Telephone extension - dead phone line

[jamesc123]

Hi,

Please help!

We had an old master socket in the hall downstairs, and one slave socket hard-wired to upstairs. After intermittent problems, the whole system went down. So BT came and identified the problem as the internal wiring. While here he replaced the master socket with the new NTE5 type.

Ok, so to the problem.

I have since purchased a 4-core telephone wire from B&Q. I unscrew the faceplate on the master socket, and punch in the wire, using the proper Krone tool, just numbers 2 and 5. I then punch in the other end into an extension socket. It is a black, red, yellow, green coloured cable. And I ensured the same colours were punched into slot 2 at both ends, and same colour at slot 5 at both ends.

Now with this, I screw the master faceplate back in. I then plug in the phone into the faceplate and it works. However, when i plug it into the extension socket, the phone is dead. No dial tone.

Please advise.

James

 

[bernardgreen]

I have since purchased a 4-core telephone wire from B&Q.~~~~~ It is a black, red, yellow, green coloured cable.

Those colours are not the colours used in the cable you need. The cable you need is round and has blue/white, white/blue, orange/white and white/orange wires. Each wire is a single strand of copper.

(blue/white = blue with white bands or stripe )

If the cable you have bought is flat and flexible then each wire has several strands of copper. It does not make reliable connections with the punch down connectors.

 

[Paul_C]

If the cable you have bought is flat and flexible then each wire has several strands of copper.

I'd say that's almost certainly what it is. Much of this type of extension cord now comes from the Far East and uses the red/green/yellow/black North American coding. Quad station wire with solid conductors in those colors is available for internal use as well, but I can't imagine B&Q having any reason to stock it in this country.

 

[jamesc123]

Unfortunately, I bought A "Tower" brand cable from B&Q too, which had the Blue/White, Orange/White, White/Orange, White/Blue colours. I connect Blue/White to slot 2 at both ends and White/Blue at slot 5 on both ends.

Still dead extension. :S

 

[TonyW2]

Are you using the same phone and cord to check?
Does it work in the the test socket AND in the socket on the master NT5 front face plate ?
If it does, then either the extension socket is faulty, or the IDC connections are faulty, or the cable to the extension is faulty.
Try swapping the coloured pair used to another pair, and/or substituting another extension socket.

 

[jamesc123]

Are you using the same phone and cord to check?
Does it work in the the test socket AND in the socket on the master NT5 front face plate ?
If it does, then either the extension socket is faulty, or the IDC connections are faulty, or the cable to the extension is faulty.
Try swapping the coloured pair used to another pair, and/or substituting another extension socket.

Yes the phone works in the test socket and the socket on the faceplate.

I suppose I will have to buy a new extension socket, new faceplate, and new cable just to be sure.

 

[Paul_C]

Do you have any sort of test meter?

 

[jamesc123]

Do you have any sort of test meter?

As in multimeter, voltage test thing? Unfortunately not.

 

[Paul_C]

A quick way of checking to an extent then: Check that you have dial tone on a phone plugged into the jack on the NTE (via the faceplate, with the extension wiring connected). Disconnect the blue/white pair from terminals 2 & 5 at the extension jack, strip a little insulation from the ends of those two wires, and twist them together. Then go back to your phone at the NTE and see if you still have dial tone when you pick it up. If not, then you have a circuit via the extension wiring as far as the jack, so you need to be looking at the extension jack itself. If the phone at the NTE still works perfectly well, then you have a fault on the extension cable, or the connections on the back of the NTE's faceplate.

 

[jamesc123]

A quick way of checking to an extent then: Check that you have dial tone on a phone plugged into the jack on the NTE (via the faceplate, with the extension wiring connected). Disconnect the blue/white pair from terminals 2 & 5 at the extension jack, strip a little insulation from the ends of those two wires, and twist them together. Then go back to your phone at the NTE and see if you still have dial tone when you pick it up. If not, then you have a circuit via the extension wiring as far as the jack, so you need to be looking at the extension jack itself. If the phone at the NTE still works perfectly well, then you have a fault on the extension cable, or the connections on the back of the NTE's faceplate.

