2 Physical Landlines and internal wiring

[mda99das]

I am an ex BT and Sky customer as in my area fibre is not going to be there until 2026 , and so I moved to virgin (which is fine for now)

From my understanding Virgin only offer FTTP if the openreach network has done the work, otherwise the last leg is done by cable using DOCSIS 3.1 technology which I understand is analogue / digital hybrid and there is a higher latency with this.

Ideally I want FTTP, but can make do with VM for now.

VM offer landline via VOIP, and I had to find where the main BT cable came into the house from the telegraph pole to the house, remove that connection, and then add the VM twisted pair that goes all the way to the router. That way all the internal phones in the house are fed the same feed.

I had 2 BT landlines one of which changed to sky, but there are 2 cables that come from the telegraph poles to the roof of my house. Will these 2 cables serve any purpose for the future. They have been there for about 30 odd years!

I heard that now fibre can be piped in over the telegraph poles in the same way.  The fibre cable is much thinner, can these 2 existing cables be attached to the fibre cable to give it more strength, eg a tree branch may hit it?

One final question is it possible to archive a number or reserve it just like a number plate ?

Many thanks

[Keith_Beddoe]

@mda99das 

Virgin have their own network, and do not use the Openreach network.

Openreach fibre does come from the existing poles, and the copper pairs are removed.

You cannot reserve phone numbers.

[iniltous]

As already stated VM is totally separate service to OR  , VM can provide  or upgrade service as the want to , their plans have got nothing to do with OR , VM  do in places use OR infrastructure using PIA rules , but if an area has VM cable and they upgrade to FTTP ( it’s not quite FTTP but close enough) it’s not going to use any OR assets 

If you  have two Openreach dropwires from a pole they remain  OR property ( even if not in use ) and shouldn’t really be touched by you or Virgin, in you had internal extension sockets and wiring , and you have rewired them to link upto the VM network that’s upto you, but the OR master sockets should not be used in this way, they should still be connected to the copper dropwires from the OR pole.

If you would only consider OR based service once FTTP were made available, then the existing copper dropwires would be taken down when OR FTTP was installed, obviously if you interfere with them now , it’s unlikely anyone would notice unless you used OR again before FTTP arrives, or you move out and the new occupant wants to use an OR based provider 

You don’t have any rights to a phone number , if it’s not currently being used , it’s ‘belongs’  number range provider who can reissue it to someone else if they wanted.

[mda99das]

That's very interesting about the master socket , didn't realise that it belonged to BT even though it was on my property.

My understanding (and correct me if I am wrong) the master socket had a circuit for the ring wire for old fashioned phones.  I have been using cordless phones since circa 1995.

When I first migrated to ADSL (Pipex internet) I read that the master circuit could interfere with the connection so given it was not needed, I removed it and spliced a splitter that fed all the internal phones.

Never really had any issues with my ADSL / ADSL2+ or VDSL although Sky's ping times were awful. VM is a huge upgrade to what I previously had.

Anyway the 30 year + BT cable is laying disconnected on my basement floor.

[iniltous]

A  master socket really only has two wires the A and B leg, where the outside line connects on the back of the socket,  the A and B being contacts connected to terminals 2 and 5 on the front , but often extra wiring to extension sockets had 3 wires connected ( terminals 2,5 and 3 ) sometimes called the bell wire as this originally was a bell tinkle suppression wire ( a legacy of rotary dial phones , as the ‘dial’ returned to its staring position the mechanical bell in old style phones could make an unwanted noise ) ….years later this third wire if left connected could affect ADSL performance.

Your  ‘interfering’ with OR ( not BT ) kit is unlikely to ever be an issue , unless you try to re establish your OR based copper pair service