NTE5C & RJ45?

Good Afternoon,

So I have a SOGEA line being installed this week and with that I'm guessing an NTE5c master socket, My question is I'm going to be using a customer DSL cable (RJ11.RJ45) which I used in previous setup with a MK2 plate.

Can anyone confirm if the socket on the NTE5c is still RJ45 capable or am going to require crimping a RJ11 on the other end ?

I have a Mk4 faceplate mounted on a Mk5c socket for my ceased OR line.


I can confirm the DSL port supports RJ45 connectors.

Thanks, sounds promising, though from what I'm seeing as this is a SOGEA connection there won't be need/supplied a face plate.

You should be fine.


What is the actual cable type though? Is it two pair Cat5e?

Without a faceplate the naked 5c just has a BT master socket - the standard BS6312.


Surely OR would have some form of faceplate? Our Mk5c was installed with it.

If you already have the NTE5A with a Mk2 or Mk3 filter for the SOGEA line, that probably won't be replaced unless you need to use VoIP on extension sockets.

Full details about SOGEA installation, including compatible master sockets and faceplates, can be found at https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/content/dam/cpp...

I've never seen the VRI faceplate out in the wild, and I was on the BT SOGEA trial. Did they ever get produced in large numbers?

In reply to a post by jpm:

I've never seen the VRI faceplate out in the wild

They're nocturnal

Zarjaz may be able to answer your question but I'm clueless

Edited by caffn8me (Sun 31-Jan-21 19:13:02)

An RJ45 connector will fit a normal faceplate.

I’ll put my hands up, I don’t install SOGEA or G.fast ... it used to be my proud boast that I was trained to work on every single product ... CBA these days

In reply to a post by MHC:

You should be fine.

What is the actual cable type though? Is it two pair Cat5e?

It is a CAT5e using 2 of 4 pairs (Greens and Blues)

https://imgur.com/a/P2PIFFz

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

An RJ45 connector will fit a normal faceplate.

Cheers, should be smoth sailing on install day.

While your here Zarjaz, my property already has one active VDSL circuit but from the point hooks onto the house (OH Line) it currently crimps with an old aged figure 8 cable,

Obviously when my additional line goes on a new cable will be run from this point to a new NTE which I plan to have right above existing old school BT NTE is it likely (specially if I ask) that the existing line would be run through new cable too?

From experience, it can be worth getting some 2 pair RJ11 cables. Have noticed that when using 2 from 4 the result is not as good as 2 pair - don't know why.

For £2 each including postage, it is not longer worth making your own. RJ11 - 2pair Cat5e and he does them from 50cm up to several metres and in black or white.

Are you saying that from the eaves to the current NTE is a figure 8 cable, or from the pole to the eaves ?

Either way, if you request the additional service adjacent to the current, that ought to see the obsolete section (at least) replaced with a multi pair cable like CAD55.*






* all bets are off if you get a contractor turn up for the install

Is it possible to find a BT phone plug to RJ11? So I can plug the router direct into the OR Master Test Socket. See if that gets me another 100kbps! I guess fax machines may have had this in yea olden days.

Plenty of those around however they tend to be based on flat non-twisted pair cables so could make it worse. I've got a boxful somewhere

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

It is a CAT5e using 2 of 4 pairs (Greens and Blues)

https://imgur.com/a/P2PIFFz

...of which only one pair is actually used: on an RJ11 I believe it's the centre two pins. (Confusing because on a 6-pin BT phone plug, it's pins 2 and 5 that carry the phone signal).

In reply to a post by candlerb:

...of which only one pair is actually used: on an RJ11 I believe it's the centre two pins. (Confusing because on a 6-pin BT phone plug, it's pins 2 and 5 that carry the phone signal).

With the 2Wire brand ADSL hubs (and probably others) there was often auto sensing, with manual override, for either 2&5 or 3&4 on an RJ11 corresponding to 3&6 and 4&5 on an RJ45. Don't know if any current modems/hubs are designed that way, but I would guess they possibly are.

In reply to a post by MHC:

From experience, it can be worth getting some 2 pair RJ11 cables. Have noticed that when using 2 from 4 the result is not as good as 2 pair - don't know why.

For £2 each including postage, it is not longer worth making your own. RJ11 - 2pair Cat5e and he does them from 50cm up to several metres and in black or white.

Thanks but no need, I've been making my own for years, brought one from ebay few years back and it fell apart and my own have yet to let me down, put 5000kbps extra on the old line here the other day.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Are you saying that from the eaves to the current NTE is a figure 8 cable, or from the pole to the eaves ?

Indeed from the eaves to the NTE, looks like the pole directly at the front of my house was replaced a few years ago so now drops to houses where done.

