NTE5 wiring

I decided to remove the "ring wire" from my NTE5 yesterday to see if it made any difference to my broadband speed. I've done this in a couple of previous houses, with some beneficial effect, following guides both here and at kitz. I've also previously replaced an NTE5 with a -5a without any problems, so have some experience of wiring in these sockets.

However, when I took the front off this socket, I found that the wiring was completely different to normal:

orange wire connected to 2
green wire -------"------ 3
white/orange -------"------ 5

The white green wire was wrapped around the outer insulation of the incoming cable and the blue and white/blue wires are connected to the back of the rear part of the socket (the A and B terminals I think?).

The phone has always worked fine and the broadband speed is not bad (~4Mbps at a distance of 2.5km). I disconnected the green 'ring' wire from 3, since I was there but have a question.

Does this make sense to anyone or have I got myself very confused. I was expecting the blue and blue/white to be attached to 2 and 5...

Since everything works, does this mean that the cable at the other end is attached incorrectly? The socket is in an extension so presumably has been added later by wiring in from the original master. Or is it possible that I'm getting speech and data through the other, usually unused, wires somehow? I'm obviously not going to mess around with the wiring now, since it is working and don't BT (although I'm with Sky so not sure if BT have any 'jurisdiction' any more...?).

Faceplate

Back of faceplate

Back of whole box

Thanks for any light that can be shed!!

blue/white and white/blue look OK connected to the AB terminals assuming they are coming from the original master NTE5? The other wires are presumably going to a voice extension socket elsewhere in the property (?) and the colours don't matter if they are connected the same at both sockets - orange/white and white/orange will be fine. If that is the case then the green/white wire connected at terminal 3 would be the ring wire and white/green redundant.

It would be interesting to know exactly what's happening at the other end of that cable though?

Hi, for the modern digital telephone you now only need connections 2 and 5, the connection number 3 is the bell wire required for the old electro-mechanical telephone bell, it is better to not connect this wire as it can cause interference to your broadband connection.

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/wiring_info.htm

Wire (B) 48v DC Live.

Wire (A) 0v DC Neutral.

http://www.wppltd.demon.co.uk/WPP/Wiring/UK_telephon...

Fair enough, I think this is the master socket for the house but I can't get to the other end of the wire as it's suspended at the top of the gable end of the roof and I don't have a tall enough ladder.

Since it's all working OK, reckon I'd better leave well alone and not fiddle!

As mentioned, I did disconnect that green wire to hopefully reduce interference. I think it takes a few days for the rate adaption to happen so I'll keep my fingers crossed!!

Thank you both for taking the time to reply.

Edited by deleted (Thu 08-Mar-12 10:32:39)

You have a filtered faceplate so removal of the ring wire is completely unnecessary.

Well if it is the master then you had best screw it back on the wall and not mess with the AB connections on the back of the NTE5 - messing with the connections on the faceplate will be legit though

Have to disagree with the other poster and say that the ring (bell) wire is best disconnected if not required for your phone equipment even though you have a filtered faceplate.

Edit: do you have any improvement to sync speeds and throughput speeds if you connect the router to the test socket, via a dongle filter/splitter, with the faceplate removed along with those orange/white and white/orange wires?

Edited by 4M2 (Thu 08-Mar-12 10:58:44)

There is so much misinformation on-line it is just crazy.

The reason that disconnecting the bell wire makes such a big difference in normal installations is the ring signal is generated in the master socket by a simple capacitor. This capacitor quite happily lets the AC DSL signal pass and creates an imbalance. When a filtered faceplate is installed the original ring signal is NOT used it is disconnected. The filter removes the ADSL signal and then a new ring signal is produced POST filter so there is no DSL signal to pass on to the ring wire to imbalance the signal.

What you are saying is absolutely true but why have a bell wire connected that COULD cause potential RF problems if it is not required for the phone(s) currently in use?

So, you are saying the incoming cable goes back to the gable box ... which means the incoming signal on Bl & Wh/Bl is being fed straight back down the same cable using Or & Wh/Or. As there cannot be a phone there, those connections are not needed and as they will most likely be un-terminated there is potential for moisture ingress and issues that may cause so all three should all be removed.

I would also guess that the cable was NOT installed by a BT technician for three reasons:

1. The wires connecting to A & B have some rather long uninsulated tails projecting - how easily they could be shorted

2. The punchdowns on 2, 3, 5 are not trimmed

3. Backwiring is frowned upon and should only happen in exceptional circumstances.


And who has written on the back?