Sky "Tech Team" Fitting NTE5C

Reported a BB fault to Sky which I was pretty sure was a line fault and needed Openreach escalation to resolve.

They insisted on sending out one of their "Broadband Tech Team" guys first (I guess they're trying to avoid Openreach charges for faults with customer wiring) who tested everything while he was here and agreed it needed escalating to Openreach.

While here though, he replaced my old NTE5 with an NTE5C.

It was my understanding that only Openreach were to touch the network-side of the NTE5 - do Sky have a special agreement for their guys to replace NTE5s?

A point that had crossed my mind a couple of times recently too.

AFAIK there is no 'special arrangement' they shouldn't be doing it, end of.

In one example I saw, the buffoon had fitted it on an extension after the true, and very obvious, true NTE.

Where are they getting these NTE5?

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Where are they getting these NTE5?

Amazon sells them.

Paul

I'd assume Sky have some kind of agreement with BT Openreach but I could be wrong. I am aware you can get them on Amazon, although I doubt someone at Sky is hopping on amazon and stocking up that way.

Out of interest; what do you do with older NTE5s that have brass machine screws holding face plates on when replacing with filtered face plates? I've used longer than supplied philips head self tapers since suitable machine screws are hard to come by. It works but does tend to chew up the threads in an older NTE5.

Perhaps one answer would be to replace the older NTE5 with a newer version that takes self tapers by a person suitably authorized...

A chum was chatting to a Sky bod by his van, said he had boxes of 'em ....

The filtered faceplates for NTE5A come with the longer screws needed.

I'm guessing they don't TBF, you would at least have imagined they would have briefed this out ....

On an SFI visit the CP selects certain modules they wish the Openreach SFI eng to check, Openreach can only bill against modules the SFI eng says they have worked on. On the SFI I referred to the option to work on the internal wiring had not been selected, so I'm wondering if the Sky bods are visiting, fitting an SSFP so as to stop this module being done by an Openreach visit ?

Just a thought.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The filtered faceplates for NTE5A come with the longer screws needed.

Sure, but are they brass machine screws suitable for an older NTE5? The supplied self tapers that come with, for example, Pressac plates are not long enough to adequately engage the brass threads in an older NTE5.

That's Pressac's and their customers' problem. If the screws they supply are unsuitable then whose fault is that?

When the Openreach engineer fitted mine, IIRC the packet he opened had two sets of long screws. He chose the set that matched the short ones he removed. I think the old ADSL-Nation XTE-2005 has two sets as well. I have one in the drawer upstairs.

Seems like any screws issues have been solved with the NTE5C/Mk4 combo - until they change the design again!

When the Openreach engineer fitted mine, IIRC the packet he opened had two sets of long screws. He chose the set that matched the short ones he removed

Yep, come the end of the month all the spares would be rattling round in the bottom of yer tool bag.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

A point that had crossed my mind a couple of times recently too.

AFAIK there is no 'special arrangement' they shouldn't be doing it, end of.

In one example I saw, the buffoon had fitted it on an extension after the true, and very obvious, true NTE.

This was agreed with CPs about 4 months ago. They definitely are allowed to replace existing NTE5s now with an NTE5c. Nothing dodgy going on, it's all legit.

Except for the final sentence of Zarjaz's post.

This was agreed with CPs about 4 months ago. They definitely are allowed to replace existing NTE5s now with an NTE5c. Nothing dodgy going on, it's all legit.

.....and yet Openreach didn't bother to brief this out to staff who might actually encounter it. Quality.

Exactly Bob.

Have sent email to PR team at Openreach for clarification

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

This was agreed with CPs about 4 months ago. They definitely are allowed to replace existing NTE5s now with an NTE5c. Nothing dodgy going on, it's all legit.

.....and yet Openreach didn't bother to brief this out to staff who might actually encounter it. Quality.

They did, how do you think I know about it? Have a search through editions of The Loop and emails. They definitely told us!

I would trust the sky tech guys over the openreach contractor who attended my property recently (not kellys, they were a whole new level of bad).

I had one master which required relocation. No extensions.

At the end I had 2 masters and star wiring, needless to say he redid the work.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I would trust the sky tech guys over the openreach contractor who attended my property recently (not kellys, they were a whole new level of bad).

Is that you would or wouldn't trust a sky tech guy?

Out of all the BT Engineers that I have come here over the years and there has been a few, there has only been just the one engineer that was useless and yes, they was from Kelly's, the rest have always been polite chatty and have done a very nice job.

The work the Kelly's Engineer did caused issues for over 3 years to a point where we lost around 2 to 3 Mbit due to their wiring.

So I had enough and re-wired and tacked down the whole lot (yes including from the BT80 to NTE5A) and I gained back my +2Mbit in speed.

And yet BT are aware of me doing this due to I told them on the phone that I would be doing it when the refused to resend an engineer to fix the bad wiring.

Paul

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Seems like any screws issues have been solved with the NTE5C/Mk4 combo - until they change the design again!

The new, self-tapping ones are intended to be used with the latest type of NTE5 plastic boxes. However, the type of screw is not a major issue, because if you have an older master socket, it is still possible to force these self-tapping screws into the threaded holes. That ruins the threads so to avoid this problem, you can purchase a pack of M3 machine screws from B&Q or other retailers. I'm not sure whether the longer screws should be 10 mm or 12 mm long.

In reply to a post by bob_lucas:

I'm not sure whether the longer screws should be 10 mm or 12 mm long.

For Pressac ADSL plates a M3 machine screw length of 25mm is required and for Mk1/2/3 plates 35mm.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I would trust the sky tech guys over the openreach contractor who attended my property recently (not kellys, they were a whole new level of bad).

I had one master which required relocation. No extensions.

At the end I had 2 masters and star wiring, needless to say he redid the work.

Contractors don't work on repair jobs.

In this context we are talking about repairs, an Openreach contractor (Kelly's or Quinn's) wouldn't have come to your house to fix a fault. They do installs only.

Some providers send out Qube staff, and as we've discussed Sky send their own guys. But they can only work on the internal wiring (and can now change the NTE5 also).

If the people who came round to your house mentioned Openreach then they must have worked directly for Openreach.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

If the people who came round to your house mentioned Openreach then they must have worked directly for Openreach.

Agreed: if the NTE5 and it's out-of-service resistor is removed from the circuit then any work done must surely only be carried out with authorization from Openreach.