Old BT Junction box

[scott readman]

We move into a new flat and the main telephone socket comes from a really old little oval junction box. The junction box is loose on the window sill with bare wires coming out of it and is easily reachable by our children. It'll last days, if that, in its current position/state.

Our provider says there's nothing wrong with the line so they won't get an engineer to replace/move it and Openreach won't do anything without the provider booking it.

Heres the box: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xKXfLIBgzT1uM1g42

I seem to have no options but get someone to upgrade/move it as they've left me no choice.

Anyone?

 

[JohnW2]

Our provider says there's nothing wrong with the line so they won't get an engineer to replace/move it and Openreach won't do anything without the provider booking it. .... I seem to have no options but get someone to upgrade/move it as they've left me no choice.

Many of us (including myself) have such junction boxes, and there's nothing inherently wrong with them.

There shouldn't be bare wires showing, so if there are, you could just open up the box (1 screw), tuck the wires back in safely (making sure that bare bits don't touch anything) and then clip the cable externally so that the wires don't get pulled out again.

Other than when the phone is ringing, there is no significant voltage on any of those wires. Even when it's ringing, the voltage is not really high enough to do more than make one jump - so there's no real 'safety issue'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Diver Fred]

The wires that are showing - are from the fixed external cable or from the flexible one to the telephone instrument?

If the former then take the cover of the box off (as above, 1 screw), make sure the box is fixed (screwed) down, and the wires inside the box and screw the lid back on.
If the later - the instrument flex - then again take the box lid off, and make sure the retaining grommet is in the box slots and tuck the flex wires inside the box and replace the cover.

Any thing else photo will help.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I know this is a REALLY old post but....

We move into a new flat and the main telephone socket comes from a really old little oval junction box. The junction box is loose on the window sill with bare wires coming out of it and is easily reachable by our children. It'll last days, if that, in its current position/state.

Our provider says theres nothing wrong with the line so they won't get an engineer to replace/move it and OR won't do anything without the provider booking it.

Heres the box: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xKXfLIBgzT1uM1g42

I seem to have no options but get someone to upgrade/move it as they've left me no choice.

Anyone?

If nobody will do anything about it without you paying, then as I see it you have 3 choices.

1. Pay
2. Sort it out yourself
3. Write to them, with photos, explaining your concerns, and asking them what will happen if the wiring comes adrift and the phone stops working.

Depending on what they answer to #3, you may find that you have nothing to lose by going for #2 - it's not a difficult task, and there are no dangerous voltages present.

You can easily buy BT branded NTE sockets - as long as you don't mess up, nobody will ever know.

As I said they've given me no choice. I sent open reach a photo via chat and they said it needs upgrading but provider won't do anything without a line fault so stuck in the middle. I don't do sockets.

So what were you hoping for when you posted, if you are resolutely opposed to fixing it yourself?

 

[chivers67]

The outer insulation of the Telephone cable should be inside the BT box and at some point it's been moved for decorating purposes by the looks of things as the wire coming ins outer sheath won't reach the current position.
It just needs fixing back onto the wall, have you not got any friends or relatives into DIY that could help out?

Is the property served by a Pole or Underground cable? If overhead if i was you i'd call BT back up and tell them you get a noisey line when it rains and if they don't give you a service call threaten to call Ofcom

 

[ericmark]

I have the same in mothers house, technically up to the master socket including master socket belongs to open reach, however open reach are not allowed to deal direct with the public only the BT part of firm is allowed to do that, so yes to get it corrected your telephone provider has to get open reach to fix it, you can't talk to open reach direct. What you should have is a two part box, the top is only accessed by open reach, the bottom you can remove and fit an extension into it, the idea is you can remove the bottom bit and test the line with no internal phones connected so you quickly know if internal fault or external fault, in some ways not having the option is an advantage as they have to send some one out if there is a fault and can't charge as you can't disconnect internal phones.

However what you show is likely faulty, with a master socket there are two wires in and three wires out, and components in that master socket cause non cordless phones to ring. You have only two wires out, so likely with a non mains powered phone it will not ring. You can likely still dial out, but unless the phone has mains power in some way it will simply not ring without that third wire.

So if you really want open reach to come out, borrow a non mains powered phone and test it, if it does not ring then complain that phone will not ring, but tested phone in mates house and it does, so they would need to come out. If phone does ring then that box has been fitted by GPO, BT, Open reach depending on age to extend the line to the master socket, so in theory your not permitted to touch it, as others have said either you DIY or allow the wire to accidentally get snagged and severed, then you will have no problem getting them out as it will not work.

Most people simply would use more paint to safely stick wires so not loose.

 

[winston1]

However what you show is likely faulty, with a master socket there are two wires in and three wires out, and components in that master socket cause non cordless phones to ring. You have only two wires out, so likely with a non mains powered phone it will not ring. You can likely still dial out, but unless the phone has mains power in some way it will simply not ring without that third wire.

All this is just not true. Whether a phone will ring with two wires is nothing to do with being mains powered or not. Many modern phones will ring with two wires. The first cordless (mains powered) phones will not.
Anyway if you have a broadband filter the component (a capacitor) to allow 3 wire phones to ring is in the filter anyway. The third wire is no longer necessary with broadband filters and it is often disconnected as otherwise it tends to slow broadband down due to its unbalancing action.