Moving Master Socket

[Chromedome73]

Hi, currently my Master socket is on our bay window sill,I am wondering if it is possible to move it to another area ( maybe behind TV,still on front wall of house) as our router & cordless phone are cluttering up the window sill.

If so how much am I looking at & how would I contact BT about it?

Regards

[Keith_Beddoe]

You would have to ask BT to arrange an internal shift, and they would pass the task to Openreach. Not sure of the cost, but its likely to be around £130.

[CJT80 · Accepted solution]

@Chromedome73 

To confirm @Keith_Beddoe  post the cost would be £130 

See BT Price List Section 1, Part 12.

[Firefox1701]

Unless you're moving it to somewhere really inaccessible  ( and depending whether you want the wall chased out or whether you're happy enough to have the wiring visible externally ),  you'd almost certainly be better off paying a private engineer to do it.    I obviously can't speak for where you are,  but here,  it would probably be less than an hour's work and would cost between £60 and £90.

[CJT80]

@Firefox1701 

The engineer could be all means supply the poster with a secondary socket, but the master socket is the property of Openreach.  If it's moved by anyone else the poster risks being charged if it develops a fault or an issue. 

[Firefox1701]

Fair point.    It occurs to me that unless there's any prevailing reason that the master socket absolutely has to be moved,  it might be cheaper and arguably easier to just install an extension socket at the required location,  using a private engineer.    I'd even suggest that it could be a D.I.Y. job if the poster feels equal to the task.

[ukguy]

How would a bt engineer in the future ever know it had been moved?

They don’t record the location 

[Firefox1701]

I would suggest that that depends how  'seamlessly'  the move is performed,  either by a private engineer or by the original poster if he / she felt so inclined.    I would certainly think a private engineer would be capable of performing the move slickly enough that it wouldn't be immediately apparent to an Openreach engineer.    Personally,  I would most likely do the job myself,  or pay a private engineer if I was a bit more flush than I am right now.    That being said,  if the original poster wants to make sure the job is done  'belt and braces',  as it were,  and  ( respectfully )  depending on his or her financial situation,  it might just be better to pay the £130  -  albeit that that's probably in the order of twice what a private engineer would charge  -  and be done with it.

[Bob1001]

Much depends on how the external cable gets to the master socket and whether one in a new position can be wired back to the same point as the original or the external cable would need to be extended, if it needs to be extended it would be obvious the socket has been moved (or the original installation was "bodged", many of the early ones were)

[Hugh-Jampton]

There are so many experienced people that advertise as EX-BT staff.

If you just search ex bt engineer, you'll find some dedicated websites to experienced people.