FTTC Installed Today, Filters? Confused!

Hello.

So, I had FTTC installed today in my new build house.

- Master NTES5 Socket in my hallway (nothing plugged in)
- Secondary Socket Under the Stairs (had my Speedtouch ADSL2+ Modem plugged in there)
- Secondary Socket in the Living Room (Phone plugged in here)

I figured it would be pretty straightforward. I read that the new FTTC faceplate goes on the existing master socket. I ordered the '30m Extension Kit' from Plusnet which was supposed to come with the (Kelly Communications) engineer.

Before the engineer came, I drilled a hole under the carpet of my bottom stair, poked a bit of cable through to under the stairs to pull the 'extension cable' through here and made it all super neat and tidy with a bit of sticky trunking running from my master socket to the hole along the skirting in anticipation of asking the engineer to put the VDSL socket under the stairs.

The engineer came. I told him what I wanted, and he gave me a quizzed look when I said 'Extension Kit' - he didn't have an extension kit. Then he said the best thing to do would be to simply install a new master socket under the stairs. He put another NTES5 where the secondary socket used to be, put the FTTC faceplate on, plugged in the modem and that was that.

QUESTION 1: So, is the new NTES5 under the stairs my master socket now? The engineer did not touch the existing master socket in the landing.

QUESTION 2: I would expect my living room socket with my phone to terminate at the original master socket in the landing - I get that I would not need filters anymore if that socket had the FTTC faceplate on it. But what now? Do I need a filter on my phone? The Engineer said no - I don't really get how this works in that case. If someone could please confirm this it would be much appreciated.

QUESTION 3: Plusnet estimate that I should get 56Mb/s. Thinkbroadband Speed Test says I get 32Mb/s. How accurate are the estimates? Do you think this would be hampered by the double master socket shenannigans? Does Fibre take time to sync up like ADSL does?

Muchos Gracias

Sounds like a complete "what are removed during castration" up!

1) Unanswerable in a way, not in another way. I'm a bit confused as the "landing" to me would be at the top of the stairs, not the hall where you said the master was. But certainly having two NTE5s is a very bad idea. If he didn't do anything at all at the first NTE5 then it's a botched job and you probably have two masters.

2) It depends where the living room socket is supplied from. The extensions are possibly daisy-chained with under the stairs being the first and feeding the others. In which case he could have sorted out the filtering for it at the new NTE5. As he didn't touch the first NTE5 the first NTE5 would then be unfiltered.

But that socket under the stairs seems an odd place for one. Is it in a cupboard and you asked for it there as an extra from the builder?

If you remove the faceplate from the under-stairs socket, does the phone work into the living room and/or the hall sockets? Are there any wires attached to the faceplate?

3) It's quite unusual to be below the estimate at Day 1. Hampered by the wiring, almost certainly. Does it sync up, No. (Neither does ADSL except with Sky).

Ideally you open all the sockets, post photos of the internal wiring of each somewhere, and give us links.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 11-Apr-14 17:39:35)

All I can ask is what did you feed his horse when he was doing the work!

That is a real cowboy install.

What can the OP do in situations like this?

I see quite a few people getting a different level of competance when these engineers are installing fibre.

What's the procedure a person can do in this situation?

If it ain't been done right, and this sounds dubious at best, and if the extension kit was ordered through Plusnet. Then complain to Plusnet.

Trust me, the Openreach engineers are just as miffed with having to go round sorting out these pillocks work as well.

That's another "brand new unused" Extension kit for sale on Ebay then.

The way I see it there are two options, depending on how competent the person is and also if there are any issues before the existing master.

1. Complain to the ISP and get BT back to do the job properly
2. Do the job yourself.

Adding a data extension is very easy (but isn't everything when you know how), there's a guide in my signature.

If anyone wants to go the second route then it would be best to post pictures of the insides of the sockets so others can get a good idea and advise the best course of action.

I believe that at this stage the better option of the two is the first - get the ISP to get it sorted.

My request to the op for photos was so that we could first check exactly what the engineer cowboy employee of a cowboy company has done, so the OP knows what to tell his ISP. Not so that any of us could give instructions for correction of the mess. The OP should not try that.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The OP should not try that.

As I said, it depends on how competent the person is (with the type of skills required for telephone wiring), I know what I'd chose. With the right tools and a little bit of understanding installing a data extension is very easy, far easier than convincing an ISP and then waiting for the engineer to arrive.