Extremely Old BT box.... need input :)

[Dr Cool]

Hey all, I've been having bad experiences since going ADSL2+ LLU.

It seems I do not even have a typical master socket.

Instead I seem to have some kind of switch box.

I have been running off an extension about 30cm away from this box.

My old AOL dial up, broadband and now Xilo LLU has been on and off.

My speed is 13mbits.






I'm going to replace this with an BT NTE5 socket with I-Plate.

One problem is that the main cable doesn't even have the right colors stated in guides.

But I will be running the internet off an phone socket extension in the room above.

Worth it?

[synaesthesia]

Yes, however if that is the main junction box (i.e. the first time the line is terminated in your house when it comes in) then it belongs to BT and only they may change it for you - at a cost.

Otherwise, is it worth it? Can't do any harm. If you have a junction box before that, i.e. where the line enters the house, you can legally change it without a problem. Otherwise, tidy up the connections in there and fit the NTE5 right next to it. Also get rid of that power cable going round it, that will have some effect on reliability.

[Dr Cool]

Wait. So by law I cannot alter this box?

[merdat]

Technically that's correct. That grey pair of wires are the line from BT unless you have other boxes as could very well be the case given the your connection box is an old type. You are better off having the master socket at the point where you are using the computer as it makes it much easier for you to isolate your internal wiring in the event of a 'fault' if asked to do so by your service provider or BT ( i.e. the master socket should be the 'first socket' after the line comes into the premises.

[Dr Cool]

I can get around that with a long RJ11.

My point is, I have no master socket to extend from, but instead this primitive junction box..

And even If I buy one to replace the junction, how come the wire colors are different.

THIS:
orange,
green,
blue,
brown.

Standard:
Blue with White Bands,
Orange with White Bands,
White with Orange Bands,
White with Blue Bands

unless I'm completely ignorant that is completely different from your standard NTE5 fitting.

I'm rather confused lol. I think I'm gonna have to try and push a freebie off bt.

[merdat]

Well the brown and green in your pic are joined together and don't appear to be doing anything. The 'orange and blue wire' in the old white cable are 'teed onto the new white cable 'orange-wh--blue-wh' which is in turn connected on the same terminals to the grey cable which I would suspect is the incoming BT line . You appear to have a 'line coming in' and two white cables going away to different phones . If you check the other end of that 'old white cable' you will prob find that the brown and green wires are either disconnected or joined and not in use. The reason the colours are different is because the or-wh and blue-wh are the 'new' colour codes for the cable being used nowadays.

[gss03]

Can't you escalate your ADSL problems to your provider. When they ask you to do tests using the test socket you can report back to them that you cannot find your NTE5 box(or that your property doesn't have one). Surely then your ADSL provider can bump this to BT for them to get an Openreach engineer onsite to to do tests and install one gratism, or again escalate the job for someone to install it?

Buggering about with BT property (that junction box) is only gonna land you in hot water I'd have thought.

[killie99]

what you can do is fit an NTE5 right beside this box without BT getting upset http://www.clarity.it/telecoms/nte5.htm

[gss03]

what you can do is fit an NTE5 right beside this box without BT getting upset http://www.clarity.it/telecoms/nte5.htm

Yes, but the NTE5 box it the end point for BT - and all BT NTE5 boxes are BT Openreach branded.

To be putting in non-BT branded one is asking for trouble. Especially if your phone line goes dead and an engineer has to come out and fix it....and bill you!

[Stoo]

Ideally you need to get BT in via your ISP to fit an Openreach NTE5..

If you hunt around, there new openreach NTE5's available on the web, but neither I nor HEXUS take any responsibility if it's not fitted by a BT engineer..

What I will say, is that if your master is that old, the incoming pair is also likely to be as old, if not older, and could probably do with replacing by BT..

[killie99]

Yes, but the NTE5 box it the end point for BT - and all BT NTE5 boxes are BT Openreach branded.

To be putting in non-BT branded one is asking for trouble. Especially if your phone line goes dead and an engineer has to come out and fix it....and bill you!

Absolutely not true.

The demarcation point is the FIRST socket inside your house, and in this case it's the donkeys old little box in the photo above - hard to tell from the photograph what wires are connected where though. You could fit 50 NTE5 boxes in your property and it's none of BT's business and they won't give a hoot about them if they came to your property so long as you haven't tampered with the pair of wires on THEIR side of the first socket.

What I'd do is fit the NTE5 as shown in the link I gave above. If at all possible do not have any other extensions in your house and disconnect all those other wires in teh little junction box. Fit your telephone and modem/router to this NTE5 and if you need a connection to a computer in a different room run cat5e cable. This will keep internal telephone wiring to an absolute minimum, you don't need to get BT involved. There is also no need for an iplate if you use this set up. If you do need other telephone extensions then just connect wires 2 and 5, don't bother connecting the ring wire as it isn't used by any modern telephone equipment and again this excludes the need for an iplate.

[Stoo]

Looking at that junction box, it looks like you'd have to tamper a little with the demarcation point, as it looks like some of the extension wires share the same screw-down points..

Either way, it looks like a right mess in there, and you should be able to push your ISP into sending an engineer out to sort it properly..

[Antagram]

There's no point fitting a new socket on your side of the existing box, as it's still going to get fed by the ancient wiring.

As you are experiencing drop outs then inform your ISP. They will monitor how often it occurs and hopefully get BT involved who should replace the connection.

[killie99]

before you get your ISP to get OR to your property I would remove the hokey extension you have fitted (the one with the green/bown/blue/orange cable - that's alarm cable and should never be used for telephone extensions). If OR come to your property and that is still connected they'll claim the root of your problem is that extension and you'll get billed £125.

[oldboy47]

Do you get any noise problems with your ordinary voice calls? If so then report problem to BT (presumably your voice line provider) and they will resolve the noise issue probably by installing a new box and cable back to their distribution point. This in turn should improve your broadband service.

[Jay]

its against the law to touch the BT side of the network including moving or changing your master socket.