LANDLINE SOCKETS

[TEG33]

BT engineer came to fix my broadband connection and had to fit a new MK4 box in the hall where the landline connection came in, everything worked smoothly at the time, have now realised that my bedroom landline does not ring when a call comes in, i can call out on it ok,and the hall phone rings ok.

I assume its because the new box is not compatible with my phone extension socket, is it up to me to get someone in to fix it or is BT responsible as they fitted the new box ?

[Keith_Beddoe]

I assume you are still a BT Retail customer?

Extensions are your responsibility. Its possible that the bedroom phone still uses the old "bell" wire, which is no longer connected through.

Is the phone in the bedroom an old one?

You can usually overcome this by using a microfilter in the lead to the phone, as this has the extra components  to pass the ringing current to the bell wire.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Also if you look behind the clip on fromt of the master socket, you should be able to see the extension wiring connected. Probably only two wires connected. Ignore arrow on picture, its the connector on the left.

[TEG33]

Many thanks for the info , will have a go 👍🏻

[TEG33]

Keith , the phone is not an oldie, have tried the filter option but still no ringing , will open the box as you advise , many thanks .

[Keith_Beddoe]

Your actual extension socket in the bedroom probably has all the wires connected, but only connectors 2 and 5 would be wired back to the master socket.

Older phones also need connector 3 (bell wire) which would normally be connected to the bell circuit on the master socket.

Nowadays, only 2 and 5 are connected as all modern phones have an electronic bell circuit which does not need a bell wire.

Internally a microfilter will allow the ringing current which comes down 2 an5, to be extended to connector 3 on the phone side of the microfilter, this was to ensure that older phones would still ring if a microfilter was plugged in. It also filtered the bell wire so it did not interfere with the broadband.

[Keith_Beddoe]

---

@TEG33 wrote:
Keith , the phone is not an oldie, have tried the filter option but still no ringing , will open the box as you advise , many thanks .

---

See if the bedroom phone works if its plugged into the hall. If it does not, then there is something wrong with it.

I know this may seem simple, but are you sure the ringer has not been turned off by someone wanting some sleep

[TEG33]

Outside cablesHallBedroomThanks for your time Keith, pic shows the outside cables BT rigged up,one to the bedroom one to the main MK4 in hall. The Mk4 box does as you said only have 2 wires, 5&2, connected,no others in there. The bedroom one i guess is outdated now and will that be the cause, if so what type of extension box is needed,MK4 again ?  Plugged the phone in the hall socket and it rings,so that is working. Thanks for any other advice .

[Keith_Beddoe]

Not sure, unless there is an issue with the MK4 master socket. Can you confirm that if you remove the cover on the MK4 socket, that you do not get dial tone on the bedroom phone?

Although the bedroom phone is not old, it still may require the bell wire to be connected, so you may have to connect that on the MK4 extension socket, as well as 2 and 5.

Take a look at the back of the extension socket, and see what colour is on connector 3. Then connect that same colour to connector 3 on the MK4 extension block.

That should extend the bell wire to the extension socket.

You should not need to replace the bedroom extension socket, you just need to check the wiring on connector 3, to make sure its connected at the other end, as it must have been before.

[TEG33]

Hi Keith, the bedroom socket has a red wire in No.3,guess i will have to re-wire the socket down to he hall box ,will get son to do it ( as he is a teenager i dont need to Google anything, as he knows it all !!).
Thanks for the good advice.