Hopefully I get OR but got a feeling it might be Kelly.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

It is a CAT5e using 2 of 4 pairs (Greens and Blues)

https://imgur.com/a/P2PIFFz

...of which only one pair is actually used: on an RJ11 I believe it's the centre two pins.

Correct.

Agree there is plenty of rubbish out there, and the link is to one decent supplier! And at his prices, way cheaper than I could make them for allowing for my time too.

I will still suggest using 2 pair rather than 4 pair ... it also fits in RJ11/12 connectors quite easily.

Fingers crossed.

It’s a second line, and at present only a single pair to where the second line is required ... it ought to get fixed.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Fingers crossed.

It’s a second line, and at present only a single pair to where the second line is required ... it ought to get fixed.

We'll see I suppose, the only thing I can see the guy doing is changing the NTE, so I guess that'll be an ebay job.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Agree there is plenty of rubbish out there, and the link is to one decent supplier! And at his prices, way cheaper than I could make them for allowing for my time too.

I will still suggest using 2 pair rather than 4 pair ... it also fits in RJ11/12 connectors quite easily.

But mine is better.... because I made it lol,

I don't mind putting the time and effort in, that's why I put a boot on and made a boot the other end using a couple of layers of heat shrink, and its been tested without problems.

Can't say I struggle to fit Cat5e in the Rj11 tbh.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Fingers crossed.

So much for the smooth sailing, M.J Quinn engineer turned up.....

Looked at telegraph pole and said needs hoist because it was put up in 2006 and might not be safe.

Didn't want to complete any other work until he found out where hoist was because he wouldn't get paid and also apparently there is only one hoist covering west midlands and beyond and the 1 person who has it lives in Hereford.

Good work Openreach

The plot thickens...

So the engineer who just sat around in my road for best part of 2 hours reported back that a hoist couldn't be access and that parked cars stopped any testing. *BS* however was able to activate the service at DSLAM so he would get paid.

Openreach than said issue would be resolved by 9th, its now 11th, called ISP this morning Openreach come up with some baloney and now say will be done 22nd.

Now I might just sound like an annoyed customer, and I am, but not one person has even tested from the line back to PCP, nobody has even stepped foot on the ground within 100 meters of my house.

It's lucky I've a good 4G connection with unlimited data at this address, this countries work ethics have gone too **** and its not hard to see why.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Openreach than said issue would be resolved by 9th, its now 11th, called ISP this morning Openreach come up with some baloney and now say will be done 22nd.
...
this countries work ethics have gone too ****

I have to agree, my experience getting an FTTC line last June was similar. Multiple operatives saying they had attended and were unable to complete the job. Excuses ranged from unsafe pole (it isn't marked as such and there is someone up it every two weeks) to 'the installation was more complicated than expected and a higher skilled technician was required' (is dropwire installation not a basic skill?) to the good old 'nobody was home, please pay money for missed appointment'. It was only when I told the CP that there is CCTV to the property that would prove nobody turned up that they backed down.

Two weeks later, the fifth person to be assigned the job called me and even he was shocked when I told him he was the first to make contact with me in any way. He was asking what was wrong with the site, I said it's a quiet residential street and the pole is directly outside the house. Nice guy turned up, ran new dropwire, found pair at top of pole, connected up and was done in no time.

That wasn't the end of it, a further week went by when I was being told that the jumpering at the PCP needed to be done before I could get service, and that couldn't happen as there wasn't a DSLAM port available. No amount of telling them I had VDSL sync would convince Vodafone that wasn't the truth...

It's a single DSLAM PCP, and when it was eventually resolved the sync didn't even drop so it was connected to the right port all along...

There are some good people working for Openreach but my experience is about 1 in 5 (once you count subcontractors) are the people you actually want doing the work.

It was the same trying to get a noise fault on the D-side resolved, four people wouldn't listen to me and messed about doing things like changing the dropwire (twice - and it was only a month old) and simply abandoning the job. The fifth guy listened, said I made a lot of sense and rerouted the underground D-side pair. Sync rate doubled and line stable from then on.

Edited by ft247 (Thu 11-Feb-21 11:18:52)

Well the CP 'was' on it at the start but now they don't want to probe Openreach so tomorrow I'm calling to cancel.

At most its Openreach's loss and I've decided already having one FTTC line here that I'm going to just invest that monthly fee towards 4/5G services.

I've ordered a 5G phone today to carry on my 'hobby' of tracking 4/5G networks, my Pixel 4a is a good 4G device but with it running secure CalyX OS its limited on processing data, and I want to keep that phone locked down.

4G speeds on that are currently 100-200mbps down and 30-90mbps up just sitting in the home office so that's more than enough as backup and bandwidth boost as required.