I had a dial tone on the phone at NTE faceplate.

I removed the wires from terminals 2&5 from the extension socket. Even while they weren't twisted together and unconnected, I still had a dial tone on the phone at the NTE faceplate :S

I then removed some insulation from the loose ends and twisted them together. Still had dial tone at NTE.

So what does this mean then. Problem on the faceplate IDC terminals? How could there be dial tone at the NTE faceplate without a complete circuit i.e. even when the other end of the wire had nothing connected and 2&5 weren't twisted together :S

Thanks for all your help on this matter.

 

[Paul_C]

I then removed some insulation from the loose ends and twisted them together. Still had dial tone at NTE.

That means: (a) the NTE faceplate is faulty, (b) you don't have good connections to the IDC terminals on that faceplate, or (c) your cable is damaged somewhere.

If the faceplate, connections, and cable were all good, then twisting the blue/white pair together at the extension jack should have shorted out the line, preventing the phone plugged directly into the NTE faceplate jack from working.

You could check the cable by swapping to another pair (e.g. connect the orange/white pair to 2 & 5 at each end instead of blue/white, then see if you can get dial tone at the extension). If you want to do a quick check of the NTE faceplate, take a short length of a single wire (an offcut from your extension cable), then punch it down to terminals 2 & 5 (i.e. bridge them together). When you plug the faceplate in, that should short the line, making it busy, and preventing any phone plugged into it from working.

If your phone still works with that shorting link in place, then either the faceplate is faulty or you're not getting good connections on the IDC terminals.

 

[jamesc123]

I then removed some insulation from the loose ends and twisted them together. Still had dial tone at NTE.

That means: (a) the NTE faceplate is faulty, (b) you don't have good connections to the IDC terminals on that faceplate, or (c) your cable is damaged somewhere.

If the faceplate, connections, and cable were all good, then twisting the blue/white pair together at the extension jack should have shorted out the line, preventing the phone plugged directly into the NTE faceplate jack from working.

You could check the cable by swapping to another pair (e.g. connect the orange/white pair to 2 & 5 at each end instead of blue/white, then see if you can get dial tone at the extension). If you want to do a quick check of the NTE faceplate, take a short length of a single wire (an offcut from your extension cable), then punch it down to terminals 2 & 5 (i.e. bridge them together). When you plug the faceplate in, that should short the line, making it busy, and preventing any phone plugged into it from working.

If your phone still works with that shorting link in place, then either the faceplate is faulty or you're not getting good connections on the IDC terminals.

ok thanks, I will try this. If it turns out the faceplate is the problem, seeing as BT installed it recently, would they replace it for free. I can anticipate the answer is a resounding no

 

[jamesc123]

I then removed some insulation from the loose ends and twisted them together. Still had dial tone at NTE.

That means: (a) the NTE faceplate is faulty, (b) you don't have good connections to the IDC terminals on that faceplate, or (c) your cable is damaged somewhere.

If the faceplate, connections, and cable were all good, then twisting the blue/white pair together at the extension jack should have shorted out the line, preventing the phone plugged directly into the NTE faceplate jack from working.

You could check the cable by swapping to another pair (e.g. connect the orange/white pair to 2 & 5 at each end instead of blue/white, then see if you can get dial tone at the extension). If you want to do a quick check of the NTE faceplate, take a short length of a single wire (an offcut from your extension cable), then punch it down to terminals 2 & 5 (i.e. bridge them together). When you plug the faceplate in, that should short the line, making it busy, and preventing any phone plugged into it from working.

If your phone still works with that shorting link in place, then either the faceplate is faulty or you're not getting good connections on the IDC terminals.

I tried using a single wire to connect terminals 2 & 5 on the faceplace and the phone plugged into the front of the faceplate STILL worked! So I am now looking to buy a new faceplate. any recommendations? Cheers

 

[bernardgreen]

I have never had any problems with equipment from

http://www.solwise.co.uk/telesun.htm

There are other suppliers.