Antiquated PSTN line jack preventing ADSL?

[jjmm1985]

Hello all
Long story short, we cannot receive the be broadband we signed up for. Inspecting the phone line, we don't have a conventional master socket. There are two black boxes (1 and 2), and after that two normal sockets (3 and 4).

According to this page http://www.buzzhost.co.uk/nte5.php we appear to have an early PSTN line jack, which on further research is not suitable for digital communication. Additionally, a number of wires have been cut for some reason.

Here are some photos:

My questions are these:
Is it at all possible to receive broadband through this setup?
Is it BT's responsibility to have this replaced?
If not, what do I do?

This is driving us mad! Please offer any thoughts and advice, no matter how small, anything will be appreciated. because I can't check the internet from home,Thanks in advance,
Jon

 

[Spark123]

The wires that are not connected are just spare cores. As a minimum you only need the two cores to the first box, then 3 wires connecting them all together.
Are you plugging filters into both of your sockets?
You can contact BT to see if they can check your line, however if there is no problem you may end up with a bill.

 

[Lectrician]

I would place the master socket you have labeled as 4 in place of the secondary labeled 3.

Only connect the blues to the 2+5 for now. And only the blues which come from the joint box marked 2.

The wires you say are "chopped" are simply spares.

The setup is old, but is wired correctly for analouge voice, as it would have been done back then.

Do as I have said above and try for ADSL on the socket. If it works, we can then discuss ways to get the second socket working.

 

[TicklyT]

There's nothing in the pictures that should stop ADSL from working.
You should have a filter for each device connected. Any unfiltered phone or modem can degrade the broadband signal.

I would temporarily disconnect all the wires from socket 3 except the pair of wires carrying the incoming line (the blue & white pair on 2&5, presumably from the box labelled 2), fit a plug in ADSL filter to the socket and try it from there. It's the same test as Lectrician's, just a different method.

 

[Lectrician]

There's nothing in the pictures that should stop ADSL from working.

I regularly find that disconnecting the ring wire from the master socket will allow sync of the DSL on fringe lines, and lines with poor quality.

By connecting those blues direct to a master we can see if this is the problem or not.

I do plenty of work adjusting telecom setups to accomodate ADSL.

 

[blondini]

What does the broadband service provider say? It's their service you are paying for, they should be pressing BT Openreach to check it and get it sorted.

 

[plugwash]

have you actually tried just plugging in the broadband kit and seeing if it works?

Yes in some marginal cases the arrangement of your internal wiring will affect whether broadband works (and it will often affect the speed a bit) but provided you have a half decent line you should be able to get broadband without messing with your wiring.

 

[Lectrician]

have you actually tried just plugging in the broadband kit and seeing if it works?

Yes in some marginal cases the arrangement of your internal wiring will affect whether broadband works (and it will often affect the speed a bit) but provided you have a half decent line you should be able to get broadband without messing with your wiring.

We get many calls to sites where DSL is not syncing. Re-working the internals sorts the problems. Maybe because of the geography of my area....

BT's initial spec was to disconnect the ringer at the master socket on installs, but BT found it too labour intensive to carry on doing this, especially with 'out of the box' broadband.

We find it a good earner sorting out DSL syncs.

 

[jjmm1985]

Thank you all, kindly, for your replies. Especially Lectrician

This may sound like a stupid question, but I haven't rewired a phoneline before; firstly do I require a soldering iron, and secondly how do I prevent electrocution? Or is it the case that the voltage is so low that there isn't a risk of that?

I'm all excited to try out this rewiring direct to the master (4) socket!

Also, yes I have tried everything I can with the broadband using the line as it is.

Thanks again guys!

 

[jjmm1985]

P.S. In order to temporarily disconnect the mentioned wires, is it just a matter of breaking the connection of the orange and green wires, and leaving the blues in their place?

 

[breezer]

no soldering iron required becuse there is nothing to solder too.
you do how ever need a kroning tool (maplin) electrocution is minimal, touch one wire at a time and hope no one phones you

 

[jjmm1985]

A quick googling shows me that a krone/kroning tool has something to do with Cat5, which is phone line wires if I remember correctly?
So it's essential to get one of these in order to do this? is it like a fancy pair of pliars?

Thanks again Lectrician, and for your quick reply

 

[Spark123]

A krone tool is used for inserting the wires into the terminals on the back of the telepone socket, some also cut the wires to length. You can get cheap plastic versions without the cutting parts for a few pence like this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=929&doy=26m8.

 

[breezer]

Thanks again Lectrician, and for your quick reply

[polite cough]

no.

this will do

 

[Lectrician]

http://www.millsltd.com/productDetail.cfm?partNo=C00-1039

Cheaper...

Many electrical wholesalers (certainly denmans) also stock cheaper versions of the 'expensive' kit, which would be fine for a light user.