Fibre install - Free to move master socket?

KTF

Openreach are booked in to come and install fibre at our new house on Friday.

At the moment the master socket is at the front of the house in the kitchen of all places - there is a blank faceplate on the wall that is in the hall on the other side so I think its been moved at some point.

Having it in the kitchen is not practical as I would then have to run a cable from the fibre modem to the router in the lounge at the back of the house where all the kit that needs the connection is.

Rather than do that I was going to ask the engineer if they could just move the master socket instead - the one in the kitchen would have to be moved anyway when it is redone later.

From experience, has anyone had this done free of charge or will there be a cost? Should I call them up first and warn them that it might need moving so they can book more time for the job?

To be honest even if it is the usual £120 or whatever it is I would be happy to pay it to avoid the bother of it being in the wrong place but just wondered what peoples experiences were.

HappyMJ

There will be a cost. The master socket will be on the other side of the wall where the main line enters the property. Moving it anywhere else may be more difficult than it appears. It'll be much easier and cheaper to install CAT5 cabling to your equipment.

KTF

I should have added that there is already an extension socket in the lounge that was added by the previous owner. It is a spur coming off the blank faceplate from the hall.

It isnt a standard square BT socket but a very small one that has a connector on the top rather than the front.

Could the Openreach engineer split it there instead of the master socket?

mattyprice4004

BT won't touch non-BT wiring, so no.

KTF

I feel this is going to be a challenge

bubieyehyeh

When I had a new line installed (for ADSL), I seem to remember the engineer said master socket had to be within 15metres of grey box on outside of house. I had him install master socket in 1st floor bedroom at the front of the house.

KTF

Ok, that should give it enough range to get round the back of the house. I guess I will find out on Friday how friendly the guy is.
Pictures always help so here they are

The blank plate in the hall (front door to the right) cable out the bottom goes under the carpet down the hall to the lounge and is non-BT I would say (who would have thought...).
|http://thumbsnap.com/MsavmOOH

The inside of the blank plate:
|http://thumbsnap.com/Xlk2PcO2

The master socket in the kitchen (other side of the wall with the blank plate on). The cable out the top goes upstairs then tours all the bedrooms.
|http://thumbsnap.com/w6jzxq1O

The extension in the lounge (all rooms have these):
|http://thumbsnap.com/0gdzyu89

notbritishgas

Well my thoughts on the matter.
It looks as if the main line enters your property under the blank plate in the hall, it is the cable to the top right with the orange wire.
It is then jelly crimped through the wall to the kitchen where the existing master socket is.

You could therefore have the master socket in the hall, have the lounge extension connected to the face plate, as also is the cable going through the wall which would then be connected under a blanking plate in the kitchen to the cable going up into the bedrooms.

However I do not know if that would help your situation.

CharlieBilly

When we had fibre installed, BT openworld put a new box in where in enter property meter cupboard at front of house. He then installed new cable to back of house running it along skirting boards along door frame and edge of fireplace (slate) the out a new box to allow modem to connect to it. Took around an hour maybe slightly less

KTF

Yes, I agree with how you have described the current installation.

I have no need for all the extensions that the previous owner has put in and the master socket in the kitchen is not practical.

I can trace the cabling to the lounge (the carpeting would have to come up) so maybe Openreach could re-lay/use the cabling from the blank plate and put the new master socket in the lounge instead?

Putting the splitter on the master socket in the hall would be pointless as there is no power and then additional cat5/6 would have to be run from there to the lounge to the broadband router which is what I am trying to avoid them doing.

KTF

CharlieBilly wrote: »

When we had fibre installed, BT openworld put a new box in where in enter property meter cupboard at front of house. He then installed new cable to back of house running it along skirting boards along door frame and edge of fireplace (slate) the out a new box to allow modem to connect to it. Took around an hour maybe slightly less

Was it a phone or Ethernet cable they laid to the lounge in your case?

My understanding is that they split the master socket (to avoid needing to use filters) put the fibre modem close to the master socket then you run cat5/6 from there to the broadband router (which may or may not be in the same location)?