Is there a building reg that controls where the BT master socket should and should not be placed in a new build?

Not happy where ours is and I wondered if I had any leverage on the developer to get it moved.

Nope. Is yours outside?

No in the hall way so close to the front door as to render it virtually useless.

I think that the legal owner is bt and therefore you have to talk to them. It’s part of the line rental agreement, I think. Don’t see why building regs have anything to do with it. Talk to bt, they’ll probably charge you to move it though.

You can normally move the master socket when the BT guy hooks you up. I had mine moved from the garage into the house

Our hook up was done remotely, no engineer visit was required.

I will talk to BT and find out the cost.

You can get proper fitted extensions run from the master socket pretty easily. Many electricians can do this quite cheaply.

A bit narked at the lazy design by the developers and that I did not think to get it moved before we moved in. We bought off plan before the house was out of the ground so changing the BT access point would have been a doddle.

Doh!!

A lot can depend on the entry point of the line into the house, BT will often only fit them up to 3m from the point of entry.
If it was a new build, are there not additional sockets already built in to the house that would just need connecting up?

Yes there are other sockets around the house, but surely they are just extensions of the master?

I was always under the impression you need to connect to the master to get the best broadband performance.

Oh my god……..of all the things to worry about!!!!!!

I was always under the impression you need to connect to the master to get the best broadband performance.

Naah it might have been once, but it shouldn’t be nowadays.
Go the the master socket, undo the two screws and remove the face plate. On the back of the face plate (not the bit still attached to the wall) and make sure only wires 2 (blue / white) & 5 (white / blue) are connected (anything else can be pulled out).
Then you should be able to have the router in whichever socket you choose.

It’s just copper cable, so good quality extensions properly wired should be fine.

A mate just bought a new build flat and his is in a similar stupid position. BT charge quite a lot to move it, enough that a discreet extension cable might be preferable to you.

Thanks bigyinn

bigyinn – Member

I was always under the impression you need to connect to the master to get the best broadband performance.

Naah it might have been once, but it shouldn’t be nowadays.

Then you should be able to have the router in whichever socket you choose.

I recently had Open Reach (BT) move my master socket from the hallway to the front lounge. Cost £137. The engineer dropped a new cable from the overhead line anchor down to the front lounge. He took the old cable out as well. Might have helped that I supplied constant tea and was his lacky / goffer.

I’d been having lots of problems with slow connection speeds due to extensions added to the back of the front plate. Even with nothing connected to the extensions and the modem router connected to the master socket, there was a drop in connection speed from 6mbs to less then 1mbs. I had no power to the hallway which meant extension leads trailing everywhere to be able to plug the modem router in to the master socket.

Make a hole in the wall behind it and turn it 180 degrees?

Don’t listen to BT if they tell you that moving the socket can only be done by a ‘qualified BT engineer’. Because that’s utter bullshit. It’s a simple socket which you can buy online for less than £10. BT will try to stiff you for £60 or something stupid, plus the call-out charge for the ‘engineer’.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bt+master+socket&aq=f&oq=bt+master+socket&aqs=chrome.0.59j61j0j5j0j60.2947&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=bt+master+socket&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ei=kvktUYyOB86LhQezwYHIBw&ved=0CAwQ_AUoAw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42965579,d.ZG4&fp=5bd5e56dc1717ad9&biw=1284&bih=742

BT like the master sockets to be near front doors, so they’re easy to get at. You can simply relocate it using more wire (easily available from DIY places etc) and a bit of connector block/telephone extension connector.

http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=5560

Or you can take an extension off the master socket and put it wherever you want. As long as BT can get to it easily, they won’t care.

There are actually just two wires that need connecting for modern ‘phone systems; a third is for an old-fashioned bell ringer, and the other two are surplus I don’t know why they exist. Wiring an extension in is a piece of cake; takes just a few minutes.

Broadband performance is down to the quality of the wire. Older houses have old copper wire which may have deteriorated and need replacing. But if it’s a new house, then the wire to the house should be fine, and any extension you install fine also.

I recently had Open Reach (BT) move my master socket from the hallway to the front lounge. Cost £137.

Madness. It’s a 30 minute job tops (Plus you won’t have to take a day off work waiting for them to come round. After waiting a couple of weeks when they next have a slot available for you). And will cost less than £20-30 in sundries. BT are proper shysters!

Just had mine moved from hallway to kitchen as part of my BT Infinity install.

I have a cable run on the outside of the house via hole drilled through the wall at the back of the master socket. Goes into the kitchen into new master.

The cable BT use has enough cores that they can back wire from the new master to the old socket, making it an extension i required, but I’ve not bothered with this.

I’d been having lots of problems with slow connection speeds due to extensions added to the back of the front plate. Even with nothing connected to the extensions and the modem router connected to the master socket, there was a drop in connection speed from 6mbs to less then 1mbs.

