We have an issue of broadband cutting out when on phone, and a noisy line until I tidied up the socket that I thought was the master socket tonight.

It transpires that the socket was not the master line, despite having a BT open reach face plate and separate phone and broadband socket.

What I think is the master socket is hidden under the stairs, with a grey cable incoming from floor, grey lump of a connection box and then a socket above. This socket is cracked and with an extension wired direct into the back, that I think heads to the lounge socket mentioned above.

So I cannot get a micro filter in the understairs socket, and don’t understand what is our kit and what BT are responsible for. I don’t want a mahoosive BT engineer bill, so what can I do to sort this out myself…

Up to the back of the master socket including the plastic face is BT the rest is yours. If the fault is past that then it’s your responsibility and costly. Take everything out of the sockets leave your bb connected and try speed testing, it gives a rough idea if it’s working well. New filters help but I’ve never worked out how the go wrong.

Trial and error but be methodical.

So the first, older and cracked socket that s the master is BT’s?

Take a look through some of the posts on a recent-ish thread of mine. Might be something handy in there.

First thing I would do would be to plug your router directly into in the BT master socket. Ideally unplug any extension lines first. If they are wired into the master socket just make a note of what colour wire goes to which terminal and pull it out. (To refit use a pen knife to push the wires back into the connectors).

The BT master socket is going to be the best line in the house. However, I would be suprised if it was fitted under the stairs. Normally BT put it very close to where the cable enters the house. Look outside for where the phone line enters the house. It will either come off a telegraph pole (older houses) or through the ground and enter about 40 cms off the ground. It will almost certainly be on the street side of your house. From there it should be possible to track down the master socket.

You could try fitting a modern BT master socket. You can get ones with build in line filters for ADSL (about £8 off ebay). That made a huge differnet to internet connection in my old house.

Photos might help. But that’s the norm any sockets past that are yours .

So the first, older and cracked socket that s the master is BT’s?

More than likely – they’re not very good at leaving any slack for customers to play with either… if there’s nothing plugged in in there it doesn’t need a microfilter, id open it up, check it looks tidy and then put it back together. I don’t get precious about master sockets, they are in your house after all..

This is the on I think is the master, with junction box behind. Micro filter in front is an extension that we unplugged.

IMAG1234 by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

Mmm, yes, messy. I know what I’d do but I’m a ‘what a man does in his own home’ type of chap. BT have inspected my handiwork from the soffit connection back during a line fault at the cabinet and didn’t say a dicky.

That’s even before buzby.

Put your box in that and run a line speed. Or packet data loss test. Leave it plugged in all night and test in the morning . If you keep unplugging your hub it will register as a fault at BTs end and they will drop your speed anyway to help keep the line at a constant speed.

If that was mine I would open the black blob recable from that into a proper master socket and ditch the other sockets but I don’t have a house phone just a router. Have you got power near the socket

Whip the extension out, phone bt

Get an email address of the person on the phone – send them that photo and say – having major line issues with cutting out and line noise.

Chances are they will come out and change it oot.

That things older than me.

Fault on the line can be anywhere between the exchange and the master socket. Phone your ISP and get them to start their fault process (which will likely result in Openreach being told to pull their finger out and send sn engineer out to test the line).

What you have is old – it would be better with the current master socket type, the NTE5, but like I say the fault may be elsewhere.

Im an engineer. From that pic im guessing the black wire is the feed matt? Without testing etc its a good bet that the old socket there is causing the issue. Is it green corroded on the back if you undo the screws and take a look in behind?
..or it could be the old black soapdish connector box.. again if its corroded or damp it will be causing you fone and adsl issues.

All needs to be sorted by an engineer. There could well be ‘outside’ issues but that crap defo needs to be replaced

Edit.. as already said, keep pictures of the old wiring.. plus any more of where the feed enters the house.

Thank you cheez0

You don’t have a “master socket” in the regular sense. The black ‘lozenge’ GPO junction box is the demarcation between what’s BT’s and what is yours. You don’t need to install a microfilter into that socket as there’s no equipment connected to it.

What I’d do is get on to BT, tell them the line is crackly, and that you want a Linebox fitting. You’re on a hiding to nothing with that lot. Ideally you want the box somewhere sensible and then do away with any extensions; you may need tea and biscuits to ply the Openreach engineer with. Once you’ve done that, an ADSLnation faceplate on the NTE5 will give you a high quality integrated microfilter that you’ll never have to faff with again.

You should read the thread spacemonkey linked to, it’s a similar tale. Of relevance is this:

https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/How-do-I-get-an-NTE5/td-p/24146

The price to convert a hardwired socket to an NTE is £25.00 (exc VAT) £29.38 (inc VAT) no visit charge for the engineer is applicable. There are however some circumstances where BT will carry out this work free, [if you’re on benefits or disabled].

Worst case scenario it’s going to cost you thirty sovs. As there’s a fault on the line, you might be able to blag it for nowt. It’s in their interests to give you a modern connection rather than sending out engineers for ephemeral faults every couple of weeks.