New home - how do I activate the BT sockets?

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• chrisjr Posts: 33,282

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  14/06/07 - 14:17 #2

  Sounds like the extension sockets have been badly wired up. Which BT should have told you. What they mean by "Activated" I have no idea. Unless by that they mean wiring them into the master socket. If they were not wired up at all then the phones would be totally dead in the extensions. The fact they ring, albeit continuously, means they are connected up - just not in the right way.
  
  And if BT were responsible for wiring up the entire system then i would think that constitutes a fault. Which they should fix for free. if however someone else cocked up then BT are within their rights to charge to put it right as it isn't their fault. However you could fix it yourself if you have the right kind of hardware and skills.
  
  A correctly wired phone extension should not cause the phone to continuously ring. Which makes me think whoever wired them up originally got pins 2 and 3 confused somewhere along the way.
  
  If every extension socket is the same then that suggests it is where they are connected into the master socket. What you can do about this very much depends on a number of factors.
  
  What type of BT master socket you have?
  How the extension sockets are wired?
  How competent you are with a screwdriver?
  Do you have an IDC punch down tool?
  
  There are two types of BT master socket in common usage. The older LJU type and the newer NTE5 type. They can be distinguished by the front panels. On the older LJU the front panel of the socket is single piece. On an NTE5 it has two sections. one is fixed to the backing box and the other can be removed by undoing two screws.
  
  If you have the single piece LJU type socket then only BT are allowed to touch this so if the wiring to the extensions goes into the back of the box rather than being on a plug in the socket on the front then you will need to get BT out to sort it.
  
  If you have the NTE5 type socket then you are allowed to remove the lower half of the front panel to access the extension wiring connectors.
  
  Then if the extensions are wired directly into the back of the master socket and not on a plug in the front you can proceed with tracing the fault.
  
  The extension connections will be IDC (Insulation Displacement Contact) type terminals. basically a couple of small white plasic blocks each with three slots in them into which the wires are pressed down. There should be three wires connected. One to terminals 2, 3 and 5 with optionally one on terminal 4 even though that is not strictly required.
  
  What you need to do is open up the NTE5 master socket and see what colour wires are connected to each of these three. Usually though not guaranteed to be used the BT colour code would be...
  
  Pin 2 - Blue with white stripe
  Pin 5 - White with blue stripe
  Pin 3 - Orange with white stripe
  Pin 4 - White with orange stripe (if connected)
  
  What is important however is thet the wire colours used at the master socket match those used at the extensions. So open up the extension sockets and compare the colours.
  
  A word of warning though before you start waving your screw driver arround. Remove the lower section of the NTE5 front panel BEFORE you open up any extension sockets. Doing this isolates the extensions so you won't (or shouldn't) get zapped by the line voltage present on a BT line and more importantly the ringing signal which believe me gives you a nasty tingle!
  
  I suspect you will find that the wire connected to pin 2 or maybe even 5 at the NTE5 master socket has found its way onto pin 3 of at least the first extension and if the others are wired pin 2 to 2 etc then onwards to the others.
  
  Fixing it is simply a matter of pulling the wires off the offending pins at the NTE5 master and connecting them up correctly. You can easily pull the wires out of the terminals perhaps with the aid of a small pair of pliers. Reconecting them is a differnt matter however as you really need a punchdown tool to do it. Fortunately you can get cheap plastic tools that are OK for a few uses from places like B&Q believe it or not (only a quid).
  
  Simply lay the wire into the slot then press it down with the tool. Trim any excess and job done.
  
  A few resourses you might like to look at.
  
  http://www.wppltd.demon.co.uk/WPP/Wiring/UK_telephone/uk_telephone.html
  
  Shows diagrams of the wiring and pictures of the sockets used.
  
  http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9290008&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=idc&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1181826650031&isSearch=true
  
  Tool needed to terminate wires.

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• Paperhouse Posts: 1,710

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  15/06/07 - 21:13 #3

  I work for a housebuilder and, if we are dealing with a new house, I'd say refer the matter to the builder.

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