New home - non-standard connection at master socket, missing face plate

[JimWells]

Hi,

First time poster - please be gentle.

I've just moved into a new home where the BT line hadn't been used for a while.  The master socket has some non-standard adaptions, and the face plate is missing.  Picture below, with and without flash.

After three attempts, the landline is working without an engineer visiting the house.  Which is good, but to be honest I'd be happier if an engineer had needed to visit.

Can a safely remove the cable that has been cut from the screw terminal block?

Is it possible to obtain a replacement face plate and screws, to tidy the whole thing up?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

[licquorice]

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@JimWells wrote:

Can a safely remove the cable that has been cut from the screw terminal block?

Yes, of course, it isn't doing anything.

Is it possible to obtain a replacement face plate and screws, to tidy the whole thing up?

Yes, from Amazon etc.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

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[iniltous]

Yes to both questions, but you may have to buy a complete NTE5 master socket to get the faceplate ( they are pretty cheap) , if this is where your broadband router is going to be connected , you could get a faceplate that’s filtered so you don’t need a separate ADSL ‘block’ filter , that will tidy up the master socket as a single unit, search something like ‘DSL  filter socket ‘

[imjolly]

Where is the working phone connected?  Another socket?

[JimWells]

you could get a faceplate that’s filtered so you don’t need a separate ADSL ‘block’ filter , that will tidy up the master socket as a single unit, search something like ‘DSL  filter socket ‘

Wouldn't a DSL filter socket require disconnecting the incoming cable?
Given the state of the thing, I'm not sure I'm brave enough for that!

[JimWells]

Yes, of course, it isn't doing anything.

Thank you - reassuring.

[WSH]

"Wouldn't a DSL filter socket require disconnecting the incoming cable?"

It shouldn't do.  The reason it looks a mess is because someone has removed the lower faceplate.  The socket you can see is actually the test socket.  You can get a faceplate of Amazon or somehwere that plugs into that and provides a phone socket + a DSL socket.  (It will also look a lot better too).

[JimWells]

Where is the working phone connected?  Another socket?

I'm using the socket in the picture now.  That picture was taken before I moved me, the phone and the router in.

[JimWells]

Thinking further, is it possible to work out what the cut off cable that is hanging out was used for?  

Looking more closely, I can see another set of unattached wires inside.  I wonder how it is working at all!

[JimWells]

Also in that picture, I can see that the face plate screws are not self tapers, as I had before.  Can anyone advise what size they would be?

Shame an engineer's visit wasn't needed - I would guess they carry stocks of face plates and screws!