Missing Master Socket - who's responsible?

[marcwicks]

I live in a purpose built maisonette.

Where the telephone line enters the house there is a rectangular junction box type connector

Untitled

• marcwicks
• 8 Jan 2010
• 1

only connected to a second rectangular junction box connector where the two telehone extensions are connected.

There appears to be no NTE5 Master socket in the property.

My question is should there be, and now I have my phone line with my ISP provider who is responsible for fitting one and should it cost me anything?

Thanks for your help in advance.
Marc

 

[JohnD]

that "soap bar" connector is the very old type from before the modern type of socket was introduced

AFAIK the "GPO telephones" would convert installations if they were working in the house, otherwise they used to leave it as-is unless you paid them.

We are going back 20 years or more.

Are you a BT customer?

 

[marcwicks]

Thanks - I used to be BT customer - now with Plusnet for Broadband and phone line. I've contacted Plusnet who I now pay my line rental to and they said it would cost £121 call out and £63 ph after that to change it. I thought it would be free to update it?

 

[JohnD]

I think if I were you I would probably buy a Master Socket from an Electrical supplier, and a reel of cable, and change it myself. Photograph all the connections before you start so that, if you get it wrong, you can go back to how it was before.

 

[marcwicks]

OK - that was what I was thinking anyway - just thought I'd check if I should challenge the fact that it should be upgraded for free and then it limits my responsibility.

Thanks

 

[TonyW2]

You are not supposed to touch the connection at the BT side, so really you should not replace the box with a new Master NT5. Your replacement will always be identifiable, as the BT ones are marked.
If BT do the replacement, then yes they will charge you.
But if the line becomes faulty on their side, perhaps if the wire gets damaged, or comes out of the connector in the junction, then BT will do the work free of charge and would normally fit a modern master.
Only trouble is, they may take 3 days from you reporting the faulty line to your Line rental company.

An alternative is to "cut" the phone wire after the coffin box on the house side and simply re connect it within a new NT5.
The link below is well worth a good look and adapted/filtered NT5 are available for better broadband arrangements.

[urlhttp://www.clarity.it/telecoms/adsl_hardware.htm[/url]

 

[yaleguy]

BT came to my house to get my phone working, however they fitted an NT5 but they told me they couldn't wire it in as I only had two or three working inputs. So they wired through the NT5 missing out the internals. Everything works fine as far as I can tell. The phone works the broadband works and I get calls billed.

The socket of the NT5 is not wired in.
This was about 7 years ago

 

[Paul_C]

that "soap bar" connector is the very old type from before the modern type of socket was introduced

GPO/BT terminal block no. 52A. They were the standard connecting blocks for 700-series telephones, and are just a simple 4-way connection inside.

As noted, strictly speaking if you don't have a modern NTE5 you aren't supposed to touch any of the wiring, but in practice with the mess created between the various service providers and BT/OpenReach today, nothing really bad is going to happen if you just get an NTE5 and connect it. If there's sufficient drop wire to re-terminate, you can wire it directly, otherwise just locate it adjacent or nearby and wire to the 52A with regular internal cable.

With an installation of that age, you might find that the extension wiring already in place is the older type with blue, orange, green, and brown wires rather than the white/blue & white/orange pairs of today.

Your replacement will always be identifiable, as the BT ones are marked.

There are some genuine BT branded ones available if it worries you. Look around eBay etc.

BT came to my house to get my phone working, however they fitted an NT5 but they told me they couldn't wire it in as I only had two or three working inputs.

 

[barnyboot]

Thanks - I used to be BT customer - now with Plusnet for Broadband and phone line. I've contacted Plusnet who I now pay my line rental to and they said it would cost £121 call out and £63 ph after that to change it. I thought it would be free to update it?

Plusnet...is BT

 

[RF Lighting]

I would have thought the OP has sorted it now, two and a half years later.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

I would have thought the OP has sorted it now, two and a half years later.

Bloody hell only just looked at the date....bet his friends call him flash

 

[plugwash]

Plusnet...is BT

My understanding is that plusnet are owned by BT but run somewhat seperately from the main BT retail operation (who in turn are run seperately from BT wholesale, BT openreach etc)

 

[Lectrician]

Concur - They are owned by BT, but run completely seperately and have no 'leverage' with BT or Openreach.

If your phone line went faulty, you would find they would swap the setup you have as a matter of course

 

[bernardgreen]

Concur - They are owned by BT, but run completely seperately and have no 'leverage' with BT or Openreach

Even BT the staff who deal with customers orders and complaints cannot contact OpenReach directly. They have to pass all details o to a liason department in BT which is the only BT department that can liase with OpenReach. And that liason department is not permitted to contact a customer directly but have to go via BT customer service for any further information that OpenReach may require from the customer.

 

[TonyW2]

I would have thought the OP has sorted it now, two and a half years later.

Read and stop now!!!!!!