External NTE?

Hi Guys,



Just moved house and I've been greeted with one of those external NTE's Can anyone advise what the usual process is for an FTTC install these days with an external NTE? I know zen do wires-only for FTTC however I am concerned that the external NTE will cause poor performance. Would this automatically qualify for an engineer install or would this be chargable?



Thanks in advance!

One pair of wires from the external NTE to a normal master with VDSL2 faceplate inside the property with any extensions running from this internal master should be the best solution.

So the question really is more about how the telephone wiring is already done in the house.

Hi MrSaffron,

The extensions are wired using twisted pair cable, I've had the a look behind the sockets and they all appear to be wired individually. The socket adjacent to the outside wall with the NTE has a cable and I can see the remaining two cables in there which service the other two extensions in the house.

If I mention this to my ISP will they book the relevant install for my situation or will I need to request an Engineer install to get the VDSL2 faceplate?

Many thanks!

Your choice with an external NTE, i.e. order engineer install (ISP may charge cost to them is £99+VAT compared to standard £49+VAT) or source the NTE yourself off Amazon and rewire everything to the optimum.

If it was just one phone socket in the house then a microfilter would have sufficed, if the other phone extensions are not needed you could just disconnect them at the external NTE

If he doesn't disconnect them, or alternatively wire through the walls to get to the faceplate of the proposed NTE5, he is going to have star wiring. On top of two masters anyway.

I don't like the sound of that.

Re the two masters, I'm sure there was a post within the last 12 months on how to "demaster" the external NTE. I haven't searched for it yet.

You need to discuss it with Zen. Plus I'd want it to be a real Openreach engineer, who I believe should bypass the eNTE and fit the NTE5+Filter+faceplate+extension connections (if the latter are needed). The nasty there is that the extension wiring is external as well. They may not want to do that.

Kelly's/Quinn's may just do as MrSaffron suggested. (See my reply to that).

After having had DECT phones for years, I'd be happy to sacrifice additional extensions. I think the best bet here is to speak to Zen and arrange for an Openreach install.

Just bypass the External NTE with jelly crimps and install a new NTE5 inside. That's what I did and it fixed a HR fault that several engineer visits had been unable to fix.

Thats what we would do .

A hypothetical question though btbert. What would you do if the user wanted those two externally-run extensions to remain operational? All I can think of would be to add a bit of cable through the wall to connect them to the NTE5A, but would that fall with the job spec?