Telephone Sockets - no BT central socket

[BigJim]

Hi,

Just moved in to a new flat and the phone lines are a bit messed up. Thre is a BT box in the far corner of the house (furthest away from where the phone wants to be) but it is dead. There is a phone socket in the lounge that works but it is really bad quality. It's not a BT socket but a normal second socket type of thing you can buy in shops. I've traced the lead of this up to the loft where it meets a very old looking junction box type of thing. The 5 wires of this extension go into the junction box and it is connected to a long wire in the loft that only has two cables in it. I'm guessing this is the main input line from BT and that a previous owner has maybe cut this (?) and fed it to the junction box.

Does this sound about right? If so, is there anything I can do to improve the quality of the line? I called BT but they said they'd charge me £125 just to come and have a look!!

Cheers.

 

[Chivers7]

http://www.millsltd.co.uk/productDetail.cfm?partNo=C00-4000

The cables might just need reterminating. You could replace the junction box that seems to be faulty

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/wiring_info.htm

The links above will help you understand the wiring for telphone cable

 

[plugwash]

is the dead BT master socket a NTE5 (two part) unit or a single peice unit.

if its the former i suggest disconnecting the incoming cable from your junction box, removing the BT master socket from its present location and connecting it directly to what you think is the incoming cable. and seeing if things improve. If not you'll have to trace it further back. If you still can't find the problem by the point at which it leaves your property set things up in a way that there is as little evidence as possible of the previous owners tampering (BT spec cable can be purchased, ask for CW1308 for internal and CW1308B for external and use 3 pair because BT don't use 2 pair) and then call BT out.

the older single peice master sockets have IDCs which probablly aren't suitable for the external cable type you have (if its only two cores i'm guessing its something old and probablly thicker than modern phone cable) so you'll have to keep the junction box, hopefully its a BT branded one.

 

[bernardgreen]

If you have just moved in then BT should ( with a bit of pressure ) treat you to a free visit to bring the circuit up to the required standard.

It isn't your fault the previous people messed around with the system.