Bare wires

[Alistairs]

I've just moved into a disabled property and I noticed when I was in the loft that the black BT wires are open and bare and connected to a white cable that runs off to a very old socket where my phone and broadband connects.

Am I responsible for this ? or is BT ? BT deny they would put the wires in like this and say I must pay the £100 odd for a new one to be fitted.

If I'm responsible can someone on here list what I would need to put a new extension in as this one must be 40 years old.

you can see the pics in my album
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[simonpolly]

B.t openreach are responsible for the cable up to the master socket,if its old it was probably done correctly when it was installed many years ago but has been moved,painted knocked etc over the years.If its not faulty then openreach will not fix it for free,if it was faulty when your line was installed/activated they should have fixed as part of the intallation.

 

[Paul_C]

Looking at the photos, it appears to be a 1980's installation which has been "messed about with" at some point after it was fitted. As Simon suggests, probably the place has been refurbished at some time and the lash-up extension you see is the result.

If you can't convince BT to fix it up under your new contract, it's probably easiest to just buy an NTE5 and fit it in the attic yourself to tidy it up, then replace the existing jack, since it's almost certainly a master jack.

 

[Alistairs]

Thanks Paul. So install the NT5 in the loft and then use an extension cable to the living room with a new socket ?

 

[Alistairs]

What kind of cable do I need ? to extend this from the loft ?

 

[Infidel]

Basically you have a bit of DW10 external overhead wire crimped to a bit of internal 6w from what I can see. There would usually be a box containing these but if you don't intend using the loft for much leave it alone, it's ok ish and shouldn't cause any problems.
If you want an extension buy an nte 5 and put it where your master socket is now and wire off that,(nte's are a bit bigger than the 2/1a shown so check you have enough space ).
Also if you decide to put the nte in the loft it looks like they have bunched the pairs on the black external cable (ie they have twisted together the white and orange as one leg of the line and green and black as the other) hard to tell from pic.
This is not a problem just strip back to the copper conductor and then terminate under the rear plate of the nte, these will be screw connections marked A and B so white and orange will go under A and green black under B
It makes no difference if you do it the other way around your phone will still work, as for voltage it's 50 v dc and you wont feel it unless someone rings you which is 75vac and you might get a tingle and smack your hand on something sharp nearby

 

[simonpolly]

Basically you have a bit of DW10 external overhead wire crimped to a bit of internal 6w from what I can see. There would usually be a box containing these but if you don't intend using the loft for much leave it alone, it's ok ish and shouldn't cause any problems.
If you want an extension buy an nte 5 and put it where your master socket is now and wire off that,(nte's are a bit bigger than the 2/1a shown so check you have enough space ).
Also if you decide to put the nte in the loft it looks like they have bunched the pairs on the black external cable (ie they have twisted together the white and orange as one leg of the line and green and black as the other) hard to tell from pic.
This is not a problem just strip back to the copper conductor and then terminate under the rear plate of the nte, these will be screw connections marked A and B so white and orange will go under A and green black under B
It makes no difference if you do it the other way around your phone will still work, as for voltage it's 50 v dc and you wont feel it unless someone rings you which is 75vac and you might get a tingle and smack your hand on something sharp nearby

Looks to me like its been messed about with,there is no whistler on the end of the dropwire,its like a black sleeve which fits on the end of the dropwire,the strenghing wires should be folded over and the sleeve fitted over the top,the idea is it stops them from slipping back up into the dropwire.If the pairs have been twisted together this is not good for adsl,it was a old trick lazy engineers would use when the dropwire was in need of replacement due to one of the wires being damaged,o/w is one pair,green and black is pair two and should only be used if a second line is fitted into the house.

 

[Alistairs]

I've managed to have a closer look and the wires are not bare they have like jelly crimps on both wires, so it is waterproof. Making me even more sure it was done by BT and not someones DIY.

 

[Paul_C]

Also if you decide to put the nte in the loft it looks like they have bunched the pairs on the black external cable (ie they have twisted together the white and orange as one leg of the line and green and black as the other) hard to tell from pic.

Hard to tell, as you say, but it looks as though it might be O/W connected to the CW1308 B/W pair and the G/B pair just hanging loose with their ends near one of the splices.

 

[bernardgreen]

I have seen a similar "joint" in a loft that the owner claimed was made an OpenReach technician to replace a damaged junction box.

If it works in your loft then leave well alone.

 

[TicklyT]

The average telephone network contains many cable joints like that. It's just that most of them are concealed by a junction box or a sleeve.

A joint like that usually gets stuffed into a plastic sleeve to keep the water out, and dropped back into the the joint box when the work is finished.

 

[simonpolly]

Thats a 31 series joint,its not a openreach one though,and where is the gdu(gas detector/monitor) ?

 

[TicklyT]

Without getting into the niceties, or otherwise, of U/G plant, the point I wanted to make is such a joint has about the same electrical properties as the OP's 'problem' joint. As one of many in the telephone network, It should have a minimal, if any, effect on telephony or ADSL performance, unlike the problems likely to be encountered if Cat5 or Cat6 structured wiring was treated this way.

 

[simonpolly]

Thats a fair point,his line will probably be crimped in at least 20 joints on its way back to the exchange,at least its the new type crimps and not the old type blue beans which can also cause adsl problems.