Old telephone cable and master socket

Hello. I'm new here and wonder if some kind person could help me.

The telephone drop cable from outside my home to my master LJ2/1A phone socket is very old. It is irregular in shape but was apparently 4.5mm diameter originally. As there's a bit of a hum on my phone, and the broadband could be faster and more reliable, my question is, is this narrow drop cable normal or can I demand that BT change cable and socket free of charge? The line is rented from BT.

Alternatively: I'm with TalkTalk. If I were to sign up for a faster broadband, might TalkTalk or another ISP upgrade the cable and master socket at no extra charge?

You can report a fault and if outside voice parameters they will try to fix

If by faster you mean fibre they may be more likely to upgrade if wire is showing faults. Old copper is not in itself a problem copper is a very stable metal it is condition of joints that sre usual issue.

All depends on what shows up with remote testing

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

You can report a fault and if outside voice parameters they will try to fix

If by faster you mean fibre they may be more likely to upgrade if wire is showing faults. Old copper is not in itself a problem copper is a very stable metal it is condition of joints that sre usual issue.

All depends on what shows up with remote testing

Thanks for your reply.
BT tested remotely and found no fault, so maybe that bit of noise on the line is my side of the master socket. I hadn't considered fibre-optic, but I'm wanting to replace my home wiring with cat 5e cable, and It seems hard to believe that that somewhat ill-treated old c.4.5mm drop cable is going to deliver a signal that will realise the potential of the 5e cable for broadband purposes. Then there's the ancient LJ2/1A socket which, if I'm to stick to BT's rules, I have to pay them (or in some other way induce them) to replace with a two-parter before I'm allowed to rewire my place. I'd take the risk and replace the socket myself, but that BT drop wire bothers me: despite it being likely OK for telephone purposes, is it certified good enough for broadband or, having upgraded the master socket, will I find myself calling them in to upgrade the drop cable, and them obliging me to pay for illicitly changing their master socket?

I suppose the main question boils down to: if the BT line test from the exchange say there's no fault on the line, does that certify that drop cable as perfectly adequate for broadband operation?

Of course technically you shouldn't change the master socket yourself. However genuine Openreach NTE5a sockets are available (plenty on eBay) and provided you do a neat job of installing it (get it on the wall straight, use the cable retainer zip-tie thing, don't short the incoming pair during the changeover) no-one will ever be any the wiser. It's only a case of a couple of screws to hold it to the wall and connecting two cores from the drop wire to the main A and B terminals at the rear of the socket (carefully fold any surplus pairs out of the way, don't cut them back).

Get a cheapy IDC punch down tool for connecting your new internal wiring to the extension connections on the faceplate and you are good to go.

As for "certified good enough for broadband" - unfotunately there is no onus on Openreach to provide a line that can support broadband, the only requirements they are beholden too relate to voice functionality.

Likelihood is if the BT remote testing is not detecting a fault and you pursue a fault investigation the line will come back as "right when tested" when the engineer attends and you'll be on the hook for the engineer visit charge.

Couldn't you temporarily (and carefully) disconnect your internal wiring from current the master socket and see if the noise is still present at the master socket itself? (you may need a punch down tool to reconnect it all again though!).

Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Mar-14 13:55:19)

It will depend on the actual dropwire. Provided it is circular (nominally) then the pairs will be twisted - if it is Figure of 8 then they will not be. As you say it is 4.5mm diameter then it is probably twisted pair. The older dropwires used a slightly larger diameter of copper than te new ones - and thus fractionally lower attenuation.

Changing it will not offer any improvement unless there is actual damage - te only area that might improve it slightly is having the terminations remade as they can get a little corroded.

Thanks for the info. advice and tips.
The wire is nominally circular so, as I understand it, it should be adequate for broadband once I've got a new master socket in place and rewired everything. First thing is to experiment as advised, to see is it my wiring that's causing noise on the line.