Identifying and moving master phone and ethernet sockets

[Olly83]

We recently moved house and are in the process of redecorating.

I'm trying to identify which of the three located (so far) phone line sockets is the master, and also where/how the broadband gets to the box. I also want to know if i can change the box / faceplate for the ethernet cable. 

The line comes to the upstairs window... a portion of this seems to go into the master bedroom into a phone line socket there. it also loops back over the top of the bay window outside, down the wall and into the front room. at the moment this room is disconnected. 

The back room has this very clunky Openreach box which has a phone line and the broadband switch on it. a small cables comes out the bottom of this and through the floorboard under the floor. I do have access to under our floor, its a suspended floor with roughly 4 foot gap so I do plan to go under and see where this goes. At the moment i have no idea how this is connected or where. 

Basically, i want to replace the two downstairs phone line sockets with Crabtree chrome ones. I purchased a Crabtree 7784/HPC 1 Gang Master Telephone Socket Polished Chrome Black Insert but i need to know which one is the master, how do I find out? I will need to get another one, a secondary one this time. 

My second question is, can I replace the ethernet port with a flush new faceplate? If so, what are these called. And would I be able to do all this myself or do I need BT/Openreach to do this?

box in upstairs bedroomomfront room... Already disconnected and fitted crabtree master with 25mm backboxback room, single cable coming up through the floor, phone line and broadband socket

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Olly83 

Welcome to this user forum.

Who provides your phone and broadband service?

[Olly83]

Thanks. All with BT.

[Keith_Beddoe]

The master socket would be the first one that the line goes into. All extensions sockets must be wired to the back front plate of that master socket, and there must not be any wires connected to the line, before the master socket.

If you want the master socket moved to a different part of the house, you would have to ask BT to arrange an internal shift, which would be done by Openreach. There would be a charge for this. You may be able to find someone competent locally, who could do the work, but it must be done correctly, otherwise you could risk a visit charge if a fault develops.

Any internal extension wiring is your responsibility, and connected as shown above. It up to you what style of extension socket you fit, as long as its an extension socket, and not another master socket.

The reason for this connection point, is that once the front plate is removed, it disconnects any extension wiring and allows access to the test socket which connects to the Openreach external network.

[Olly83]

Hi Keith... 

Thanks for this. 

Unfortunately i binned the faceplate from the one in the front room, but i dont think it looked as complex as this. i suspect the one in the bedroom is the master, so will open that up and look. Do you happen to have a pic of the internals from an additional socket.

My post also discussed the one in our main living room, which also seems to double up as the internet socket that my modem plugs into. i need to figure out where the wire that goes under the floor connects to. This is my main priority as the room is being redecorated in Jan. I have crabtree plug socket so was hoping i could do away with the ugly big white box but i have no idea if that's possible, and if it is what i need to buy for that. 

Im afraid i know nothing about this... would this (the internet socket) be connected up to the master phone socket, or is it a completely separate cable?

[Keith_Beddoe]

The master is most likely the one that has the two sockets on the front, and the one where your phone and home hub are plugged into as that has the correct filtering components.

It does sound like a bit of a mess. Really the cable that comes in from outside, need to go directly to that filtered socket in the lounge. I doubt that there is a neater replacement that has all the required components to separate the broadband signal from the phone connection.

The latest master socket would be the 5C and the MK4 faceplate.

https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/helpandsupport/how-toguides/howtoguides/downloads/NTE5C_Instru...

[Olly83]

Well that newer socket looks a lot nicer and slimmer. id be happy with that on the wall, but i still need to figure out where this cable goes, and move it. we get a new floor put in in the new year and currently as you can see on the picture it simply goes through the floor board a few inches in from the wall. 

if you think that one with the internet switch is the main then that throws my theory out the window, as looking outside id expect the one in the bedroom to be the first one connected from the cable outside. 

By any chance do you know if Openreach have on record how the house is wired up. Would they know?

[imjolly]

Openreach won't keep record of internal wiring as that is up to customer and could be changed every time someone new has the house

have you tried taking of faceplate of what you think would be master and see what connections are there. Where does the cable that loops back over bay window go?

[Olly83]

hi,

not removed faceplates yet. will do tomorrow and i'll take pics. 

The one that loops back over the bedroom bay then runs down to our front room, through the wall directly into a socket. This is the one that i disconnected, and yet to wire back up. It did not disrupt the phone line in the living room or the internet at all. i dont have a phone in the bedroom so have never know if that works ok. 

I have found another socket in the hallway - again, cable goes under the floor. ill have to go under the dreaded floor to check these out. 

Can you buy the new openreach boxes, or any equivalent, as i guess there will be a hefty charge for them to come fit a new one.