But BT/OR claim that the box is theirs and the home owner is not to "mess" with it so surly they must maintain it?

If not ill just buy my own and replace it and see if that fixes the line issues.

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

I need to know when and where the BT charge of £129.99 applies.

BT want an engineer to visit. but want to avoid the charge.

Is the charge applied just for the engineer to visit? Is it applied if he finds a fault in the house or applied if he fixes the fault?

If the engineer finds something and its chargeable to fix I want him to stop.

Might just need a new faceplate/nte box witch is up to BT to maintain.

AFAIK, it is charged if the fault is anywhere within your own wiring/equipment (which he will not repair) - in other words, it is a charge for a wasted visit.

The problem occurs where the BT Engineer cannot find a fault, which is then "assumed" to be outside of BT's control (hence they try to charge you).

This is the reason that everyone advises you go check at the Test-Socket, within the Master Socket (which eliminates the possibility of internal wiring or misc Equipment Faults) - plus arrange to also test it with an alternative known working Router and/or ADSL Filter (to eliminate these as possibilities).

I think I will get a new NTE Box fitted and replace the internal wiring and also get new filters and another known working ADSL router before calling BT out then.

Want to make sure 100% that the internal stuff is good first.

The demarcation point is the test socket, that the faceplate plugs into. The test socket and anything behind it is Openreach's.

The faceplate that plugs into it is yours, so that you can connect extensions to the terminals on the back of it. Or replace if you feel like it.

If you try to replace the back box/test socket, you could easily short out your line, killing it, and possibly damaging the exchange equipment. Could be expensive.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 08-Jan-14 17:51:12)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

If you try to replace the back box/test socket, you could easily short out your line, killing it, and possibly damaging the exchange equipment. Could be expensive.

Really? I'm not some "noob" who don't know what he's doing.

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

Really? I'm not some "noob" who don't know what he's doing.

But unless you're an openreach employee, they have no choice but to assume that.

Maybe not but can you disconnect the line at the exchange to ensure that anything you do at the NTE5 faceplate does not cause an issue down the line? A BT engineer can - and if they don't and something goes wrong then it is their problem.

You should not be replacing the whole NTE only the faceplate.

I'm sure I could change a light fitting or light switch without removing power from the circuit, (fuse or cut-out switch), but I certainly wouldn't try it. Similarly a qualified (house or other) electrician wouldn't, I hope.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 09-Jan-14 10:38:38)

Light fitting - yes, and have done. Light switch - no, and never would. The light fitting if the switch is working will not have live current. The light switch however does have live current and will give you a very nasty jolt.

The problem with the BT circuit is the end user has no way of disconnecting the wires at the back of the NTE from the BT network (unless they cut the cable but that would probably be an even more drastic and costly way to do it).

I doubt shorting the BT wires would do anything