Uninstalling a telephone socket.

laurel7172

I understand that I can't just take it out of the wall, but I've traced the cable back to the main outdoor box, which is locked with a cable tie.

So, my question is, if I open up the box to disconnect the cable,

Is this safe?

Is this legal?

Do I need to isolate the power, and how?

Will it mess up my whole phone system?

Do I need any special tools?

If I have to ask these questions, should I just call an engineer instead?

Thank you!

MX5huggy

You should not touch the primary box that's the one with BT logo on it. (It sounds like this is the one you are looking at if it is wired straight back out of the building) anything else you can just rip out if you don't want it.

There are only very low currents in telephone systems so you don't disconnect the power.

laurel7172

Yes, the box carries the logo of the phone company. But if I rip out the indoor socket then the wire is still going to be connected to the box? And I've been told that can cause all sorts of problems?

MX5huggy

I was talking about the internal box, you definitely should not touch the external one. Do you want a working phone when you have finished?

keystone

It may sound daft but if you read your first post again you will see that it is not actually very clear which box you want to remove. The Master Socket or an extension socket? Why do you want to remove it anyway - surely its doing no harm just sitting in the wall with no phone attached. Just saving you time by suggesting this. Are you wanting to remove wiring as well?

A better word picture would be very helpful.

Cheers

macman

You can remove the extensions, you can't touch the NTE5 master socket )or the first socket on the system if no NTE5 is installed).

laurel7172

Sorry-I'm trying to remove an internal phone socket, because it has gone yellow with age and it's in the way.

The internal socket is connected directly to the outside box-no master socket as far as I can tell.

Thank you all for your comments.

macman

Then that acts as your primary socket-if you remove it, where will you plug the phone into?
It would help if you could describe the network that you have-what is the sequence?

laurel7172

Sequence? Eek.

When I moved into this house, there were two internal phone sockets: one on the opposite side of the wall to the external box and one in the bedroom upstairs.

I then had a second phone line installed for dial-up internet, and that line and the original line had sockets installed in the study.

Then I called out a telephone engineer, who installed a new socket on the original line in the kitchen (this is the one I'd now like to be rid of) and an extension to the one in the bedroom, so the phone could be kept next to the bed.

Broadband then arrived, and I had a broadband cable with phone socket installed into the dining room downstairs. I had the second, dial-up line disconnected by the phone company, but all the cabling is still there. I realise we have more sockets than I can run phones from, but phones have moved around the house as our needs have changed, and we've never actually had more than three. I'm currently using the one next to the broadband, the one upstairs, and the kitchen one I want removing, which can't be the primary one because it wasn't here when we moved in.

But now you ask, I seem to remember that it's the original downstairs socket: the one that's right next to the external box, that everyone who has done work has asked to see??

Thank you

macman

You've lost me.
The primary socket is the first one from the external box-just follow the cabling along.
There are only two ways of wiring sockets-either in a daisy chain sequence, one following another in series, or in a star sequence, with more than one cable radiating out from the primary.

mumto2loves

hi
firstly i have no knowledge at all of electric or the law - or anything really.

but.. we have 'bigger' white bt box in our front room, then a smaller one in the hall and one in the bedroom, we used to have one in the kitchen that was old yellow and we didn't want it (sounds a bit like you which is why i'm posting) my husband took off the white box cut the wires right back and we've tiled over it. and our phones still work.:o:D