BT Master Socket Etc

Forgive me if this isn't the right place or even the right forum, I have tried BT several times today and over the years and always give up as call centres in India DO NOT WORK!

I have had a normal run of the mill BT line for years, sometimes with BT, sometimes not - at the mo - with.

A few years ago I ordered a second BT line, the engineer trolled up and wanted to trail a cable round 3 sides of the house (semi detached) to connect the second line where I wanted it. I didn't want this and was happy to rethink this new line thing. However the engineer said - shouldn't do it but would - that he could split the existing line and use one of the existing sockets as the new line .... so three sockets ring on home number and fourth socket rings as the new number.

I dont get that many calls, most conversations are on my mobile in and out, plus i can hear people normally or within reason. However it became apparent that people i spoke to had difficulty hearing me, the line was quiet. I was suspicious of this line splitting and / or whatever the engineer had done.

The second line was cancelled some time later and now i have one cordless phone plugged in and broadband via the master socket.

NOW ..... I am back with BT, after being messed about by Avonline Satellite Broadband. The broadband speed has supposedly settled after 10 days or so, I fitted a broadband accelerator plate and the speed dropped by 1mb.

I also noticed a wire or two not connected and despite trying to ask BT, the call centres barely understand what the problem is never mind trying to solve it.

Wiring in a master socket ....


1. No connection
2. White with blue bands
3. Orange with white bands
4. Nothing
5. White with orange bands + blue with white bands
6. No connection

Not connected and 'free' - Orange with white bands + white with orange bands .... one of these looks like it has been connected but isn't at the mo .... so might need to be?

Of these connections the source is Two cables coming in, to do with extension sockets i guess.

Cable One
White with blue bands - Connected to 2
Orange with white bands - Connected to 3
Blue with white bands - Connected to 5
White with orange bands - Loose

Cable 2
White with blue bands - Joined to a black wire
Orange with white bands - Loose
Blue with white bands - Joined to a green wire
White with orange bands - Connected to 5 along with blue with white bands from cable 1

I have no idea whats significant, if any of these relate to that second line and are deteriorating line quality, if the loose ones should be connected ....

Plus the broadband accelerator plug - should work yes? BT told me that it should add 1.5mb today but advised me not to use it ....confused

The iplate can only improve things if the ring wire is the reason for your slow speeds.

First step is to remove the master socket face plate i.e. like and then make sure that none of the phones work in the property, and then plug in the modem using a filter and see what speeds you get and in particularly what are the attenuation, connection speed and noise margin figures from your router.

You can use this calculator to get some feedback on the router numbers, and then put everything back and see what the corresponding stats are like.

Without pictures I cannot visualize what you are describing, particularly as its not clear how far apart you have taken your master socket.

Some close up images would be useful. And also a diagram showing which wires go to which extension socket &c.

Assuming those wires are connected to the back of the faceplate, all they do is supply the extensions. If you don't want extensions working, just disconnect them all.

If you want extensions working, you need to look inside the extension sockets and see what feeds them. Blue/white with white/blue is a pair and should feed one. If the extension has T2 white/blue and T5 white/orange that is a "split pair" and screws things up. T5 should be blue/white. (See later re IDC/Krone tool).

The orange with white bands may be a ring/bell wire - should be on T3 in the extension as well. Just disconnect it at the master, and at the extension if you wish but that theoretically isn't necessary.

Probably remove the white/orange from the NTE5 faceplate T5. That simply should not be there unless it goes to T5 of a second extension. Can cause mayhem. If you can't remove it without removing the blue/white I'd be tempted to cut it as near the terminal as possible, as re-fitting the blue/white should really be done with an IDC/Krone tool. If it does go to a second extension T5, then the orange/white in T3 may need to be in T2 to feed T2 of the extension. It depends if both blues are from one cable and both oranges from the other. If they are mixed it's a right mess and should be as I just described.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 09-Sep-13 23:20:38)