Help with an Openreach MK2 telephone socket please

I had a fault yesterday on my PlusNet landline (no dial tone), so I called their dreaded support line. When I eventually got through, I was asked to remove the faceplate and plug the telephone cable into the test socket. There was still no dial tone, although some hours later it was reinstated.

However, in the course of removing the faceplate, one of the wires attached to the rear of the faceplate has become detached from its terminal. I am unable to re-attach this wire; I believe it requires a special tool used by an Openreach engineer. I explained this to PN support, and was advised that an Openreach engineer callout could cost me £50.

If I can get answers to the two following questions I reckon I can fix it myself:

1. I gather I need a "punchdown tool", but they seem to come in two flavours, namely 110 and Krohn. Which one do I need? Will this one do the trick? http://www.solwise.co.uk/telesun_krohn-tools.htm

2. The wire which became detached is plain blue in colour, but I'm not sure which numbered terminal it should go to (no. 5 is already in use, the other two are numbered 3 and 2) Can anybody advise?.

It is Krohn and the 55p one should be fine for a single connection.

The wire will be to terminal 2 (only terminals 2 and 5 are used in normal domestic wiring these days).

Thanks ian72 for such a prompt reply!

On a lateral thought - do you actually use the extension? If you don't use the extension that this cable connects to you could remove the other wire and just not have the extension at all.

Oh yes, the extension links to a base station, which itself has three further extensions.

Fair enough. At a pinch the cables can be pushed in with a screwdriver but it does risk damaging the wire and/or socket - the proper tool is safest.

You should find a local Maplin or B & Q will have them as well, but a few pence dearer. (No P & P though). Don't pay £9 or anything daft for a heavy duty one.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You should find a local Maplin or B & Q will have them as well, but a few pence dearer. (No P & P though). Don't pay £9 or anything daft for a heavy duty one.

I've ordered from Solwise, £1.97 including P & P, but thanks for the advice anyway.

At a pinch yes, but NEVER push the screw driver between the jaws of the connector as that will spread it and you never get a decent connection after that.

Indeed. Not something I would normally recommend but have done it a few times myself in the past (although these days I have a proper krohn tool that I bought for putting in some Ethernet cabling).

I found that using my better half's tweezers also worked OK (note they had flat ends not sharp chisel type)

Well, I ordered the 55p tool (£1.97 including P & P) from Solwise at 2:19pm yesterday (Tuesday), it arrived - via second class mail - at about 10.00am this morning, and by 12:30pm the job was done.

Whoopee!! Amazing how easy it is when you have the right tool!

Thanks to those who contributed to this thread.

A lot quicker than getting an OR engineer in. .

Oh, a slight saving as well?

Indeed !