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Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

Riley197 — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 19:54:45 GMT

Hi,

just had a look inside my master socket and I can see a wire is connected from terminal A to terminal 2 and terminal B to terminal 5 but has this been done?

should I remove these 2 wires to get a faster speed?

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

imjolly — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 20:17:49 GMT

Normally would not expect wires connecting the incoming openreach cable cone Ted to terminals A&B to have wires then going to terminals 2&5

Which master do you have

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

Riley197 — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 21:29:00 GMT

1. I’ve seen on google some people have a wire going from terminal 3 to A or B which is strange

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

imjolly — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 23:01:00 GMT

Terminal 3 is the connection for the bellwire and no longer required. If can cause inference problems with broadband and if connected should be removed

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

Riley197 — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 11:39:14 GMT

What about the 2 wires going from A and B to 2 and 5?

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

iniltous — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 12:27:29 GMT

All the sockets pictured, with the exception of No.4 are designed so that the A and B wires from the external network are connected to terminals 2 and 5 of the removable ’ consumer panel ‘ , only when the socket is assembled, ( a plug and socket arrangement connects A and B to 2 and 5 ) , it’s not actually polarity conscious so A to 5 and B to 2 works also ..the idea is that by removing the consumer panel anything ‘internal’ is disconnected from the line , so when being tested a ‘clean’ line is presented to the test equipment ….if you have socket No.4 , these don’t have the same demarcation point.

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

Riley197 — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 14:32:54 GMT

so in that case, why would an engineer have wires connecting from A to 2 and B to 5? Could this maybe affect noise on my line and affect broadband?

What other wiring situations in the master socket could cause issues like packet loss and noise for example?

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

licquorice — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 14:37:56 GMT

No idea why it is wired like that unless the master socket is faulty. Try removing the wires and see what happens.

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

iniltous — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 15:19:23 GMT

You still haven’t indicated the type of master socket you have , only No.4 should have A and B connected directly to 2 and 5, all the others the A and B connect is to the part of the socket that remains in the wall , and only extension sockets are connected to 2 and 5 of the consumer panel, if no extensions , you can either use the test port socket or insert the consumer panel and use the socket in that, if someone has connected A and B to 2 and 5 of the panel , it bypasses the plug and socket , so the panel would remain live even when disconnected from the body of the socket , making the demarcation point redundant , I’ve no idea why someone would do this unless the socket panel was faulty , otherwise when assembled the plug and socket would be making the panel ‘live’ anyway.

If it’s No.4 , then it could be you don’t actually have a master socket as such ( it’s an extension socket being used instead of a master socket ) or it’s a pre NTE5 type LJU socket….obviously if this is the only socket , then the A and B need to be connected to the part of the socket that a RJ11 phone plug would connect with…perhaps you could post a photo as how can wires on A and B ( marked as such presumably ) also be connected to 2 and 5 if not via a plug and socket arrangement .

If what you mean is that you do have a proper master socket ( any of the images apart from No.4 ) and that has the line from outside on A and B ( of the permanent portion that stays on the wall ) , and there is a cable on the removable consumer panel on 2 and 5 that runs to an extension ( or extensions ) that you do not use , so is it ‘safe’ to disconnect the extension cable from the consumer panel , then yes you can , if you don’t want extensions the consumer panel should not have any wiring on it at all.

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

imjolly — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 15:12:01 GMT

@iniltous

I think message 3 shows '1'

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

iniltous — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 15:13:06 GMT

sorry , yes No.1

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

Riley197 — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 16:28:13 GMT

Thank you for the reply. Very educational.

So in that case, could you give me an example of wiring within the master socket that may cause ping to increase or noise on the line etc

i have master socket no 1 as shown out of the 6 master sockets.

im convinced there is an issue with the wiring of my socket and there are other wires connected all over the place so I reckon it’s something to do with this wiring

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

imjolly — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 16:42:48 GMT

Can you post a photo of inside your master.

