Master phone socket not working

[empty sound]

Hi there, i'm fairly amature when it comes to DIY, but i've not had any disasters yet and i'm always willing to give things a go! However this phone socket has me stumped!

We recently moved into a flat, which has two phone sockets.
One (beside the front door) which is the master socket
Two, an extension socket in the bedroom

Everything appears to be wired up correctly, however only the extension socket gets a dial tone, when we plug a phone into the master socket, there's no noise at all.

I have taken some pictures of the master socket to see if anyone can diagnose what might be going on

The master line coming from top down on the right, the blue/white cables connect to the front plate

The blue/white cables from the master line connect to A and B (white with blue to A + blue with white to B)

The orange/white cables from the master line connect to these plastic clips, which connect to the blue/white cables from the extension line

As I say, the extension line works fine, however as we use the line for ADSL it would be a better idea to plug the modem into the master socket, rather than using large extensions!

Thanks in advance
(sorry if this is the wrong forum!)


-Steve

 

[breezer]

so you are saying the master socket is dead?

its probably becuse the extension socket is connected to the line and the master isnt

those "jellies" look like they have the incoming line on them

you can do one of two things

take the bue an white off the master socket, cut the jellies off and connect the cables there instead

go to the extension socket and connect the bue an white to the orange and white

i would guess that as jellies have been used it was done by a bt engineer for a reason, the reason is probably a fault on the blue and white or even a fault with the master socket

it may even be the previous owner had 2 phone lines, blue for one orange for the other

 

[Steve]

From my VERY limited understanding of phone wiring, i'd say you have 2 phone lines (each pair carries a different line) - does the extension socket have a different number?

Can you ring in to a phone on the master socket?

If not, the "master" line will have been disconnected in the past, and to have it reconnected you would have to pay 2 line rentals, or have BT come and connect it with your ADSL line (though i think you could do this yourself)

 

[andy]

you dont seem to have any cables leaving the master socket to go to the 2nd socket. are you sure this is not a master aswell? it could be that both pairs are connected at some other point, and you have 2 masters, and 1 has failed. with a multimeter, test for voltage accross the master socket cables coming in. there should be 48V

 

[plugwash]

i suspect that both are master sockets and one is for a line that has been disconnected

if you wan't both sockets on the same line disconnect the current cables from the socket you are calling the master and label them with something like "disconnected second line" remove those jelly joints and connect the wires that are in the jelly joints to the socket terminals

 

[breezer]

thats what i said

 

[securespark]

I think the other guys are right. The line comes in on the orange pair, which are connected straight through to the bedroom socket. The blue pair, to the hall linebox must be for a different number which has been disconnd.

Best thing to do is redirect the line to the A & B terms in the hall linebox, then connect the cable to the bedroom on the outgoing terminals (on the frontplate of the hall linebox) blue/white =2, white/blue=5 orange/white=3, making sure the connections are the same in the bedroom.

The reason for this is because line boxes were designed to terminate the incoming cable in the back terminals of the linebox, leaving the front plate for connection of extension socket cables. This way, if there is a fault, then all you need do to eliminate the house wiring is to pull the frontplate and test from the socket behind. If the fault disappears, you know it is on your house wiring if the phone works direct from the linebox.