Master Socket direct to Underground Feed

Hi everyone,

I have purchased a new property and it looks like the master socket has been wired directly to the underground 5 pair cable. The previous owners have made what was once the external part of the property internal. They must have also removed the grey trunking (as all other houses on street have this) and buried the cable under the plasterboard. So not ideal, however I assume 90's houses didn't have underground ducting so hopefully doesn't cause any future issues

They have wired solid white (to A) and solid blue (to B). I believe this is the correct sequence, and way around for the 5 pair UG cable could anyone confirm please?

I would just like to check if directly wiring to the master socket will cause any problems, or speed reductions?

I was not planning on using BT however Virgin have said the house exceeds their construction costs so won't install so I'm left with ADSL on a long line

Yep, that�s wired correctly. In fact that�s the best way to have it for DSL on an Openreach line.

Cheers . That's good to know.

Do you happen to know if BT/OR are able to identify which of the remaining white cables pair up from the remaining four coloured cables? I might need to order a second line with speed estimates of only 8mb across ADSL?

I have twisted the 1st pair (blue and white) loosely together, however the remaining 4 pairs are straight so there is no obvious way of knowing which pair is which so I couldn't twist them together and thus coiled them in the back plate.

In reply to a post by gary333:

Cheers . That's good to know.

Do you happen to know if BT/OR are able to identify which of the remaining white cables pair up from the remaining four coloured cables? I might need to order a second line with speed estimates of only 8mb across ADSL?

I have twisted the 1st pair (blue and white) loosely together, however the remaining 4 pairs are straight so there is no obvious way of knowing which pair is which so I couldn't twist them together and thus coiled them in the back plate.

If there's enough slack, they can possibly cut back on it a bit, and the pairs will be revealed (they tend to stick together).

I would just like to check if directly wiring to the master socket will cause any problems, or speed reductions?

Yep that is how it should be, you got me interested though - how were you expecting it to be?

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 28-Dec-18 01:05:21)

Yep, easy enough. Stop fretting, let Openreach sort it if and when.

It�s not that they stick together, it is that each of the pairs have a slow twist on them.

As Mr.Bell discovered way back when, this slow twisting makes them a better carrier of the signal.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I would just like to check if directly wiring to the master socket will cause any problems, or speed reductions?

Yep that is how it should be, you got me interested though - how were you expecting it to be?

With some kind junction and then internal cable between the UG and NTE at a guess.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

I would just like to check if directly wiring to the master socket will cause any problems, or speed reductions?

Yep that is how it should be, you got me interested though - how were you expecting it to be?

Hi. I assumed behind the outer ducting was some form of junction box that the UG cable terminated to and that from this the cable was fed through the outer wall using the usual cable colouring for a master socket. Is this not the case? Here is a picture of the sort of thing all other houses on the street have (although they have the newer BT branding).

http://community.bt.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id...

Unfortunately the master socket wasn't in a good way as all the cables had accumulated building related dirt & dust all over the super messy grease used in the cable. Once I cleaned off the dust and grease this straightened out the cables. The cable protective layer is removed all the way to the block work so it's not possible to strip it back at all.

Broadband will be fine. I'd be more worried about the duct behind the plasterboard being properly sealed.

Your linked photo shows a connector bend no.4.

Yes, this usually houses the connection between exterior and interior cables. But occasionally, as in your case, the UG cable is ducted straight into the property.

What a shame you have cleaned the �super messy grease� since this is part of the cables protection, it also holds the pairs together along with their twist. In doing so you have most likely split the pairs on the the spares pairs. It�s not unfixable, but a pain in the bum.

Maybe best if you stop tinkering and fretting about it all now.

Surely at the DP end they will still be twisted together and by putting an oscillator or tone down the next pair (white and orange) they can be easily identified at the customers end.

Edited by deleted (Sat 29-Dec-18 10:54:59)

Hence all the don't worry about it, the Openreach person who visits will figure it all out if a second line is ordered

Sorry I tried to reassure the OP

Yep, but there�s a chance it might be do-able without visiting the DP joint otherwise.

Sadly in my day no one ever put spare pairs through from D-sides all the way to the customers premises so I always had to visit the DP joint. May be todays generation of engineers are more proactive with this. If so then I agree there are several ways to identify them at the customers premises without opening up the DP joint.