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Why do I have to use the test socket when Openreach don't?
Inkblot
Posts: 26,889 Forum Member
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Phone line died yesterday, along with broadband.
Phoned Sky, they told me to unscrew the front panel with the separate phone and ADSL sockets and plug the phone directly into the test socket. Of course it didn't work. A few hours later, got a text from Sky to say the fault affecting my area had been fixed, and on checking I found the dial tone was back and the broadband working.
Nonetheless, an Openreach engineer turned up this morning, plugged his test equipment into the phone socket on the front panel. Did loads of tests, pronounced it fine and left.
So why do I have to take the front panel off to test the line when the engineer doesn't?
Phoned Sky, they told me to unscrew the front panel with the separate phone and ADSL sockets and plug the phone directly into the test socket. Of course it didn't work. A few hours later, got a text from Sky to say the fault affecting my area had been fixed, and on checking I found the dial tone was back and the broadband working.
Nonetheless, an Openreach engineer turned up this morning, plugged his test equipment into the phone socket on the front panel. Did loads of tests, pronounced it fine and left.
So why do I have to take the front panel off to test the line when the engineer doesn't?
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Therefore by using the test socket you can determine with a fair degree of certainty whether the fault is your problem, (your extensions/kit), or the phone network. Remember if it's your wiring causing the fault and you call out an engineer you could end up with the fault not being fixed and a three figure bill from your provider for the call out!
The fact the Openreach guy didn't use the test socket may be because he found no fault on the normal socket. Had he done so then he should try the test socket and run the tests again. Or simply that he was a jobsworth who couldn't be arsed to do the job properly and just wanted to get off. Met more than a few of those in my time!
Do you have any extensions? If not, then removing the faceplate isn't likely to cause a huge difference
I had explained to Sky that the only things plugged into the master socket were the Sky router and the phone. There is an extension hard-wired into the back of the socket with the Sky box plugged into it, but they didn't tell me to disconnect the Sky box.
Seems to me like you answered the question no? You said everything is working fine now so clearly it was an area fault. The engineer simply did his standard tests to make sure and to close the job. Why does he need to check the test socket.
Also the test socket is meaningless unless you have extensions connected to it, were there any wires attached to it when you unscrewed the front plate (panel) or did it simply come off in your hand? If its the latter than its meaningless to remove the frontplate. (or the off chance the frontplate is damaged/ corroded) as you have no extensions.
You mention sky box extension hardwired to the back of the socket, are you referring to the front plate (panel) or the back of the master socket itself?
Taking the face plate off disconnects any extension wiring you have (assuming it is correctly attached to the terminals on the reverse of the face plate). The only thing connected to the test socket when the faceplate is removed therefore is the incoming line. This allows you to check where the fault is likely to lie. That is the point of doing the test socket check, to see if there is a difference.
If you get the same fault on both the faceplate socket (before removal) and the test socket then the fault is most likely the incoming line.
If you get a fault on the faceplate socket but the phone is working on the test socket then the fault is likely to be your wiring.
Fair enough. I didn't know that the extension was wired into the face plate but as it was done when Openreach installed the socket I'm sure it was done correctly.
If the extensions are wired correctly then the faceplate should have one or more cables attached to the reverse side, bit like this picture
http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t408/denismiley/TELEPHONE%20EXTENSION%20CONNECTIONS%20BT%20VIRGIN%20WM.jpg
Though it may not be so neat and a white cable sheath not black. Top half of the picture shows the faceplate folded away from the main part of the socket and the lower half is looking at the rear of the faceplate.
If you do not have any cable attached to the faceplate but do have extensions then they may not be wired correctly. Any extension wired to the back of the faceplate on a filtered master socket should have the VDSL signal removed so a router plugged into any extension should have no connection to the internet.
The master socket may however have unfiltered terminals which are on the main body of the socket as shown in this picture
http://www.claritybroadband.co.uk/_images/vdsl_faceplate_hardwire_arrow_300.jpg
If the extensions are attached to this pair of terminals then a router plugged into an extension socket will work. Though any phone or other device plugged into any other extension wired off the same set of terminals will need filtering otherwise it could affect the broadband performance.
If there are no wires anywhere visible behind the faceplate then your master and extensions are wired in a different manner and possibly not correctly. That could be a separate junction box somewhere or some one has incorrectly wired the extensions into the back of the master socket across the line terminals, which is a definite no no.