do anything drastic.

 

[trowelhead]

On the socket that you have disconnected, the cable is not really suited for broadband

Why?

 

[trowelhead]

To be quite honest I'd rip the lot out and start again, it's not that difficult. It looks like the previous owner(s) have added things here and there and bodged a way through a problem leaving a bit of a mess.
On the other hand, rip it all out and leave one master socket and use dect phones instead!