What's this please . . . . . . . . . . ?

[TheSalad]

Hi Folks . . . we are decorating our hallway and in doing so we are removing the landline as we no longer have need of it. I came to take down this (below) and was puzzled as I was not expecting to see any electric supply to telecoms. Could anyone tell me what it might be?

Many thanks for your help.
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[omega015]

That looks like some big fuses in there. Can you upload some more photos so we can see what wires are going to where?

Its a BT protector box. http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/connection_boxes.htm

Some other folk have posted on BT forums about this:

https://community.bt.com/t5/Phones/...-2-Protector-Box-No1-2-2-Old-GEC/td-p/1552600

Where do those wires come from and go to? I assume that little black wire in the back is the telephone line to your socket and the rest is the old incoming telephone line. It might of even been bypassed as its not needed. Can you confirm its not mains/electric cable? Do you have a multimeter or anything?

Also this will be the responcibility of BT/OpenReach and I'm sure they will come out and replace this with something more suitable if you give them a call and tell them its come off the wall/broken as its brittle.

 

[TheSalad]

The grey wire at the back went to a BT box on the skirting board. I haven't traced back the black n red wires, which I assume are or were live. I need to work out if its redundant and dead or if I need to get a man in to make it safe.

Some more photos.
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[omega015]

The Black/Red will be the main incoming telephone line from the street, then fused before going into your internal telephone wiring. The grey is your BT box as you say but it looks like there's another black wire alongside that red/black wire. can you confirm where that goes into that box and the other side of the door?

 

[TheSalad]

Hmmm . . . the other black wire appears to go out in to the porch and then up in to the loft space (we're in a bungalow).

See below.
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[omega015]

Do you have any other telephone sockets/extensions around the house/upstairs? That black wire is either an extension or its a new incoming line and they just didn't remove the old mains wire looking line. Can you see where the mains style cable goes?

 

[rsgaz]

It's a surge arrestor (i.e. a lightning protector).

//www.diynot.com/diy/threads/help-identifying-wiring-box-possibly-bt-connector.158504/
http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/cabling-faceplate-help/43567-old-bt-junction-box.html


Gaz

 

[TheSalad]

The mains looking cable appears to head to where the chimney used to be (we took it down when we had the roof replaced).

We don't have any cables coming to the house from poles on the pavement like other houses on the street.

(Can you tell we're quite new in this house).

We have a landline at the moment (not for long) through Virgin media but it must be coming in underground musn't it?

The box in the photos appears to be all redundant. Am I safe to just snip it off?

 

[omega015]

Virgin media will be providing their own telephone line yes. I would say yes it should be safe to snip off the cables providing you don't plan on going back to BT. However technically that is BT's property so you shouldn't be doing anything with it, but 99% of people ignore that advice.

What I would suggest is to get something like the below, screw this to the other side of the door and replicate the wiring to the new box (make note of what cables are connected to each other etc...) That way the original setup remains as it was but not in your way.

 

[Infidel]

It is indeed an old fashioned lightning arrestor, back in the days of the GPO there would have been 2 open (or bare copper wires no insulation ) strung between the telegraph pole and your house to a double u bracket fixed to the facia or brickwork. The black wire was crimped to the copper wire and formed the lead in which was cleated down the outside of the house and usually bought inside through a window or door frame (no cordless drills in those days hand worked gimlet or brace and bit so easier through wood ). The box would have been fitted on the framework and the black wires red and black conductors on one side of the fuses and the grey internal wires conductors usually blue and orange the other side.The grey wire was then cleated around doors and skirting to the final phone position and the instrument hard wired via a bt to it. If you no longer have a landline Check outside to see if you have any overhead cables to your house if not just get rid of it pull the cables out and decorate away. Be aware though that bt will charge for a new install if you decide to go back to them, but to be honest it's probably best for broadband to have a new installation rather than the jumble of cables you have now.