BT Telephone Master Sockets

[Psyclist]

Morning all,

My aging grandfather suffered a bit of a fall last week and somehow managed to smash the shodily installed BT master off the wall at the bottom of the stairs so their landline stopped working.

Fortunately my mother was due up there only half an hour later on so she called me and asked if I could go down and see if I could get everything up and running again which I did, but unfortunately, the engineer who fitted it, didn't bother putting a new knock-out box on or anything and has instead cut chunks out of the master socket casing itself which has weakened the structure of it and so it's now smashed and doesn't fix back onto the wall (not that it would have ever been particularly sturdy) so I've had to tape it up just to temporarily keep it together.

What I was wondering was is there anywhere you can buy proper mastersockets without having to pay BT to come out to do it because obviously they're not willing to do it for a cup of tea and one of my Grandad's Blue Ribbands Preferably a shop too so I can go and get one today.

It's a BT Openworld socket with two terminal blocks on it as pictured

Untitled

• Psyclist
• 2 Sep 2013
• 1

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[Nozzle]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/bt-nte5a-master-socket-384026

Is this the badboy you're after?

Nozzle

 

[Psyclist]

Maplin, of course! Always overlook the Geek store.

You're a star, there's a Maplin just down the road from their house. Thank you!

 

[Psyclist]

Actually I've just looked at that properly and it's not the right one. It only has one set of 3 terminals in that one whereas the one they have has terminals 1 through to 6.

 

[Nozzle]

I'm pretty sure the other wires don't have a function and aren't connected anyway. Three wires to the house, and only two anywhere in side. The other terminals are just somewhere to terminate rather than chop off or knot.

Nozzle

 

[Psyclist]

So in theory I should just be able to change it to a normal one with 3 terminals? I'm only saying 6 terminals because they're all wired up on this one at my grandparents house.

They have two extensions running from the master socket but that shouldn't make any difference should it as it would be the same three tails running to each extension?

 

[OwainDIYer]

BT ones have terminals 1-6

The Maplin one almost certainly has terminals 2-3-5 which are the only ones you need.

1-4-6 are not used for domestic wiring.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Terminal 3 isn't necessary with modern phones either.

I did hear that connecting 3 can have a detrimental effect on broadband speeds as it can act as an aerial and introduce noise.

 

[securespark]

But if you're only using it for the back box, none of that matters, surely?

 

[Psyclist]

The whole unit needs to be replaced.

 

[bernardgreen]

Terminal 3 isn't necessary with modern phones either.

Not all modern phones are 2 wire with internal bell capacitor. Some are 3 wire and depend on the bell capacitor in the master socket ( or in the micro-filter ) to supply the bell.

I did hear that connecting 3 can have a detrimental effect on broadband speeds as it can act as an aerial and introduce noise.

It reduces the ADSL signal by radiating some of it.

Separating phone wiring ( 3 wire ) from the ADSL wiring ( 2 wire ) by a filtered front plate on the NTE 5 is the best option. The radiation of the ADSL by wire 3 has been dealt with in modern filtered front plates by an inductor in wire 3 to stop the ADSL signal reaching wire 3

The original problem of the damaged NTE 5. Given that it was an elderly person falling and the NTE 5 was located where it might be damaged by or cause injury to a person falling then BT might be sympathetic to a low cost or free relocation of the NTE 5

 

[ericmark]

The old BT one was a duel unit that allowed you to connect extensions vie a plug in bit so if you want to test incoming line you undo two screws and unplug rest of house so you know if anything in house is causing a problem.

The bit your showing will have three wires that feed rest of house it's the bit that plugs into which has two wires for incoming telephone.

You would likely need to replace the whole box as the DIY models do not split like that. You can get both screw terminals and maintenance free like shown.

With replacement there will be 2 wires on terminal 2 and 2 wires on terminal 5 these are the incoming and connection to rest of house and one wired to terminal 4 to rest of house which works bell on non mains powered phones.

 

[ericmark]

I would personally call BT and tell them it has been damaged by the fall and ask if it can be moved to prevent damage in the future as clearly the phone needs to work for the guy to be able to call for help.

 

[Aragorn84]

You can easily buy "DIY" faceplates that are identical to the BT NTE5.

The maplin one is a rip off BTW, you can get genuine Openworld ones on ebay for about a fiver.

I would just change it. No point paying BT £££ call out fee for a £5 box you can swap out yourself in about 3 minutes.

 

[bernardgreen]

you can get genuine Openworld ones on ebay for about a five

More accurate

you can get genuine FAKE Openworld ones on ebay for about a fiver

Some of them are very poor quality with the capacitor breaking down and/or the filters being so far out of spec that they are not able to fully separating voice from ADSL