Old BT redcare phone box wiring please help!!

[Suzy9393]

Really hoping one of you clever folk can help me out here. Got a new house on Saturday that's been left in a real mess. I Changed my landline and broadband over ready to use when I moved in but I can't as what I believe to be the master socket was all hanging off the wall. I tried to put it back together but nothing is happening.
Next to the front door the start of the outside black BT cable comes in and is connecteted straight up to a small box that says BT redcare on it. But there is no alarm or anything on the house so I'm guessing this is all that is left of once set up redcare system. This little redcare box then has a White cable that goes to a openreach master box on the wall a couple of meters away but the wires are pulled out at this end. I'm guessing this set up via this little redcare box was working as I've been told the past owners had sky broadband etc. No matter how we wire up we can't get it to work. Should we disconnect this little redcare box and connect a new master box or the openreach box straight to the bt black cable? If that would work is there anyway of extending this black cable as it will leave the master socket in a really stupid place. Any help would be great as I have no idea what to do.

 

[bernardgreen]

Have you transfered an existing telephone number and account to the new address from your old address ? If you have and BT accepted the order and confirmed the line would be transfered to the new address then it is up to them to fix the problem without charging you for a repair.

You may have to press your case and ask to go at least one management level higher when you speak to the BT "help" desk. The base level staff are very restricted in what they are allowed to do.

They probably just looked at their records, saw they had on record that there was an existing line to the property and simply connected that line to your number at the exchange asuming it was terminated at a useable socket in the property.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Really hoping one of you clever folk can help me out here. Got a new house on Saturday that's been left in a real mess. I Changed my landline and broadband over ready to use when I moved in but I can't as what I believe to be the master socket was all hanging off the wall. I tried to put it back together but nothing is happening.
Next to the front door the start of the outside black BT cable comes in and is connecteted straight up to a small box that says BT redcare on it. But there is no alarm or anything on the house so I'm guessing this is all that is left of once set up redcare system. This little redcare box then has a White cable that goes to a openreach master box on the wall a couple of meters away but the wires are pulled out at this end. I'm guessing this set up via this little redcare box was working as I've been told the past owners had sky broadband etc. No matter how we wire up we can't get it to work. Should we disconnect this little redcare box and connect a new master box or the openreach box straight to the bt black cable? If that would work is there anyway of extending this black cable as it will leave the master socket in a really stupid place. Any help would be great as I have no idea what to do.

Its not unusual for a person to move into a new home and the connection has been lost, this could be a problem anywhere from the exchange to your socket so its openreach,s problem, not sure if its had recare or not but the problem sound as though its from the redcare box where it is pulled out...bit confused here but when you say you put the socket back on the wall did it have wires going into it or id this where its pulled out?? if yes and this is where the problem is its a pretty easy one to fix

 

[Suzy9393]

I was with aol at my last house whom paid BT for line rental for me. I called to change everything over and ended up having to make a new account and package deal with talktalk as they are now the same company. Whilst I was setting up the call centre person left me on hold and checked the line with BT and as you said it came back as ok. Everything is the same as my old setup with aol. TalkTalk pay BT for me so I have no idea where I stand regarding a repair. Can I still call BT? The best bit is I'm almost 99% sure that the present owners have even nicked my talktalk post and new router so I don't even know what my new number is. I was trying to get the line sorted without having to call talktalk from my mobile as it will most likely cost me about £50. I was hoping to sort the line, find out my number and then call talktalk to order a new router. Such a nightmare!!

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

I was with aol at my last house whom paid BT for line rental for me. I called to change everything over and ended up having to make a new account and package deal with talktalk as they are now the same company. Whilst I was setting up the call centre person left me on hold and checked the line with BT and as you said it came back as ok. Everything is the same as my old setup with aol. TalkTalk pay BT for me so I have no idea where I stand regarding a repair. Can I still call BT? The best bit is I'm almost 99% sure that the present owners have even nicked my talktalk post and new router so I don't even know what my new number is. I was trying to get the line sorted without having to call talktalk from my mobile as it will most likely cost me about £50. I was hoping to sort the line, find out my number and then call talktalk to order a new router. Such a nightmare!!

Its talk talk you pay your bill and they are your service provider so its them you need to speak to and the will contact openreach for a engineer to come out and the possibility of charges will come up but be adamant as you are paying for a service you have never had.....tbh you will feel like pulling your hair out with the messing about you will probably get.....if it was me I would check the wiring first rather than the all the hassle...it could be a simple fix if its pulled out of the socket

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Aslo it appears you have had a bitter experience with the last owners so I would suspect they have pulled out the wires

 

[bernardgreen]

Use this form

http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/ask

to request they call your mobile as you cannot contact them by landline as they have failed to provide you with the landline you ordered from them.

 

[Suzy9393]

Yes the past owners were nuts! They didn't want to leave but had too and they way they treat us you would think it was our fault. Right the redcare little box near the door is fine and untouched it's the openreach box that was hanging off the wall with wires hanging out. The wires that should be connected are from a White cable that goes to the little redcare box and then they box is connected to the black BT cable. The White cable has 4 wires only and the openreach box has a A and B port and some numbered ones. There was also another White cable that was was hanging out of the openreach box but this has been cut off. I'm guessing this was a extension as it had 6 coloured wires.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Yes the past owners were nuts! They didn't want to leave but had too and they way they treat us you would think it was our fault. Right the redcare little box near the door is fine and untouched it's the openreach box that was hanging off the wall with wires hanging out. The wires that should be connected are from a White cable that goes to the little redcare box and then they box is connected to the black BT cable. The White cable has 4 wires only and the openreach box has a A and B port and some numbered ones. There was also another White cable that was was hanging out of the openreach box but this has been cut off. I'm guessing this was a extension as it had 6 coloured wires.

I think I know what you are saying...ok the wire that is coming into the house is ok and untouched so all fine there, then it goes into the redcare box and appears all ok untouched ,then there should be a whit cable coming form the redcare box into the bt master socket which is pulled out....right....the socket has A and B terminals which you should be able to loosen with a pozidrive screwdriver ....then get the white cable coming from the redcare box which will have 6 or 4 wires in it...get the white with blue rings and the blue with white rings, strip the insulation to get at the copper wire then push it under the screw terminals A and B and tighten up...its only 50v so you wont get hurt...the the cable coming from the master socket to the extesion can be take off...

 

[Europlex]

its only 50v so you wont get hurt

... unless you are holding the bare wires and someone rings the number, then your eyes will water.

 

[SimonH2]

The Redcare box is nothing more than a junction box - it's just coloured red and labelled Redcare to make it "special". It does nothing electrically - ie it has no filters or anything in it. When a Redcare system is installed, Openreach will install this little red box, and then the alarm installer will wire his equipment into it.

As Bodgeitandleggit says, you may just need to connect the blue pair of wires back into the master socket. If that doesn't work then you'll have to report a fault.

However, if the master socket wasn't connected when you ordered the line then they should have known that it was missing. Seriously, their automated test equipment can tell that ! Specifically it will (or should) detect that there's no resistor across the wires.
But that's not your problem - it was like that when you moved in.