Phone, ntl and satellite dish 'stuff'

osaddict

Guys,

Hot on the heels of my polyfiller adventure I have my next one...

On the same wall there is a phone socket, I don't need or want this there. So I unscrewed it and pulled a bit and I have it off the wall. It looks like there is a cable going from there down to the BT master socket.

From reading it seems I shouldn't cut this cable as it does have current flowing through it. Am I safe to undo it from the box and pull it to the master socket.

How do I disconnect it from the master socket?

On a side note, there are two NTL boxes on the wall too. How do I go about removing them? They're very unsightly and we don't want or need them.

Lastly, there is a satellite dish on the front of the house. How can I get rid of this? Am I even allowed to? I have no idea about satellite in any way.

Any help much appreciated. I can supply pics of NTL box and the extension if it helps. I can also take pics of the satellite dish at some point too.

Many thanks.

Chunks

You are busy. I have seen all three 'problems' in the past (rightly or wrongly) so here's my two penny worth.

1) The sky dish can be removed as can the cable. Obviously, if this involves a ladder take care the bolts may be tough to shift (rusted) falling to the ground not recommended. Avoid! Seriously, don't risk a fall. Where the cable goes through the wall (once removed) you might want to silicon up the hole.

2) The phone sockets around houses are often retro fitted. You are not allowed to touch a BT socket (as far as I know). It seems that running a cable to a new master socket that can be isolated is overlooked (no guarantee) so people take a view and a chance. If the phone sockets don't carry a BT logo (not 100% guaranteed) then they were probably not fitted by BT and can be removed. If I were doing it, which I would not of course (see above) I would make sure that I knew which wires belong to the redundant sockets before disconnecting them at the BT socket. The voltage in a phone line should not cause harm but of course, you should not be messing with box/cable (see above).

3) I had NTL (switched to sky). Years passed before I accidentally (true) sliced through the NTL cable in my front garden while digging. There's a grey box on the wall of my house that was by then 'dead', so I simply got rid of the cabling and socket in the house back to the grey box. Virgin will no doubt do this for you (at a cost).

osaddict

Sky dish - it's not very high up, just above the door so a step ladder is all that's required. So there's nothing I need to be aware of like it's not live or have some power going through it and I'm not going to electrocute myself?! Good tip on siliconing up the hole, I'll sort something that's for sure.

It's not a BT socket, no way, there's about 5 of them around the house and they're ancient.

Not sure if this'll work:
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I was thinking I could take the cables from the socket (the one in the picture) using a screwdriver, and then try to pull the cable. I can see it goes under the floor and is nailed to the stairs, going into the hall to the master socket. In theory I could just cut off from the master socket, or even coil the cable up I guess?

This is the NTL box:
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So there's no 'power' through it so to speak? - I.e. no risk in messing with it.

osaddict

I have no idea why those links don't work. Where do people host pics these days for forum viewings?

osaddict

Well, I can 100% tell it's an extension socket and not a master socket as it doesn't have the capacitors and stuff inside like some pictures on the internet show.

What I don't know is whether I should remove the wires from the extension end (as I'd prefer) by unscrewing them, or whether this would short anything out - I have read stories on the net about people killing their phone line by doing this.

Chunks

From the master socket, there must be a feed to the extensions. Should you ignore the fact that the BT box should be left alone (as advised) one should be looking to isolate the extensions (rather than the incoming cable from BT). Once you know what connects to what, disconnecting the extensions can commence without bu@@ing up the BT side of things. Not that I advocate messing about with BT's installation.......

osaddict

A colleague said I could disconnect the wires from the extension face plate, put insulation tape around each one to prevent them touching and that causing an issue. I could then tuck back inside the small hole, or pull it back to the master and coil it up... I think...

Chunks

That's another way. Some might/would isolate and disconnect the advantage being that the BT master would be restored to its BT state, so to say. Prior warnings remaining valid obviously.

osaddict

The way I had in mind would sound quite safe and risk free, well, to me, would you agree?