Advice on new wiring please

Recently had CCTV installed and asked the installer to run some of the surplus external CAT6 cable from the external phone junction box to a purchased MK4 master socket to be fixed internally on the outside wall of the box room now being used as an office. The plan being to abandon all other internal phone wiring present.

Taking off the cover of the junction box I was surprised to see that the internal connection block was not being used as seen in this picture: www.cyberpictures.net/chestnuts/box.jpg

No issues, will just use new jelly connectors. Any suggestions of which of the colours of the CAT6 cable to use and at the master socket which way round on the connection block of the MK4 do the colours go? There will be no further extension wiring.

Helpful responses welcomed.

**you shouldn’t be touching that**

The screw terminals pictured should always be bypassed. HR central.

Use a twisted (together) pair in the Cat6, pair 1 will be blue/white use that.

Which way at the NTE, it doesn’t matter. Just on the back terminals of the NTE.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

**you shouldn’t be touching that**

The screw terminals pictured should always be bypassed. HR central.

Use a twisted (together) pair in the Cat6, pair 1 will be blue/white use that.

Which way at the NTE, it doesn’t matter. Just on the back terminals of the NTE.

But of course, unfortunately I understand that Openreach are not making house calls at present so its Hobson's choice to get the service where its needed now while we have to self-isolate.

Thank you for saying to choose a twisted pair, I probably would not have done so If you had not said that.

This task is not complex and should go quite smoothly!

Openreach are making house calls. But install work within properties is being done at a very basic level, first choice being to use the existing fit, second, provide an NTE as close as poss to the external feed, with power nearby.

Was it not possible to run the CAT6 from the A&B terminals on the back of a filtered faceplate, fitted to an existing NTE5, to a socket in the box room? I guess you are perhaps running the CAT6 externally though?

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Was it not possible to run the CAT6 from the A&B terminals on the back of a filtered faceplate, fitted to an existing NTE5, to a socket in the box room? I guess you are perhaps running the CAT6 externally though?

All existing wiring does not use the correct cable; workmanship is poor and clearly installed by someone least qualified to do so. It doesn't even have a master socket (a secondary was fitted) in the hallway! A plugin extension cable to the bedroom is currently used.

I have no doubt that abandoning all existing wiring with a simple external run on the outside of the house to a new 5C MK4 will marginally improve internet speeds.

The ISP said it would be quite a while before an OR engineer could be sent and said there would be charges which were unspecified. Obviously entry into the house would be necessary just to fit the master socket.

One thing to bear in mind is that if your Cat6 cable is going to run outside, it should be external grade. If it isn't, the jacket is likely to degrade with exposure to the elements, particularly sunlight.

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

One thing to bear in mind is that if your Cat6 cable is going to run outside, it should be external grade. If it isn't, the jacket is likely to degrade with exposure to the elements, particularly sunlight.

Yep, exterior grade CAT6 used. It's not nice to have wiring on the outside of a house for broadband purposes and CCTV but these technological features were unheard of when the house was built. I guess the future will see FTTP arriving at some time and maybe a mobile phone signal. Dream on in this part of rural England.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

I have no doubt that abandoning all existing wiring with a simple external run on the outside of the house to a new 5C MK4 will marginally improve internet speeds.

I'm sure it certainly will

Edit: I would check for a dial tone and do a quiet line test from the new NTE5 test socket before connecting up the router just to be sure that the circuit is OK. Best of luck.

Edited by 4M2 (Tue 02-Jun-20 15:15:53)

Maybe using external CW1308 cable (not CCA or CCS) rather than external Cat 6 would have been a better way.

In reply to a post by dect:

Maybe using external CW1308 cable (not CCA or CCS) rather than external Cat 6 would have been a better way.

Don't installers use CAT5e for similar (although internal) "data extensions" over relatively short lengths successfully? Or would you see potentially significant dsl issues with external grade CAT6 - the way the twisted pairs are formed or something else?

Is that the stuff BT use as drop cable as it looks familiar?

In reply to a post by 4M2:

In reply to a post by dect:

Maybe using external CW1308 cable (not CCA or CCS) rather than external Cat 6 would have been a better way.

Don't installers use CAT5e for similar (although internal) "data extensions" over relatively short lengths successfully? Or would you see potentially significant dsl issues with external grade CAT6 - the way the twisted pairs are formed or something else?

External CW1308 is what I would have expected the Openreach guy to have used on the network side of the demarcation point (if they had done the work).

In reply to a post by dect:

External CW1308 is what I would have expected the Openreach guy to have used on the network side of the demarcation point (if they had done the work).

