I've have a BT line, but no BT master socket. I have a blank faceplate where the master socket should be, with a cable coming out of the side of the faceplate, tacked along the skirting board and then wired to a standard BT home extension point. It's all a bit of a mess.

I suspect that originally there was a master socket and the previous owner has dicked about with the wiring.

So, what would be required to sort this out and get a proper master socket fitted? I'm guessing I would have to get a real BT engineer and pay an arm and a leg?

is it just a standard blanking plate, or is it a NTE5 but without a phone socket on the bottom half(ie you have a split across the middle and the bottom half comes of to reveal a phone socket, and the extension socket is conected to the faceplate)?

It's this sort of thing: http://www.srielectrical.co.uk/uploa...alog/73BPS.jpg

I suspect there may have been a master socket that was damaged or removed from some reason, and the plate has been put on to cover the hole.

What may have happened is that the old style LJU socket that is now somewhere along the skirting board used to be located where the blank plate now is.

I suspect if you remove the blanking plate you will see the incoming BT line that was probably terminated on the socket has been jointed onto the cable running along the skirting to where the socket now is.

Depending on what you find under the plate will tell you if it was done professionally or bodged. BT usually use small joints that look from the outside like small plastic blocks a few mm square.

If it uses terminal block like this http://cpc.farnell.com/productimages...BBR1059-40.jpg then it was possibly bodged by someone other than a BT engineer. If you find the wires twisted together and a bit of tape wrapped round the bare ends then it almost certainly was bodged by someone verging on incompetence!

I'm not at home at the moment, but from memory of the last time I removed the plate for a peek, it's a tangled mess.

I'll check it out when I get home this evening, and report back.

The plate:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianx/3962882967/

Behind the plate:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianx/3962882933/

Who installed that!!??

Bodgit and Leggit I presume

I very strongly doubt it was ever done by a BT engineer. By the look of it whoever did it has just bared the ends of the wires, twisted them together and slipped the off cuts of the outer sheath of the cables over the bare ends to insulate them.

Very nasty and very much not what you are supposed to do. If you do get BT (or more accurately Openreach) to come out and put that right then they will almost certainly charge you.

Remember only BT can really do anything with the wiring from the street into your house up to the designated termination point. There should then be a customer termination where you are allowed to attach extension cables. looks like someone ignored all that in this instance.

As mentioned up-thread, I suspect the chap I bought the property from. He was obviously a DIY fan, but really shouldn't have been since he wasn't very good at it! When I moved in I had to fix a few wonky shelves, patchy paint jobs, and badly laid carpets that were clearly the result of his DIY attempts.

The phone cable enters the building at a rather awkward location, and I suspect this was his attempt to move the phone point to a more accessible place.


Which is really my original question, I guess. I'd like to get it sorted, and I'd expect to pay, but I fear I may have to pledge the life of my first-born in payment to BT to get it fixed.

Incidentally, in spite of the wiring, my phone line is rock-solid and my ADSL is nicely zippy. If it's going to cost a small fortune, I might just let sleeping dogs lie.

If you want the advantages of an NTE5 master socket then you could fit one yourself, in place of the existing socket not where the blanked off one is.

Technically you are not supposed to mess with the BT cable but then how are you supposed to know the extension wasn't wired up properly from customer side equipment

You can buy NTE5 sockets for a few quid so if you are reasonably competent with a screwdriver it would be one solution. And if your modem is located next to the socket you could fit one of the filtered face places. No need then for a plug in filter and you can run filtered extensions direct from the face plate so no filters hanging out of sockets anywhere round the house.

Hi Ianx,

From looking at your photos I've spoken to the faults department who have advised that we (BT) will replace the NTE5 free of charge, however on a cautionary note if an engineer were to visit and locate an NTE5 elsewhere in your home then a charge of £125 would apply.

If would would like to discuss this with me can you PM me your number.

Regards,
Jon.

BT Support.

Oh, excellent. Thanks. I'll be in touch.

Are you questioning the quality of my workmanship?

I've seen some ropey installations by telecoms engineers right . And done a few dubious quality bodges myself.

But I pride myself on a higher standard of bodging than that displayed in the OP's pictures. I mean come on he/she/it never even used a bit of sellotape to insulate the bare ends, criminal, gives real bodgers a bad name.

i've seen chewing gum used before now, dirty sods, blue tack(tm)(other putty adhesives available from all good retailers) is much cleaner and easier to get off to twist another ext'n onto it.

The nice BT man has just been and sorted it all out.

Charge or no charge?

that is the question..... the engineer may not have charged but our TRC spotters(time related charges) may have done after they closed the job.

That's something of a gray area, and varies depending on who I speak to within BT. I currently believe that I will not be charged, but until I've seen my next bill, I'm not really sure...

Hi ianx,

I have send you a PM about this.

Thanks

Fionnuala