Opinion on FTTC wiring

Hi,

I recently had BT FTTC installed, but would like some opinions on the wiring that was done in the installation.

Firstly, before I had FTTC installed, I had no master socket (for whatever reason). The phone line came in from outside, went into a small black box near my front door and from there went to two sockets, one a few feet below and the other upstairs. From the downstairs socket I was running a 15 metre RJ11 cable to my old ADSL2+ modem router in my living room.

When the installer came, he wanted to use the same 15 metre RJ11 cable to connect the VDSL2 modem. I objected to that, and he then ran a new cable to where I wanted the modem (in the living room), and installed a master socket there. The other end of the cable goes into the black box (presumably backwired). This cable is about 10 metres long (shorter than the previous cable as he managed to reuse an existing hole in the wall to get into the living room).

This is a photo of what's going on in the black box (I can't really work it out):
http://imgur.com/7NCsZXi
The cream/beige cable coming out from the top-left is going to the extension socket upstairs; the black one in the top-right is the phone line coming in from outside; the beige/cream one in the bottom-left is going to the extension socket below; and the white one in the bottom-right is going to the new master socket in the living room.

Let be clear in that I'm having no problems with the service etc. - everything is (currently) working fine and I'm syncing at 80/20. I'm just interested in what people think of the wiring the installer did - is it acceptable/normal? (I had expected him to put a master socket near my front door and run a data extension to where I wanted the modem.)

The modem appears to be an ECI rev B, though it was wall mounted and I can't seem to get it off the wall. However, I've got access to a Netgear DGND3700 which I managed to get Telnet access to and stats out of (but, couldn't actually get the Internet working, not that that matters).

Edited by deleted (Tue 26-Feb-13 21:20:24)

Think it is backwired, the gel crimps being a recent addition I presume.

Hard to tell when using a phone

hard to see to be honest, with a few dead end wires. Does the incoming phone line connect solely to one pair in the cable to the NTE via the screw connections ?

It could have been done better

OK - thanks. Good question. I'll try and have a nose, though I'm afraid to touch the thing in case it falls apart :/ I suppose it's not worth worrying about really.

These are the stats I got out of the DGND3700:
http://pastebin.com/bYAY8nNc
http://i.imgur.com/6i1md9O.png

Don't think I have much to complain about? (Though, I don't have much to compare them to.)

Edited by deleted (Wed 27-Feb-13 18:54:56)

Would like to see the same picture, but with the crimps moved to one side please. The incoming dropwire pair clearly goes on to the screw terminals, but it looks 'unusual' as the '1st' pair in the new wire going away is crimped through to the extensions. Could just be that he has used the 2nd pair as the feed to the NTE, would still like to see the screw terminals bypassed, there is clearly a little corrosion showing .......

Hi,

Thanks. Here are photos from both sides with the crimps raised:

http://imgur.com/uxSeqqM
http://imgur.com/AaWS1vT

So from those, the incoming line is indeed to connected to the NTE cable via the screw terminals?

Also just noticed that he seems to have lost a screw :/

Yes, as mentioned earlier, the installer has sent the feed down the 1st pair and back up the 2nd, backwiring IS frowned upon, but judging by your stats, it's not an issue. Apart from the evidence of corrosion on the screws on the incoming pair, theres not too much wrong with it.

Best advice would be to pop the lid back on, don't fret, and enjoy your new speeds.

Alright, cheers. Yes, can't really complain about the speed

Thanks.

In reply to a post by humm:

Alright, cheers. Yes, can't really complain about the speed

Thanks.

With those attainable rates you must be virtually on top of the cabinet.

By road, the shortest distance is 315 metres...

I was estimated 64.7 down/20 up.