Moved house - wiring question.

Hi all.

I moved house on Friday and my Fibre and line get connected between 1pm and 6pm tomorrow. I'm only 180m from cab so should get a good speed!

The previous owners have moved the master socket themselves by the look of it and it's a right mess with several cables joined together with junction boxes along the skirting board - it is also 20-30 metres from where the cable comes into the house by the front door.

My questions - will the Openreach Engineer be happy to relocate the master socket behind my TV which is closer to where the cable enters the house? Is it better to have the master socket right where the cable enters the house and then have an extension to behind the tv or ask the engineer to put the master socket behind the TV? Will either make a difference to the speed I get?

Thanks in advance.

Less wiring is better for vdsl2 and removing spiders web with new master replacing first junction box is easy enough usually, as for new location depends on engineer

Warning behind tv can be a RF noisy location so not ideal for dsl modem

Thanks for that MrSaffron - I was wondering whether behind the TV was a good idea for the modem! Only reason I wanted it there was because of the SKY+ and Blue-ray player needing Network connections for online content. I'm chasing some walls out tonight so I guess I'll put some cat5 in and have a socket behind the TV instead.

I'll get the master socket installed the other side of the wall from where it enters the house. Only 1 hole to drill then instead of several

I'd advise not putting the master socket a long way from where it enters the house, and certainly not behind a TV. For me the best solution is to have a master socket somewhere near where the cable enters. I would then run a single, unfiltered extension to where you want to place a modem/router using good quality UTP cable. Any other extension should be from the filtered output of a VDSL faceplate. Cable quality is relatively unimportant for voice extensions. The only real downside of ethernet cable is that, compared to telephone UTP cable, it is a bit bulkier.

Note that, by using ethernet cable (4 pairs), it is possible to run both an unfiltered feed (for xDSL) and filtered feed (for voice) down a single cable which allows for the use of an extension socket with both voice and xDSL sockets should you required both services. That's technically superior to putting a micro-filter on the extension socket.

Note that with this arrangement, if you plug a modem into the master socket, the extension socket will act as a bridged tap and might impact performance a little at that point. So if you ever revert to a modem at the master socket then it would be wise to review the cabling.

Note that the UN-Filtered Socket is usually labelled "MODEM"

whilst the Filtered Socket is usually labelled PHONE.

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The Filter circuit is in the PHONE-only socket, to prevent the high-frequency VDSL (new) signals causing interference on the frequently elderly Phones, designed long before Broadband came along.


The Modem socket is totally unfiltered, as the recently-designed Modems probably have suitable filter circuits to stop the low-frequency "old" phone currents interfering with the modem operation.

This also applies to the Splittwer Dongles.

As suggested - DO NOT put the modem behind the TV or even close to it. There is a good chance there will be a lot of noise from the TV, DVD player &c and that could affect the signal.

I would put the master as close to the incoming point as possible and the modem close by. Then Cat5e to the various pints around the house.

As you are new in to the property the BT Tech should have no problems in installing a new master where you want it. As for the junction boxes, provided they are standard ones - keep hold of them them may be useful in the future.

Sounds like the best idea. I'm now planning on drilling the hole right next to where the cable enters the house and having the master socket put the other side of the wall in the lounge. This is only a single skin wall so the extra cable needed will be minimum. I'll have the phone and modem in the master socket and then run a cable from the modem up to my switch in the attic which will then feed a couple of network sockets behind the TV for SKY/Blu-ray.

I would have the master socket and modem immediately as they drop cable enters your house and then run a Cat5e/6 to your router location.

I did think about that BUT I think our 2 little girls (1 and 4) would unplug the cable from the master socket on a regular basis and DLM would have a field day on my line!!

At least in lounge, it could be hidden away behind the setee. Plus, there's no power out in the hallway where the drop cable comes in.

you can cut the RJ11/45 DSL plug off and just punch the two cores into the DSL extension bit by the test socket...

I've done that here!

Though I do use a custom made solid core cat5e as my DSL cable and not the horrible flat thing they supply with all DSL equipment.

Edited by mlmclaren (Tue 16-Jun-15 12:19:34)