Sure, that's what I have from an external junction box to the back of a relocated NTE5 - but I would like to know why you think CAT6 might be inferior.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

but I would like to know why you think CAT6 might be inferior.

Didn't say inferior, I said external CW1308 is what the Openreach guys would have probably used on the network side of the demarcation point.

In reply to a post by TrevorSP:

Is that the stuff BT use as drop cable as it looks familiar?

OP possibly has a few meters of this network stuff https://www.scan.co.uk/products/305m-lms-data-cat6-u...

In reply to a post by dect:

Didn't say inferior, I said external CW1308 is what the Openreach guys would have probably used on the network side of the demarcation point.

Sorry but I must have misunderstood when you previously wrote: "Maybe using external CW1308 cable (not CCA or CCS) rather than external Cat 6 would have been a better way."

In reply to a post by 4M2:

In reply to a post by dect:

Didn't say inferior, I said external CW1308 is what the Openreach guys would have probably used on the network side of the demarcation point.

Sorry but I must have misunderstood when you previously wrote: "Maybe using external CW1308 cable (not CCA or CCS) rather than external Cat 6 would have been a better way."

Sorry, I meant better by keeping more aligned with Openreach standards, so not to upset the next Openreach engineer that comes round.

In reply to a post by dect:

In reply to a post by 4M2:

In reply to a post by dect:

Didn't say inferior, I said external CW1308 is what the Openreach guys would have probably used on the network side of the demarcation point.

Sorry but I must have misunderstood when you previously wrote: "Maybe using external CW1308 cable (not CCA or CCS) rather than external Cat 6 would have been a better way."

Sorry, I meant better by keeping more aligned with Openreach standards, so not to upset the next Openreach engineer that comes round.

The job has now been done and to a much higher standard than the original wiring which is now redundant. There were no issues whatsoever; jelly clamps at one end and at the far end, terminating in a 5C MK4 master socket. The blue and white twisted pair was used. The biggest part of the job was screwing the pattress to the wall!

I would humbly suggest that the solid cores of exterior grade CAT6 were at least equivalent, if not to a higher specification, of CW1308.

Modern built houses are now flooded with CAT6 cabling which can be used either for DATA or Voice and installed by qualified electrical contractors. I have no doubt that the 'tail' to the DP point would also be of CAT6 ready for Openreach to come along to make the final connection.

I'm glad it's all sorted now.

Call me old-fashioned, but I really dislike the NTE5C master socket. It just feels cheap and nasty, which is probably because it's cheap and nasty. The SSFP (DSL filter) is knocked off the front too easily because the clips aren't very strong. I usually resort to white gaffer tape to hold the filter on.

I also don't like the lack of a place to attach the incoming cable to the back of the socket with a cable tie.

Or I wouldn't like it if I'd ever fitted one, which of course I haven't, obviously 🤥

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

I'm glad it's all sorted now.

Call me old-fashioned, but I really dislike the NTE5C master socket. It just feels cheap and nasty, which is probably because it's cheap and nasty. The SSFP (DSL filter) is knocked off the front too easily because the clips aren't very strong. I usually resort to white gaffer tape to hold the filter on.

I also don't like the lack of a place to attach the incoming cable to the back of the socket with a cable tie.

Or I wouldn't like it if I'd ever fitted one, which of course I haven't, obviously 🤥

I wouldn't like to say how many master sockets are used by Openreach in just one day, but clearly it's lots! So any manufacturing costs that can be saved by redesign will save a pretty penny. We therefore end up with something that is right on the edge of functionality and visibly acceptable (and maybe just below par).

I too was surprised that the incoming supply cable could not be tied down, but then again under normal circumstances it would never be detached from the pattress. I would say that its biggest oversight in design is that two sockets cannot be mounted side by side as you would then have extreme difficulty in removing the cover of either.

20 + years ago, I visited a plastic moulding company in Kent who were making the back box and faceplates and I could not believe how many were coming off the moulding line. The continual stream ran around 10 hours per day, 250 days a year!

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

I'm glad it's all sorted now.

Call me old-fashioned, but I really dislike the NTE5C master socket. It just feels cheap and nasty, which is probably because it's cheap and nasty. The SSFP (DSL filter) is knocked off the front too easily because the clips aren't very strong. I usually resort to white gaffer tape to hold the filter on.

I also don't like the lack of a place to attach the incoming cable to the back of the socket with a cable tie.

Or I wouldn't like it if I'd ever fitted one, which of course I haven't, obviously 🤥

The same as that .
I seriously dislike the way the supplied screws take an uncomfortably long time to screw into the cheap as chips back boxes.