Help explain my setup

[spmcgee]

Hello!

I've recently moved into a 1950's and could do with a little help explaining how our internet comes into our house. It's in a bit of an akward position and before calling Openreach to see about moving it I wanted to understand it first.

• Internet comes in off the telegraph pole, onto our house and down to the door in the image below via the black cable.
• Grey cable then comes out, traverses the house, up to the front bedroom.
• Then into the back of the master switch.

Does any one have any ideas of what is happening in the step down from the black to the grey cable? 

I'm unable to find where this is happening and I suspect the stairs have been built over the top.

(Forgive the cobwebs!)  Thanks!

[imjolly]

is there another socket/connector where the black and grey cables are joined/connected near the door?

[spmcgee]

Hi @imjolly 

No not that I can see. Where the cables go in/out, the stairs seem to have been built over the top.

[licquorice]

There will be a 'junction box' of some description that is now hidden. It's not really of any relevance if you intend getting the master socket relocated

[imjolly]

there has to be a connection between the incoming openreach black cable and the grey outgoing to router.  sounds like previous owners wanted the main socket moved from the original position at the door to upstairs and rather than run cable through house just went back out through wall and back in upstairs

[spmcgee]

Thank you @imjolly  @licquorice 

Sounds like I need to do a bit further digging and see if I can find this juction box.

Where I might want to reroute the line to is where the black cable currently comes in, so will be needed if OR come round.

[rbz5416]

That DIY bodge will have been done long after the house was built. So unless the staircase has been moved for some reason, unlikely to be covered by that.

[countrypaul]

Have you tried taking the front of that BT socket box off as it would be an obvious place for a joint (it looks lie quite a deep box), could even be that the grey wire is attached to the front so the extension can be easily disconnected by removing the front. 

[ScarletP]

This is very much like my parent’s old house.

Essentially the same set up was still in use three years ago when my mother passed and we sold the house, so I suspect this may be the same sort of arrangement here.

You have to remember that a house built in the 50s probably didn’t even have a phone line originally, let alone internet.  When a phone was installed, (‘70s, if I remember), the incoming drop wire went to a screw terminal junction box just inside the front door, with old figure of 8 cable*.  The original phone was wired directly into the other side of that junction box.  The thing is, years later, rather than remove the junction box the master socket was wired into it instead of the phone.  Later still, that was covered over with new plasterboard during a refurbishment.  (You’ve got to love builders).   I only know it’s there because I know the history of the house.   I bet this is similar.

I’m assuming the bottom picture is the bedroom window and fed by the grey cable on the wall.  I’m also assuming the window/door frame in the bottom of the top photo is the door.  If that is the case there will be a junction box hidden somewhere at the top of the door.  If anything was built up around the new door when it was put in, (PVC can’t be the original), I bet the junction box is underneath.

*Quality stuff.  About 10 foot of it was still in use.…still gave 40Mb/s though even though it must have been about 50 years old.