New BT customer

[licquorice]

Sorry, but its extremely simple and pretty standard these days. Developers are supposed to wire rooms back to a common point where the hub can be sited and then just patched to whatever rooms require service. You are just connecting your device to the hub indirectly via plugs and sockets rather than one continuous cable. At a mimimum you will require 3 Ethernet patch leads. One from the ONT to the HUB, one from the HUB to the patch panel and one from the room outlet to the connected device.

PS I am also a pensioner so please don't cite age as a problem

[licquorice]

Have a look here  for diagrams.

[JJ21]

Have you read the whole thread?  This all started because BT deactivated the ethernet and telephone extension sockets as part of the 'wonderful' new totally unnecessary Digital Voice service.  We were fully expecting them to be live and connected to the Openreach box but, no, BT had to mess with them.  Until @imjolly responded to me I had nothing from BT explaining that additional ethernet cables would be required or that the hub would have to live under the stairs as this is the only place it can be connected directly to the Openreach box.   It may be simple and obvious to you but it is not to me.  

[JJ21]

Very helpful but the first time I have seen this. Was not provided by Openreach or the developer.

[licquorice]

Internal wiring and connectivity is the responsibility of the customer. For fibre installations, Openreach provide an ONT which of necessity needs to be attached to an external wall. BT or other ISP, then provide a router to connect to the ONT. Any further wiring/connections need to be made by the customer. With digital voice, the Hub is also a DECT base station so further wiring for telephony is not required.

[JJ21]

As the purchaser of a new house I didn't have a contractual relationship with Openreach or, as it turns out the developer as this is a housing association property.  Neither provided adequate, or in fact any, information and the sockets were not labelled.   I only have a contract with BT.

Although BT have provided everything they said they would and promptly too - hoorah for BT -  they did not ask about the internal wiring or connectivity in the house.   They did not ask where the Openreach box was or what other connections were available.  They did not explain in advance that Digital Voice was the only option offered to us and that this would mean the phone and ethernet extension sockets would be deactivated or that we would need multiple ethernet cables, a DV adapter and multiple mini connectors to get the system to work.   This is a failure of customer service.  It's no good selling me a car if you don't tell how to put fuel into it. 

On querying why the sockets were dead, BT was able to check their systems and confirm that they knew there were working copper wired extension sockets installed in the house until they deactivated them.   I'd have been happy to opt out of DV and leave it until it has been thoroughly tested out on lots of other more tech savvy people than me, but I wasn't given that choice.

[licquorice]

Any Ethernet sockets in the house are absolutely nothing to do with BT and could not be 'de-activated', they didn't ask about any internal wiring arrangements because it is not their responsibility. If this is a new house, I would also be extremely surprised if there is a copper feed as well as a fibre feed.  Is there an Openreach master socket located anywhere near the ONT? Any phone wiring within the house would have been provided by the developer, possibly to facilitate extending the now deprecated forerunner to Digital Voice, FVA  (Fibre Voice Access).

[JJ21]

OK my error.  The ethernet sockets didn't work because we needed an extra ethernet cable to connect the ONT (note use of appropriate technical name!!!  ) via the internal network cabling to the RJ45 ethernet sockets in the house.  I admit it wasn't because BT had turned them off.  I am puzzled as to why this connection is not hard wired into the house, but it wasn't - we had to  use an additional ethernet cable not supplied by anyone else.

However BT did confirm over the phone that they had turned off the copper wire telephone sockets.  The email they sent and the Digital Voice literature confirms that these extension sockets no longer work once DV has been activated.  

The link you sent to the Openreach wiring guide was super useful.  We have now acquired an extra ethernet cable and managed to install a pared down version of Option 2 using the internal network cabling to relocate the hub.  We can now plug the hub into the ONT via the ethernet socket in the living room and the phone is plugged into the hub - they are no longer confined to the under stairs cupboard.   Both broadband and internet are working - hoo b**** ray!

As regards the telephone sockets and copper wiring, although this is a new house it was built to a spec determined several years ago - completion was delayed by the pandemic - and we were the last to move in in our street.  I understand Digital Voice has only been available for a short while so it is likely that all the houses also have copper wired telephone points in the old fashioned way or as you suggest to facilitate the forerunner to DV.  BT confirmed to me over the phone that according to their information we definitely had copper wired extensions but these had been deactivated due to Digital Voice being made available.  They offered a DV adapter which we could have used to at least get the phone into the living room, if we had had to keep the hub in the understairs cupboard, but that has not been necessary.  

I don't think we have an Openreach master socket and we definitely don't have a patch panel.  We just have two RJ45 ethernet sockets close to the ONT which are linked to the living room and the front door (???) respectively.   Very similar to Option 2 without all the gubbins at the top and over to the right of the diagram in Option 2.

I wish now we had got BT to come and set us up, because I am sure that would have saved a lot of aggro. However having watched all the videos it didn't seem necessary as they made it look oh so simple.

Now to tackle BT TV....  Many thanks for your assistance  and to @imjolly too