Old Master socket problem

I've got this old thing in my house.
http://i51.tinypic.com/2afn2uw.jpg

As you can see, BT's cable connects to 2 & 5 leaving me with 1, 3, 4 and 6

Does anyone know which two, out of those four that are left, should be used for an extension?
I've previously connected to 2 & 5 but that obviously makes the extensions masters and without surge protection.

Anyone help?

hello there, im andy, quite experienced with all this.

well in all the years i have done this i have never seen that socket, what you have is the old number 3 or 6 dropwire terminating straight into some sort of master.

firstly in order to run extensions you need to attach them on top of the existing cable 2 and 5, the other numbers on the socket in this day and age do not have any function.

you really could do with a visit from openreach as there is very little you can legally do with that, tbh you should not even be running an extension from it.

what is required is a bt80 to terminate the dropwire, then a length of 4 or 6 wire to the desired position and a nte5 type socket fitted. the bt80 will be required due to the fact all new openreach nte5s use insulation displacement connectors, these are not compatible with the dropwire. unless of course you can lay your hands on an old screw type nte

That socket must come from 1980, The circuit is just the same as more modern master sockets and was produced before it was decided to use more standard sized faceplates and sunk back boxes. I agree get it replaced, but hang on to it there may be someone willing to pay a few quid for it on e-bay.

all you need do is plug a splitter into the righthand side where the phone is and run your extensions from there
if you want to plug your adsl modem in there use a microfilter instead

Thanks for the quick reply Andy, you've confirmed my suspicions.

I do have a BT80 and new (unbranded) NTE5 ready to fit, but I was hoping that there was a way to rewire this into the existing socket should the need arise. I.E wire it to the extension side of the master so that if and when BT come round, they wouldn't bother me.

There obviously isn't an extension side to this master, so my choice is to pay £150 to BT to connect 2 wires to an NTE5 with the Openreach logo. Or DIY and keep the old master to reconect if needed, and think of a way to hide the extension cables and fixing holes for the new one which will be sited just above.

Is this setup of any use to you? See the section as quoted below:

Here's a small point raised by an observant punter recently;
An existing extension cable running from a non-NTE5 master might well also be BT property and thus technically you shouldn't be fiddling with that either. In the real world a visiting BT engineer is likely to flip if you've replaced your BT master socket illegally, and quite rightly so - but probably not be bothered with the extension cabling and what you do there. Technically then, if you're not sure about the ownership of an existing hardwired extension, and want to strictly adhere to the Book, you should add your own NTE5 to an extension cable that's plugged in to the real master. The choice, as always, is yours.

The above can be found towards the bottom of page.

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

Is this setup of any use to you

Unfortunatly not as I don't have any extension terminals in my master.
But that is how I'd want to be able to wire it if ever a BT engineer came to visit.

In reply to a post by sph70:

I do have a BT80 and new (unbranded) NTE5 ready to fit, but I was hoping that there was a way to rewire this into the existing socket should the need arise. I.E wire it to the extension side of the master so that if and when BT come round, they wouldn't bother me.

You might want to try "Openreach NTE" on a well known auction site. There's usually a few branded ones on there.

I wouldn't bother trying to keep that relic in place.

In reply to a post by sph70:

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

Is this setup of any use to you

Unfortunatly not as I don't have any extension terminals in my master.
But that is how I'd want to be able to wire it if ever a BT engineer came to visit.

Just pull the white plug on the right out and plug your extensions in there.

Thanks, Thats it.!

I'll find an old phone plug and wire it onto the A & B terminals of the Master and plug it in to the existing one.