BT price to regularise LJU to NTE5

Colin_London

We have an old '2/1' type BT socket which I want to regularise to a 'modern' NTE5a socket so that I can fit a BT iPlate and reconnect the house extension cabling.

I have asked BT Residential Services for a quotation to do this, and they came back with this......

'I can arrange the NTE5a socket for you. In order to arrange it there will be a charge of £51.30 incl VAT for the socket and as the engineers appointment is needed to fix this there will be a engineers visit charge of £115.00. Therefore, the total charge of £166.30 will be added on to your bill if you order this. '

Whilst I can sort of understand the £115, which I guess is the call out charge for 1-hour of Engineers Time, I really can't quite grasp £51.30 for a piece of plastic that gets stuck to a wall!

BT have removed standard charges from the BT Price List, and all work like this seems to be only done via quotation.

Does anyone know how to get this done any cheaper? What should I be asking for?

macman

Tell them you will supply your own BT approved NTE5 socket (they're no more than about £14 online). Or get a local electrician/engineer to fit you an NTE 5 next to the old socket, but just your side of it-should cost you a third of what BT charge. It's perfectly legal as long as they don't touch the old master.

Colin_London

Well I went back to BT and asked them whether I could buy the parts myself and just pay for the call-out. Surprisingly the answer was.... YES!

So that is what we shall do - I'll even buy the i-Plate from the BT shop.

It is rather annoying I have to say - does the person who prices components for BT realise that they are charging £55 for a piece of moulded plastic, a capacitor and some IDC connectors! You can buy a good router for that price!

Finally, does anyone know whether I need an engineer at all? There is one of these lozenge shaped joint boxes where the BT cable enters the house. Is this the demarcation point, and are you allowed to change any cable on the customer side of this point without BT's involvement?

Thanks

macman

Colin_London wrote: »

Well I went back to BT and asked them whether I could buy the parts myself and just pay for the call-out. Surprisingly the answer was.... YES!

So that is what we shall do - I'll even buy the i-Plate from the BT shop.

It is rather annoying I have to say - does the person who prices components for BT realise that they are charging £55 for a piece of moulded plastic, a capacitor and some IDC connectors! You can buy a good router for that price!

Finally, does anyone know whether I need an engineer at all? There is one of these lozenge shaped joint boxes where the BT cable enters the house. Is this the demarcation point, and are you allowed to change any cable on the customer side of this point without BT's involvement?

Thanks

Yes you can do it yourself as long as you don't touch the old BT master socket, you can put the new NTE5 an inch away from it if you want, as long as it's your side of it.

Colin_London

Thanks Macman, but part of the reason for this is to get rid of the old socket which is yellowing and has been fitted upside down.

The last thing I need is a second socket next to the first with a cable going from it into the front of the first (which is what I think you are suggesting). That would be somewhat ugly!

Take it I'll have to get BT in to remove the old socket and replace with the new NTE5 rather than just cabling the new NTE5 into the lozenge.

espresso

Colin_London wrote: »

Well I went back to BT and asked them whether I could buy the parts myself and just pay for the call-out. Surprisingly the answer was.... YES!

So that is what we shall do - I'll even buy the i-Plate from the BT shop.

Don't waste your money on an I-Plate, they are snake oil for the gullible! Read this thread here for more info.