removing excess phone sockets - who can do that?

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wallofbeans
wallofbeans Posts: 1,399 Forumite
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edited 10 September 2017 at 12:49PM in Phones & TV
Hi all,

Our house is full of phone sockets that are no longer used and we're about to do some redecorating and I'd like to remove all but the main one. Who do I call to do that - an electrician or someone from BT or someone else..?

And does anybody have a recommendation of someone in south London?

Thanks!

UPDATED IMAGES OF ALL SOCKETS AND BOXES IN HOUSE:
https://imgur.com/a/MEX9S
«134567…12

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  • wallofbeans
    wallofbeans Posts: 1,399 Forumite
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    I've just done some searching and found that the sockets are a mess. The main line comes in the front door and through the hallway wall to a socket in the living room that is hanging off! That then leads to what I thought was the main socket.

    Link to photos below in case anyone knows what they are talking about and can point me in the right direction of sorting this out. Can I do myself? Or do I need an engineer? Does it have to be BT?

    https://imgur.com/a/j1mVq

    Thanks all!
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,098 Forumite
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    You can remove or work on anything beyond the NTE5 master socket. BT will be delighted to do the work, but you will pay upwards of £125 for the first hour. If you can wire a plug, you can do it yourself, or any competent handyperson can.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,598 Forumite
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    Looks like its a case of just buying some replacement cable, stripping the cable eg like a plug and tack it to the wall when needed.

    Take a photo of the cable ends in the current box before you remove the old cable and insert the new wires.
  • AndyPK
    AndyPK Posts: 4,241 Forumite
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    You may as well just drill a hole to secure that box to the wall.

    You aren't going to be able to make it significantly better
  • wallofbeans
    wallofbeans Posts: 1,399 Forumite
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    macman wrote: »
    You can remove or work on anything beyond the NTE5 master socket. BT will be delighted to do the work, but you will pay upwards of £125 for the first hour. If you can wire a plug, you can do it yourself, or any competent handyperson can.

    OK... but how do I know which is the master socket?
  • wallofbeans
    wallofbeans Posts: 1,399 Forumite
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    DCFC79 wrote: »
    Looks like its a case of just buying some replacement cable, stripping the cable eg like a plug and tack it to the wall when needed.

    Take a photo of the cable ends in the current box before you remove the old cable and insert the new wires.

    I'd like it to be a whole new box that's in the wall if possible. Can I just remove the one that's hanging off the wall and go directly to the one further along that is in the wall and not a crappy bit of plastic hanging off?
  • wallofbeans
    wallofbeans Posts: 1,399 Forumite
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    And how do I disconnect the other phone sockets from the main one? What I don't want to do is lose the phone/ internet because I remove the wrong thing....
  • AndyPK
    AndyPK Posts: 4,241 Forumite
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    Better pics of the bedroom one ? And
    Front of the one hanging off
  • wallofbeans
    wallofbeans Posts: 1,399 Forumite
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    AndyPK wrote: »
    Better pics of the bedroom one ? And
    Front of the one hanging off

    Couldn't get pics of back bedroom one (someone is sleeping in that room) but got the others.
    It gets more complicated. I want to get rid of all but one in the living room if possible.

    https://imgur.com/a/7ASGf

    Thanks for help with this. I hope it makes some kind of sense!
  • Tom99
    Tom99 Posts: 5,371 Forumite
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    [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]It looks like the socket at the top left hand side of your front door is the 'master socket' although what it looks like is just a junction box rather than a socket.

    [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If you remover the cover on this box you should see the main two BT cables coming in from out side.

    [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You should also see that the internal cables are joined to these external cables by two coloured wires, even though the internal cable might have 5 wires or so, only 2 will be connected.

    [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I had the same situation and what I did was rip out everything my side of this 'master socket' then run a single uninterrupted cable to the position I wanted the one phone outlet.

    [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I then installed a new modern BT master socket in that new position.

    [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Make a note of the colour of the wires before you disconnect them.[/FONT]
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