I'm an ex BT engineer, the NTE5A socket that has been used to terminate
the incoming line was introduced to provide an interface between the BT
wring and the customers own wiring when the powers that be decided
people could buy their own extension kits rather than renting extensions
from BT. Technically, if you don't have one of these master sockets
fitted to the entry point of your service (cable or BT) then you are
breaking the "law" and BT could charge you if its found that you altered
the wiring and the supplier could charge you to put the system right and
prosecute for tampering with "their" wiring. In reality this (as far as
I'm awear) has never happened, unless some fraudulent offence was linked
to the tampering.
Whilst I worked for BT in '88 to 93, we did several up-lifts if old
cabling including installing new NTE5A sockets, so it might be worth
contacting them to see if they would update the installation in your
house. You could ask the engineer how much it would be to install the
extension in his own time... just don't mention I told you :-)
Malcolm
You only need three wires out of the six (or possibly 8) that are in the
cable. The line is normally carried on the blue pair connected to pins
2 and 5, with the bell cct being the orange on pin 3 (if memory serves
me correctly)
Hope this
Kroma wrote:
"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
BEWARE - you must disconnect the whole circuit from the phone line
first. This is normally done by removing the lower front half of the
master socket. If it has a one piece front, you're out of your depth
because you aren't supposed to touch it. Best plan then is to get it
converted by BT and then go ahead with the extension.
Ah - my master socket is a one-piece. Strange, as the house I've just moved
into was built circa 1990.
Will BT convert me to a 2-piece master socket for free?
I guess if I were to go ahead and touch the 1-piece master socket anyway,
I'd simply have to detach the wires and reinsert them after the job is done?
Actually, the wires in the master socket aren't fitted very well anyway as
when I had a quick look inside (before realising that it WAS a master
socket) one of the wires in position 2 fell out unbeknown to me and stopped
everything from working. It was simple to diagnose and rectify though. The
socket will be unscrewed again next week as I'm wallpapering and painting.
Daz
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