Any BT Engineers on line?

I've recently moved up to DSLmax/maxDSL/whatever, and my line noise is somewhat variable. It might be down to a strange aspect of my house wiring, but unfortunately it's something BT won't help me with. You see I've got two Master sockets.

The estate I live on is about 25 years old, and the phone cables come up from underground to a "British Telecommunications" little plastic box on the wall. This box then feeds out left & right to two sockets in the house. BT on 151 have no record of a second socket, and refuse to admit we even have a second socket, even though I tell them it's not an extension, since it isn't connected to the first one.

I'm wondering if the existance of this socket (which is an old style oblong socket, not a newer white plastic one) is causing problems with my line. Can anyone on here avise me?

cheers

Dave

Unlikely that the old style oval box is causing any problems. You shouldn't have 2 master sockets, though. How many actual wires are connected inside these boxes ? Are they the NTL-5 type ones, with removable faceplates ?

The socket is a DPA1184/A, and it's definitely a master socket, as there's circuitry in there. 4 wires connected. I have a jpg of it with the faceplate off, but no way of posting it on here.

Why not upload it to tinypic.

Nice link!

http://i15.tinypic.com/2ryhc41.jpg

Since my last posting I disconnected the wires and plugged the modem into the master socket & got my laptop online. SNR jumped from 18db/15.5db (Upstream/downstream) to 21db/15db, and the bitrate jumped from 2624 to 3135.

Does anyone know if this socket can be "converted" to a non-master socket? I guess if I report it to BT they'll just come along & remove it, leaving me with a hole in the wallpaper and no extension within reach of my PCs. But if I leave it, I'm not getting the full potential out of my ADSL connection.

Bummer.

Edited by lorisarvendu (Fri 02-Feb-07 08:29:41)

that could easily be replaced with a standard extension socket, you can get a pre-filtered one or one with both ADSL and phone outputs from ADSLnation.com as well as Homebase etc.

Whoa there ! The picture clearly shows a spark gap and a ring capacitor - it's a master socket, and replacing it with a slave could stop the phone from ringing. The OP needs to get a BT engineer in to sort it out. Best bet would be to request a regrade to a new master socket. Don't mention the fact that you currently have two - the engineer will sort that out, and you can run as many extensions as you like from the NTE5.

P.S. We're not BT engineers - most of them lurk in the "BT Wholesale Implemetation" forum.

Edited by deleted (Fri 02-Feb-07 09:40:44)

Hi Zeb

What angle do you think I should take about requesting a new socket? I'm very cautious about phoning 151 because they always tell you they'll charge you loads of money if you waste their time. What reason do you reckon I can give for wanting a socket regrade?

but its on an ADSL line and will have to have a filter, so the capacitor is not required.

As the other master will have the other components I don't see an issue.

This is an issue that was recently debated in the forums, and I'm not sure anyone came up with a definitive answer. Your best bet is to talk to someone in BT Sales, who should be able to give you a quote for this work (if it is chargeable).

Yarwell is basically right - one master socket is enough, so you could replace one socket with a slave.