Advice please on removing unused Openreach socket

[Safsnowball]

Hi hoping I’m posting this in the right place. I want to remove an unused Openreach socket which is in an upstairs bedroom. At the moment my phone and Broadband come from a socket in the downstairs hall. 

When I took off the box in the bedroom I was faced with the wiring shown in the picture. There is insufficient space to push the wires intact through the hole. My concern is that if I just cut the two black cables and push them through the wall I will be severing the connection to the downstairs box.

The wire from the Pole outside in the street enters the house near to the front bedroom.

We inherited this setup when we bought the house a few years ago, so I don’t know how it was originally installed.

Any advice gratefully received, am I better getting Openreach or an independent in to sort it safely?

[Keith_Beddoe]

Who provides your phone service at the moment?

[Safsnowball]

Thanks for response, it’s BT

[licquorice]

Unless you pay Openreach to move the cable from the pole to a new location, you are stuck with the current arrangement as those wires are feeding your connection. Do not cut them.

[Railwayman · Accepted solution]

Hi

Best way to deal with them wires would be to sink a single gang electrical box into the wall around the cables, house the cables inside as they are and put a screwed blanking plate on to cover them, all nice and neat and access to the wires should it be required

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@Safsnowball wrote:
Thanks for response, it’s BT

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You can need to ask BT for an Internal Home Move, and they will pass the task to Openreach. You would be charged about £130. They would move the main incoming line, to downstairs, and then you can fill in the old hole.

[NeilO]

Hi @Safsnowball welcome to the community and thanks for posting, @Keith_Beddoe is not too far off the mark but if you're asking BT to arrange for Openreach to do the work it's known as a socket move or internal shift. 

[licquorice]

@NeilO Would an internal shift also cover either replacing the drop wire or providing a weatherproof external join and new external cable to the revised location, otherwise the OP will still be at square one.

[NeilO]

@licquorice good point,  no that wouldn't be covered. If the location of the drop wire to the property needs to be moved to a new point of entry an external shift would be needed and they're more expensive. £193.05 including VAT. 

[Safsnowball]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I’m thinking that the idea of making the hole bigger and putting a blanking plate over which would allow subsequent access if needed, is the way forward.