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I don't know if BT'll do it free of charge

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They will, I've just had that done free of charge to replace an old "PO TEL" junction box.

I was expecting to pay the 'regularisation' fee that has been mentioned here before. Perhaps I struck lucky in enquiring in the days between Xmas and New Year. My enquiry started in India, but as I was gradually transferred to the supervisor's supervisor's supervisor's supervisor, the voice changed to English and I got a "no problem we can do that free of charge".

Perhaps the magic words from me were "I want to add some extension wiring and have nothing to connect to". That was also gleaned from here. I made NO mention of ADSL!

That is a "Plan 4" Jack socket, must be at least 25 years old. I would have a chat with BT about it, I think that they may look kindly on you, chances are that all the other sockets are the same.

extension sockets with capacitors are master sockets being used in the wrong place, unless its on a PABX with 2-wire circuits (probably where the confusion comes from) in which case the PABX extension sockets have capacitors.

Perhaps the presence of a spark arrestor is a better definition of whether its a master socket or not.

In reply to:

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All the ring wires will have to be disconnected.

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Be careful, that wiring all belongs to BT. It is only extensions wired into the front of a modern master socket faceplate that the customer is responsible for.

That is an interesting point because if there is a fault on a BT wired extension that you say appears to be BT property, they will charge for fixing it. Whereas if the fault is between the master socket and the cable entry point they will not AFAIK. That is not exactly compatible with the statement that all the fixed wiring is BT property. I would be grateful for a clarification on this.

In my case the line is now rented from TT and they may or may not be responsible for maintenance of the fixed internal wiring and LJU1s. I hope that I won't have to find out.

They will charge to fix faulty hardwired BT fitted extensions but should disconnect them for free.

Still not fair. If BT hard wired extensions are BT property then they should fix them for free. The fact that they will not and as you say will even remove them for free indicates to me that they should be regarded as customer's property.

The anamoly should be rectified by either BT accepting responsibility for free fixing of BT hard wired extensions or a free alteration to the latest type of master socket with a free linkage of existing extensions via a BT plug. That would be fair.

When did BT and fair ever get used in the same sentence.

I think BT installed extensions were fitted with a one year warranty. Outside that you pay them to fix it.

How many people have you seen taken to court over phone wiring issues ? Like RJ says the worst they'll do is disconnect the whole lot if there's a fault and you decline to pay them, you can then reconnect to the NTE5 when you have fixed it.

Hardwired extensions are not rented and so will not get free maintenance other than to be disconnected. Seems fair enough to me.

I don't know of many firms that offer free lifetime maintenance on their work. If you find a plumber who does, can you let me know?