Disconnect any wiring to terminal 3 as that can cause interference

Are the wires connected to terminal 2&5 then going to extension sockets within your home?

Re: Wires in Master socket connected to A and B terminals?

licquorice — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 16:43:48 GMT

If you don't use any extension sockets, simply remove all the wiring from the master socket with the exception of the incoming external wires.

3 sockets on 1 wire

Riley197 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 13:39:41 GMT

Found 3 master sockets connected along 1 wire.

So imagine 1 wire. 3 master sockets have been attached to the same wire with no breaks in the wire so each master socket is connect on the wire on A and B.

Should this be changed?

Re: 3 sockets on 1 wire

iniltous — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 14:10:50 GMT

You shouldn’t have 3 master sockets, as the name suggests you should only have 1 master , the other 2 should be extension sockets , only the master socket should have a removable lower section , with a test port behind it, extension sockets should look like image 4.

If you don’t need extensions sockets , the easiest thing to do is disconnect them entirely.

The master socket should be where the line from outside appears , you would plug your router in there, ( assuming you don’t need the extensions ) this will give the best connection, if you need to connect the router in an extension socket the ‘quality’ and way the sockets are connected could impact performance.

If the extensions are required, they should be cabled from the removable lower section of the master socket ( image 1 ) not connected to the A and B terminals , so when the panel is removed the extensions don’t work, the only wires on A and B on the part of the socket remaining on the wall should be the line from outside….the extensions only need terminals 2 and 5 connecting , the first extension socket would have the cable from the removable panel of the NTE master socket , and the cable going to the last extension ( so 2 cables ) connected on terminals 2 and 5.

Re: 3 sockets on 1 wire

Riley197 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 14:30:48 GMT

Thank you.

out of interest why shouldn’t there be more than 1 ‘master’ socket? They’re doing extractor what an extension socket are doing?

I also have a house alarm which is supposed to connect to the socket but which terminals should I connect these 2 wires to?

thanks in advance

Re: 3 sockets on 1 wire

iniltous — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 15:31:41 GMT

A master socket has components that even without a ‘phone’ plugged in , present the appropriate conditions to the line , so should the line be tested from the ‘exchange’, it looks like an ordinary line, a standard extension socket doesn’t have these components, so could give a false ‘faulty’ test result if an extension socket were the only socket connected, using NTE5 sockets as extension sockets could cause confusion as to which is the ‘proper’ master socket ….also a NTE5 master socket gives the ability to easily disconnect extension sockets and wiring that neither Openreach or the provider ( BT in your case ) are responsible for…so should you have an issue , you remove the bottom section of the NTE , if the problem disappears, you know the issue is on something you are responsible for , so ( hopefully ) would not report it to your provider , if you did you run the risk of being charged for a call out.

Re: 3 sockets on 1 wire

Starwire — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 17:03:30 GMT

A British standard NTE5 and or LJU1 will have a 9v Capacitor, Resistor and some of the older ones also have Surge Protectors.

Openreaches Line Test Facility looks for the 9v Capacitor on a Fast Test, if it doesn’t see one then it’ll trick the Test System into thinking there’s a Disconnect on the Line. Although on some Long Lines of 10+ km it’ll not see the Capacitor even if one is there and Openreach Engineers will sometimes fit a secondary NTE, although it’s recommended they remove the Resistor.

Surge Protectors we’re removed from NTE’s a few years ago now as they were known to cause issues with Broadband Circuits and to be honest we’re absolutely useless as Surge Protectors anyway.

Ref to house Alarms, you’re technically allowed to connect it to the back on the NTE A and B Terminals, this is the only time Openreach allow this.

If you do chose to connect them to the front plate though it’s to Terminals 2 and 5.

Re: 3 sockets on 1 wire

Riley197 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 19:02:22 GMT

So if a capacitor isn’t found and the test system is tricked into thinking there’s a disconnect on the line, does this affect the connection in anyway ie lower speed/higher ping?

Are the other ways to trick the fast line test?

I don’t think my sockets have capacitors from what I can see…