NTE5 - Wiring A/B cable etc

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Hi folks ,

I have just moved into an old property that has just the old BT A and B cable coming through the wall from the outside world into a simple two terminal junction box.


The modern phone line which runs from this to a bog standard telephone jack point is connected by two wires in the core. One is connected to the A , and the other is connected to the B . The phone works perfectly.

My problem is that I have no DSL coming to my router. I have been promised 3 visits by BT , each time they have failed to appear. I am getting desperate now , so I called my ISP again and they suggested that it was probably the old junction box and a NTE5 box was probably in order.


I have located several NTE5 box's but the only ones I can get my hands on quickly dont appear to have a separate A/B connection terminals for the incoming line.

Could someone tell me how I get from two incoming cables to 4/5 cables in a normal phone line ?

I have seen teh following link but it doesnthelp me as it just relates to the NTE5 with a designated A/B connector. http://www.wppltd.demon.co.uk/WPP/Wiring/UK_telephone/uk_telephone.html
 
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There are only 3 wires used in a normal phone line, (2, 3 & 5), 2 & 5 being the phone line and 3 being the ring (4 is also connected for some answerphones). The ring is generated in the master socket, so from BT you only have 2 wires entering and 3 leaving.
Onto the DSL side of things, if you remove the bottom portion of your NTE5 box there is a telephone socket. If you plug a microfilter in here can you get broadband?
 
From the point of view of the telephone system (and DSL) there is no difference between an NTE5 socket and the earlier line jacks, designated LJU1/1a, 2/1a or 3/1a. (the difference between these three earlier units is the physical size of the front plate). The only components in any of them, including an NTE5 are one capacitor, one resistor and a surge arrester.

The only extra facility an NTE5 provides is a disconnection and test point at the boundary between the service provider's line and the customer's own wiring, so I have my doubts as to whether fitting a NTE5 will improve things if you only have one telephone socket, and that is working correctly.

An NTE5 is in three pieces sandwiched together. The back box, the service provider's connection with A and B screw terminals and a front plate that plugs into the network test socket and carries the customer's wiring.

The service provider may have issues with the way your telephone service is connected, and may need to make some engineering changes to your line before they can make broadband available. This is quite possible if your line is fed overhead from a pole, and there is a large number of black boxes at the top of the pole instead of just one or two, as one of the line systems, DACS, that uses these extra boxes, is incompatible with broadband. Strictly speaking that is their problem, but it can become a problem to you regarding timescales etc.
 
I knew I should have posted some pics. these things are quite hard to explain.

I think what I need is the setup from the start.

I have a two core wire coming through my wall into a connection box. This is not a LJU1 or anything similiar it is just a box that you would use to join two lengths of normal phone cable together. There is no phone socket on this connection box. Coming into the box are the two A/B wires from outside. At the other end leave two wires of a modern phone line that i purchased from maplins leading to the NTE5 box i purchased.

What I need to know is , if there are only two wires coming in , what does the third wire that you mention connect too ?


I am totally at a loss :cry:

I hope this naff image i made explains in more detail.



phonenightmare.jpg
 
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i dont know much about phones, but i think the 3rd wire is derived from the few componants in the first box, so the first box only has 2 wires going in, but 3 going out to extension boxes (but i think people connect 4 for neetness?). i think the first box has to be different from the others because of this.
see this link it should help: //wiki.diynot.com/electrics:telephones:socket
 
if your socket is a NTE5 (two peice design then connect the incoming cables to A and B), if its a normal master socket then connect the incoming cables to pins 2 and 5.

i'm not at all convinced that this will fix your problem though, you ARE connecting your phone through a microfilter right.
 
If you have no DSL from the main incoming socket (disconnect any extensions to eliminate them from the equation) then try swapping A & B around.
 
plugwash said:
if its a normal master socket then connect the incoming cables to pins 2 and 5.
.

That is exactly the situation I have and that is how it is setup. I have also swapped the cables around to rule out any possible polarity issues.

you ARE connecting your phone through a microfilter right.

Yes I am. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I am a PC engineer. Unfortunatly I dont know a whole lot about phones as you will no doubt have gathered. I have changed the filter about 15 times , tried three different make USB modems ,and two routers. All with the same result.

The NTE5 socket that I thought I had isnt at all , its just a master socket.

The cables are arranged as you said above , two cables into the master.

Would a NTE5 socket make any difference ? or am i just clutching at straws?


From a previous poster who asked how many boxs are on my pole , there are 5.

Many thanks for all your assistance , and any other bright ideas before I scream would be greatfully recieved!
 
Just had phone call from the ISP . Apparently the reason I have had no engineer round is that they have set up the ADSL on the incorrect telephone number :evil: :evil: :evil:

Gimme Strength!!

Many thanks for all of your assistance.
 
Glad you found the solution!

For future reference, you have a similar setup to me, with one of the old terminal boxes (marked "GPO", so that says how old it is!) connecting the incoming pair to an internal 3-pair cable, with one pair going to the Master Socket and the rest unused.

The Master Socket then creates the ring line (on No. 3) which then goes on to the extensions.

An NTE5 is just a Master Socket with the added feature of the plug-in unit that you can wire into from behind, and plug into from the front - it wouldn't have solved any problem except a damaged Master Socket, and by the way, you're not allowed to replace the Master Socket or the NTE5 yourself - it belongs to BT and you can be prosecuted for fiddling with it. That's one reason the NTE5 was introduced, to allow the customer to mess about with their side without touching BT's part of it.

Incidentally, if BT fail to keep an appointment, don't they have to pay you compensation?

Cheers,

Howard
 
HDRW said:
Incidentally, if BT fail to keep an appointment, don't they have to pay you compensation?

Cheers,

Howard

They did keep their appointment , just not with me. Apparemtly they went to the house that the telephone number my ISP provided them had. So apparently a 90 yr old guy got a knock on his door enquiring about is 8mbps ADSL line problems :eek: Needless to say he didnt have the first clue what they were talking about!
 
The capacitor in the socket 'filters' the AC ringing pulses superimposed on the DC line voltage at the exchange from the 2 wire line, and outputs it on pin 3 of the socket, thus creating the 'third wire'.

The resistor provides a test facility for the network provider and the surge arrester provides some protection against damage from overvoltage faults from nearby lightning strikes etc. It won't do much about a direct hit, but in those circumstances a fried phone would probably be the least of the problems.

Incidentally, BT may have been keeping their appointments as they should, but if they were given the wrong phone number by your ISP it would have been with the wrong customer!
 

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