At a guess this is because of degraded internal cabling, possibly a degraded drop wire and / or corroded terminations in the DP at the top of the pole.
Nothing to do with the location of the master socket and presence of internal extenstions.
Oh and £137? Bend over!

when you open a BT master socket you’d be amaized how little there is ….

i dropped my master socket below the floor and stuck in an extension to the hallway for my answering machine and router phone instead of having it in the back bedroom.

exactly the same as we did in my parents house when we moved in 15 years ago.

Be warned – cock it up though and BT will charge you through the nose to fix it – if you can wire a plug you can wire a phone socket.

we have no issues with internet speed at all – our line is designated 2meg max as we are in the country and have no issues with streaming apple tv HD movies real time…. .

my neighbours on other network providers cant even do this …. .

only wires 2 (blue / white) & 5 (white / blue)

What a great colour coding system they’ve got – no chance of getting mixed up between the blue and white one and the white and blue one?

take a photo of the box when you open it.

refer to it when you wire it back up.

aye and was even better when my extension had a different colour scheme edlong.

ended up using the continueity meter to identify which colour came from which pin on the extension before wiring it in …. got it right the second time – which is more than can be said for my electrician who initially fitted it ……

I have a new build and the master socket is right next to the front door. The router is plugged into this and wall mounted high up, with the cable tucked into a bit of discrete trunking. If I was slightly less lazy I’d cut a hole in the wall.

However, plugging it into any of the extensions cuts the speed by about 3Mb, despite the fact they’re brand new and have screw terminals. So your mileage may vary.

bigyinn – Member

At a guess this is because of degraded internal cabling, possibly a degraded drop wire and / or corroded terminations in the DP at the top of the pole.
Nothing to do with the location of the master socket and presence of internal extenstions.

Nowt to do with the cable from the pole. New 2 years ago. The drop from the line anchor on the house to the master socket was 10 years old.

When I was testing different wiring senarios, modem plugged in to the test socket with nothing else connected = 6mbs. Connect the face plate, which contained the extensions with nothing connected to them, plug in the front of the master = less than 1mbs.

So, either run an extension to the ring main to get 240v to the hallway and connect the modem router there and then run ethernet cables to 2 locations in the house, wi-fi is not very reliable due to nice thick brick walls, or move the master socket and run on existing ethernet cables.

£137 was the lesser of the evils.

When I was testing different wiring senarios, modem plugged in to the test socket with nothing else connected = 6mbs. Connect the face plate, which contained the extensions with nothing connected to them, plug in the front of the master = less than 1mbs.

Bizarre. I’ve done exactly the same type of ‘testing’ and found absolutely no difference at all. Maybe you have dodgy wiring.

I’ve done exactly the same type of ‘testing’ and found absolutely no difference at all.

Whereas I found mine to be problematic as well. Solid connection in the test socket, flaky as a porny chocolate bar when I had the faceplate and (empty) extension connected.

Given that the extension was redundant due to getting a cordless phone, the solution was pretty self-evident.

Almost certainly poor or degraded internal wiring.
As I said check its just wires 2 + 5 that need to be connected, any other wires are likely to upset things. Often the bell wire (#3) will be connected and stuff things up. I went through this palaver and it runs pretty much the same sort of speed from all extension sockets now.

About a year ago my broadband stopped working. After many long calls to BT they diagnosed a faulty master socket. They diagnosed the fault by getting me to unscrew the face plate and plug in my line/broadband to the socket hidden behind the face plate, that worked.

They wanted(I think) £70 call out to fix it, but as I pointed out to them, everything now worked as I was plugged into the socket behind the faceplate. They told me I wasn’t allowed to do that, I had to pay for a call out to get it fixed. I told them to sing for it, it has been plugged in there ever since with no problem.

I know this doesn’t help the OP but hey ho.

Lazy design like that by house builders. As a buyer, you shouldn’t have to think about things like master socket location.

My MIL’s house has a smallish living room with 4 walls. Two walls have windows, one has large doors. That leaves only one wall for paintings or a mirror. Instead, the house builder slapped a thermostat right in the middle of the wall. 🙄

They diagnosed the fault by getting me to unscrew the face plate and plug in my line/broadband to the socket hidden behind the face plate, that worked.

That would be an ecumenical mater. Well no, it would be your problem, not BT’s. The socket you are currently plugged into is the BT master socket (well its actually the test socket). If it works ok from there its either a faulty faceplate or faulty internal wiring (depending on whether there are any wires connected to the faceplate or not).
You can buy replacements from B&Q (other hardware stores are available) for about £10.

And if you’re going to do that, you might as well kill two birds with one stone instead.

http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php

Best place i found a mastersocket(nte5) in a new build was in a downstairs toilet behind a radiator, and there were no extensions run by the builders.Or a new estate of 3 storey town houses the socket was in a utility room , no problem extension plates all over on next floors, but no cable had been run between them 20 odd houses had been built like that DOOOHHH