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Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

steveb6 — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 16:07:56 GMT

The BT box on the outside wall of our house has 3 wires coming out of it going to sockets in different rooms in our house. We only use the socket in our living room so I want to remove the other two (wires and all) as it’s a mess.

Inside the two sockets i want to remove there are two wires connected (orange and white) and two floating free (black and green).

my question is can I do something about disconnecting the unused wires at the box outside the house (which would allow me to remove all the external rubbish as well as the unused sockets) or should i leave that box and just cutoff the wires at the two sockets and “lose” them in the wall.

sorry if this questions already been asked/answered but I couldn’t find anything.

ta Steve

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

Devon_Dave — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:10:14 GMT

You could remove the wiring however you would need to make the one remaining socket a main/master.

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

iniltous — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 17:18:24 GMT

If the three sockets were wired from the one point , rather than in series, that is ‘star’ wiring and isn’t very good from a broadband speed and faulting point of view, so removing the unnecessary wiring and sockets and only leaving one ( master ) socket may improve broadband performance as well tidying up the cabling

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

licquorice — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 18:33:25 GMT

Odd that the 2 sockets you want to remove have external cable rather than internal cable. A few pictures of the various locations and connections would help.

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

steveb6 — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 12:31:45 GMT

The external box looks like attached.

and the internal sockets like this

does that help in diagnosing? Thanks in advance.

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

licquorice — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 13:16:10 GMT

It should never have been wired like that. Just remove the cables from the external box to the extension sockets you wish to remove. Make sure the remaining socket is a master socket.

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

steveb6 — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 16:37:55 GMT

Thanks!

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

Devon_Dave — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:29:45 GMT

@licquorice Historically that is how wiring was done before NTE's came on the scene.

Even after they introduced NTE's I remember converting a star wired instalation by putting an NTE 5B in the loft with all secondary sockets radiating out from there.

Re: Can I remove old unused BT sockets in my house?

licquorice — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 20:48:36 GMT

In my day it was 40lb cc wires terminated in an insulator 16 with a lead sheathed lead-in cable to a block terminal 20/4 😄