Master Socket Question...

rockin_plumber

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Most of the time it's people that are too lazy to remove the faceplate and try the telephone directly from the master socket. 'I'm not doing that, just send an engineer!'
When it turns out to be their extension causing the problem and they got a bill for £200, guess who's fault it suddenly

Luckily this wasn't the case with me, as I only had a one piece faceplate.

And as I hadn't booked the call out they never told me about the charge, had they told me I would have booked an install with virgin media ASAP.

BertieUK

BertieUK wrote: »

I think that from the age of the LJ2/1A socket that comes into the house the rest of the sockets are needing replaced as they are not working for whatever reason.

As I have said we have only just moved in recently so I am trying to bring the system internally up to date. We use the LJ2/1A at the moment along with BTHub4-HFG5 Broadband and it is working ok. I would like to move the Hub into the lounge by running an extension from the NTE5 but not sure in the cable connections.
regards

I decided to go back to BT and ask them how I can get this very old out of date connection replaced because it is giving intermittent faults within the LJ2/1A and the Broadband will sometimes go off altogether and if I reconnect the plug into this box it comes back on again.

To cut a long story short I reported my findings to BT a few days ago and then today BT called asking what the problem was and I went through what I had already told then in the online form that I had to fill in. So the caller said in broken English, which I find being a pensioner very difficult to understand, that he was going to do a line check of the copper wire coming in to the property and that he would call back in five minutes.

He duly called back and said that he had made all the checks and found nothing wrong with the copper wire connection.

So now I was getting a little frustrated so I went through the problem again, telling him it was intermittent and he said that he would put me onto a live engineering section or something like that so after a few minutes the so called engineer turned out to be an automated voice telling me to press number 1 if someone else was on the line as this was the only way the checks could be done...then the line went dead.

What do we have to do to speak to someone that I can make sense of and rectify my problem?

I am now at a stage that I am looking at changing to another supplier when my BT contract is up because I really do not think that BT are in touch with the customer anymore.


regards:(

teddysmum

BertieUK wrote: »

What do we have to do to speak to someone that I can make sense of and rectify my problem?

I am now at a stage that I am looking at changing to another supplier when my BT contract is up because I really do not think that BT are in touch with the customer anymore.


regards:(

A lot of people, including myself, have left because of increased prices for decreasing levels of service.

Last year we had the foreign call centre staff not understanding us or the situation/us not understanding them, situation, coupled with not being able to contact Open Reach directly, when we needed a cable, loosened by high winds , reattaching. What should have taken 5 minutes to resolve, took a couple of hours.

BertieUK

teddysmum wrote: »

A lot of people, including myself, have left because of increased prices for decreasing levels of service.

Last year we had the foreign call centre staff not understanding us or the situation/us not understanding them, situation, coupled with not being able to contact Open Reach directly, when we needed a cable, loosened by high winds , reattaching. What should have taken 5 minutes to resolve, took a couple of hours.

They have mechanised the system so much to avoid BT customers from being able to speak directly to them and being able to get the service that they pay for and deserve.

There has to be a human being within the UK somewhere that I could speak to.

I tried to contact OpenReach and they say that I can only contact them through my service provider.

They should change their name to Out of Reach.
regards

trollopscarletwoman

rockin_plumber wrote: »

A few years ago I had a fault on my line, and my phone wouldn't ring.
I rang to report the fault..but didn't book an engineer as I didn't know if anyone would be in.

They just turned up anyway the next day and changed the master socket, damp in the wall was the diagnosis.

Next bill arrived and there was a £240 :eek: charge for this work...

As I hadn't booked the call out and so they never told me of these charges I managed to convince them there was no way on earth I was paying that to change a £10 master socket....

It may have been different as they classed this as a call out... But I suspect if you just want it changed but it isn't faulty, it won't be very cheap.

Exactly the same has happened to me-twice!

In those occasions ridiculous amounts of money were charged.

I refused to pay.

As has been written on a standard phone line only two wires do anything. On mine its orange and white but that's just the insulation colour. The voltage is very low so you won't electrocute yourself.

Strictly speaking its not legal to `tamper` with the master socket. Mind you, I've never heard of anyone ending up in court if bt come around the house and see it.

trollopscarletwoman

BertieUK wrote: »

The socket that is fitted to our BT Line input is as follows;

LJ2/1A socket with only a 2 black wire connection these in turn are connected to - 1 being white to 5 - and 1 orange to 2.

I notice on the new sockets produced since, the line inputs are A & B with connectors numbered 5- 3 -2

LJ2/1A would appear to be at least 30 years old.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what 3 would be used for please.

regards

Isn't 3 the old party line that is no longer required?

BertieUK

I was advised that 3 was the bell wire.

The copper cable coming into our property consists of two wires and one is coupled to the white cable by a connector and the other one to an orange cable.

I just cant believe all this fuss with BT it makes you so disgusted that I have a good mind just to do fix it myself but then I will get prosecuted. You just cant win.

regards

trollopscarletwoman

rockin_plumber wrote: »

Luckily this wasn't the case with me, as I only had a one piece faceplate.

And as I hadn't booked the call out they never told me about the charge, had they told me I would have booked an install with virgin media ASAP.

Yes, that's the old style.

As you know The newer ones isolate all extensions giving you a chance to see if the problem lies in the house rather than outside, giving you a chance to avoid an expensive `engineer visit`.

If you can work out where the problem lies you can always use the cheaper ex bt phone guy in the local paper. Or do it yourself.

Plumber=as a matter of interest did the bt fella move the socket because putting it back in the same place would only result in the problem recurring.

You can usually tell a little bit of damp because the terminals go green.

I prefer the boxes which hold the wires down with screws rather than using that push down tool.

BertieUK

trollopscarletwoman wrote: »

I prefer the boxes which hold the wires down with screws rather than using that push down tool.

I purchased a NTE5 but it has the push down wire connections and where could I get one with the screws fitted?

Not that I intend to fit one...

regards

trollopscarletwoman

BertieUK wrote: »

I was advised that 3 was the bell wire.

The copper cable coming into our property consists of two wires and one is coupled to the white cable by a connector and the other one to an orange cable.

I just cant believe all this fuss with BT it makes you so disgusted that I have a good mind just to do fix it myself but then I will get prosecuted. You just cant win.

regards

Yes, I'm sure your right on the bell wire.

I've done it myself and to be frank ,very easy.

You can see the wires that do anything.

Like I previously wrote I've never heard of anyone getting done if a bt engineer should be needed for some reason. No doubt a poster will tell me different.