Bt - Extension Socket - Please Help!!!

shuttleworth96

My daughter lives in a shared house in London and wants to connect her computer to the internet. There is a BT line in the property with extension sockets in each bedroom. To cut a long and sorry story short, only the master socket works and none of the extension sockets work at all. BT say that extension sockets are NOT their responsibility and are quoting £107 to fix the socket in my daughters bedroom!!!! This sounds a total rip off to me as I bet its a minor job.

Please, please, can any of you good people help???

rchddap1

Had a similar problem when we moved into our new house. It was a brand new house and we found that only the main socket by the door was working and all the others were not. OH went round the house, took of the cover for the telephone socket and wired it up. Haven't had a problem since.

Dave_G_5

Is it possible that the other sockets are actually seperate lines that haven't been enabled (ie would need to pay line rental on each seperate socket/line) ? If you are sure that they are just extensions then all I can advise is taking the cover off the master socket and seeing what is connected behind it. You only need pins 2 and 5 connected to make it work.

bbb_uk

In a normal house then BT are only responsible for any faults occuring upto and including the main/master socket. All other extensions and wiring after this point are the responsibility of the owner unless BT fitted the wiring themselves.

Assuming they are not seperate lines then if you daughter knows someone who is competent enough to wire the existing extension sockets up to the main/master socket so they all share the same line that would be cheapest option. The next option would be to buy a telephone DIY kit which would include instructions on how to wire up any extensions, etc. Lastly would be to look through yellow pages, etc and pay for someone to come out and look at it and (if necessary) rewire. This option would be expensive but shouldn't be as expensive than BT's quote.

If they are separate lines then the one in your daughter's room I would have thought would be classed as a master/main socket so she should be ok.

lineman_2

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin.

Have a look at the main socket. It should have a bt logo on it. Also it will be the same size as a single electrical socket. There should be a line running across the whole width of it. This will be approx one third from the bottom.
Does your daughter have the same design in her room? If so then hers will also be a master and not an extention.

If not then proceed as follows;
On the main socket there will be 2 small screws holding the front on. Undo these and the lower portion of the front will come away. There should then be a coil of cable loose inside the back of the remaining part of the socket. If not then go no further.

If there is then pull this out from the back carefully. Hopefully there will be at least 6 inches of slack. The outer sheath of this cable will need to be stripped of carefully. Expose the coloured wires inside for at least 2 inches. There will be anywhere from 4 to 8 seperate wires depending on the electrician. Only 3 of these wires are used.

If you have a look at the back of the piece that was removed from the socket you will see what looks like several grooves that are running from top to bottom. This is where the extention wiring connects. Wire as follows;

Blue wire with white band to no. 2
White wire with blue band to no.5
Orange wire with white band to no.3

You can buy a small inserter tool from any diy store for a couple of pound although I have heard of people using an old credit card. Lay the wire over the slot and push it hard into the slot.

Once this is done then you will have to refit the plate at the front that was removed earlier.

Go to daughters socket and see if working. If not then cable may need connecting here also. Remove socket front and terminated colours as before.

If still not working then check all sockets in house are wired same. Think of it as a chain where the cable has to loop from one socket to the next.

If still no good either consider cordless phones or if for broadband for computer then wireless modem.

Bt charge that price as it is standard fee for an extention and includes visit charge, labour and spares.

The reason why 3 wires are used not 2 is that the orange provides a ringing circuit for the other phones otherwise they will not ring.

Hope this helps, I have worked for BT for 6 years now installing and repairing phone lines. Any probs contact me direct.

April2

May I say I found that post extremely helpful lineman.

Or, rather, I am sure others will.

Personally, I just called my son and said, "Fix that" (he's an electrician and appears to [pardon the pun] work at the speed of light so, when I did so I never managed to see what he was doing - but he did it).

shuttleworth96

Thanks to everyone for their help and advice. Short term we've solved the problem. Daughter went out and bought a very long telephone extension lead for £4 which she plugged into the main socket and then into the back of her computer. Works a treat!!!

DonnyDave

Has the house got a cable socket (now out of service)? Maybe the extensions go there.