This topic

Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:18:54 GMT

Hi, My BT master socket is located in a cupboard in my hallway along with my router. I currently user powerline adaptors to link to my TV box in the lounge but recently I have been getting annoying picture breakup problems. I would therefore like to do away with the powerline adaptors and use an Ethernet cable to connect my TV box directly to the router. However at the moment this is not practical due to the position of the router.

My question is – can I get BT to make an existing socket in the lounge my master socket (to allow me to move the router here and connect the TV box to it via an Ethernet cable) without the need for additional telephone wiring?

And if so roughly how much would this cost?

Many thanks!

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

Bob1001 — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:54:35 GMT

@SteveG2460You would have to ask BT who in turn would have to ask Open reach to move the master socket, no idea of the cost. Any extension sockets are yours and you can either move them yourself or get someone else to do it.

HOWEVER

When I was rearanging things in the house I moved my router from the main socket to an extension socket and it worked just as well with no measured loss of speed, so it may be worth trying this first.

Depending on which master socket you have you may need to use filters if you don't already use them.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

Anonymous — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:43:08 GMT

I had our master socket moved from the hall to the lounge about 8 years ago. According to my bank records, it cost £128 back then.

Incidentally, in case anyone was thinking of doing it themselves, the next Openreach that came to the house for a fault had on his record where the master socket should have been.

I wonder what the "penalty" would be for it not being where they think it should be? 😉

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

licquorice — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:51:36 GMT

As @Bob1001 says, your router doesn't have to be connected to the master socket. If there is an existing extension socket in the lounge simply connect your router to that. If you have a filtered master socket (i.e it has separate sockets for phone and broadband), simply move the 2 wires that are connected to terminals 2&5 on the removable faceplate and connect them to the data extension terminals instead. If you also use a phone in the lounge, you will need to fit an external filter there.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Wed, 04 May 2022 11:20:40 GMT

Thanks Paul608085. Could you confirm that the move didn't require any additional wiring?

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

Anonymous — Wed, 04 May 2022 11:39:09 GMT

@SteveG2460

It did need a short piece of new cable.

The telephone cables, (and old BT Cable TV coax), in my area are fed underground, looping in and out of a box in the front wall of each house, underneath the bay window, that is accesible via a small metal door in the outer cavity wall.

Originally, the telephone cable was then extended to a socket in the hall via a tube that was put in when the house was first built.

I wanted the master socket moved to the lounge, on one side of the bay window alcove. The Openreach engineer cut the original joint in the outside box, and drilled a small hole through the inner wall of the cavity to feed the new cable through.

So in my case, barely 1 metre of new cable.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Wed, 04 May 2022 13:09:11 GMT

Thanks Paul608085. In my case I live on the first floor of a newish apartment block and the telephone cable comes up through the centre of the building and enters my apartment via a hall cupboard where the master socket is.

What I am trying to work out is whether it will be necessary to run an additional cable from the hall cupboard to my lounge (which would be very unsightly) or whether use can be made of the existing (hidden) cabling that obviously exists between my master socket in the cupboard and the existing phone socket in my lounge.

Sorry I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to these things!

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

licquorice — Wed, 04 May 2022 13:31:19 GMT

@SteveG2460 Did you not read my message 4?

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:39:01 GMT

Yes licquorice but I have no idea what "simply move the 2 wires that are connected to terminals 2&5" means.

I would like BT/Openreach to carry out the work which is why I would like the question I posed answered if possible before i contact them.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

licquorice — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:49:24 GMT

Perhaps not, but it answered the question as to whether extra wiring was needed or not, you already have a cable between the 2 sockets.

Does your master socket have separate sockets for your phone and broadband or just one socket and you use a filter?

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

Anonymous — Wed, 04 May 2022 14:55:17 GMT

@SteveG2460

Do you know who installed the hidden existing cable between your master and slave sockets?

It might be possible for Openreach make a joint between the two cables at your existing master socket, but they might not be happy to use cable that they did not install themselves.

If you are not confident with following @licquorice's instructions, then as that work would solely be on the customer's wiring, you might find it cheaper to get someone locally to do it. Try a web search foe "Ex BT Engineer" etc - there are a lot of them about!

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

licquorice — Wed, 04 May 2022 15:08:21 GMT

If @SteveG2460 has an unfiltered master socket, there is nothing to do. Simply unplug the router and plug it in in the lounge.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Thu, 05 May 2022 10:40:20 GMT

Many thanks for your advice Paul08085

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

licquorice — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:13:06 GMT

Why do I bother?

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

gg30340 — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:21:56 GMT

@licquorice wrote:

Why do I bother?

Some people just like to take the route that costs money because they think if you pay for it it must be the best route even if its not needed.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:28:18 GMT

Maybe if you were a little more polite people might listen to you.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

SteveG2460 — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:30:25 GMT

If that was directed at me you will notice that I thanked Paul608085 for his advice about contacting an ex-BT engineer and I will explore that route.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

licquorice — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:39:12 GMT

If you simply answered the question I posed, there is a possibility that you don't need to contact anybody and simply unplug the router from its existing position and plug it in the new, but feel free to continue ignoring my advice.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

gg30340 — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:42:56 GMT

@licquorice wrote:

If you simply answered the question I posed, there is a possibility that you don't need to contact anybody and simply unplug the router from its existing position and plug it in the new, but feel free to continue ignoring my advice.

I was about to post similar but you beat me to it.

Re: Moving Master Socket (without additional wiring)

Anonymous — Thu, 05 May 2022 11:59:12 GMT

TBH, I had assumed that @SteveG2460 would try just unplugging their router and moving it to the other phone socket before calling someone out - if they hadn't tried that already. (As suggested by @licquorice ).

OP: if you haven't done that already, then try it - you have nothing to lose, it will either work, (in which case, problem solved), or it won't, and you will just need to put the router back as it was and contact someone if you don't feel confident moving the connections, (post #4 in this thread), yourself.