Before you let a telephone engineer into your home- read this

MsNikkiB

Following a loss of both phone and broadband service Plusnet informed us they would send an engineer to fix the fault on the line. The engineer from Openreach arrived the next day and checked the line outside then requested access to our home to check the line. He said he was unable to check the line using our main downstairs socket as he needed to use the master socket. This is located in our bedroom behind a bed. We allowed him access to our bedroom and, watched by my partner, he removed the faceplate and all of the wiring to test the line. The fault was identified as outside our property 350 yards up the line. He reconnected the master socket and left.

The fault on the line was fixed later that day. However the engineer has failed to reconnect the wires for our downstairs extension socket. We now have no phone or internet access downstairs.

Plusnet say they will not request a return visit as the line to our main socket is working. They say that despite the work being commissioned by them it is now our issue to resolve with Openreach. Openreach will not take a complaint unless it comes from the the commissioning body, our service provider- Plusnet.

So be aware if you allow an engineer into your home to resolve an issue with a Plusnet service you may be landed with the responsibility and the bill for sorting out any issues that occur.

We are now left with having to take this up with the ombudsman and/or pay ourselves for an independent electrician to reconnect the extension.

Had we not allowed the engineer into our home to investigate the fault we would not be where we are today- so think twice before allowing access - you could get more than you bargained for.

Browntoa

If openreach hadn't had access your phone would still be down.

And YOU are responsible for all internal wiring , it's a 5 second job to reconnect the wires or possibly the faceplate is not plugged in properly.

Normally to test at the master socket the 2 screws on the front are removed and then the front panel is unplugged . This removes all connections to your internal wiring and uncovers the test socket on the BT side (end of BT responsibility) towards the exchange

Watch this

https://youtu.be/DaKTUF4UoEI

littleboo

If the extension was hardwired to the provider side of the master socket then that's not permitted and the Openreach technician was correct to remove and not reconnect.

hgm

littleboo wrote: »

If the extension was hardwired to the provider side of the master socket then that's not permitted and the Openreach technician was correct to remove and not reconnect.

Is that true even if the wiring was originally done by BT for an extension phone? What is the official solution to make it legal?

Browntoa

If it was done then it's still wrong. All extension wiring must be connected to the removable front panel

hgm

Browntoa wrote: »

If it was done then it's still wrong. All extension wiring must be connected to the removable front panel

It isn't the modern type socket. Might be 50 years old. I've never heard that old type sockets HAVE to be replaced.

iniltous

Engineering standards do change and what may have been acceptable once, may not be acceptable now, and in the case of BT provided extension sockets and wiring, they have a 1 year warranty , so 'BT installed it' isn't really a reason for Openreach to be responsible for it.
As already stated , it's possible the wiring the OP is complaining about was never correctly wired , and disconnecting it ( to prove the location of a fault) and leaving it disconnected is probably correct, there is the option for the OR engineer to reprovide the extension wiring correctly, but this is chargeable work, or it could be the engineer simply forgot to reassemble the master socket , thus leaving the downstairs extension disconnected, but if that's the case it's a few seconds effort for the OP to reassemble the socket themselves , and given that they had reported a fault, Plusnet should have already had them trying service at the master socket test port anyway and not at the downstairs extension socket,
If the OP had an attitude of 'well nothing's changed inside my house, BT probably put the extension in anyway and I don't see why I should do their job for them', then they had a very real prospect of being charged for the visit if it were the extension or extension wiring that was the issue and Plusnet should gave made that abundantly clear to the OP

As far as pre NTE5 master sockets (LJU- line jack units) AFAIK they should be replaced as a free upgrade as and when an OR person comes across one in the network.

AndyPK

does it look like this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ULTIMA-BT-NTE-5A-Krone-Style-IDC-Telephone-Socket-FREE-IDC-Tool-BRAND-NEW/201432956354?epid=1042624661&hash=item2ee656fdc2:g:084AAOSwl9BWGpyb

where the low plate comes off.

If yes, take the lower plate off, and take pictures and I can hopefully tell you how to rewire it. not difficult

amcg100

I think it should be fairly straightforward for an engineer to establish where the main line comes into a property. It only needs a quick visual inspection of the outside of the property.
The engineer should not have disassembled the extension socket in the first place, so in my opinion Openreach are negligent, however

since the engineer probably just forgot, it's hardly worth making a song and dance about a two minute job. All you need is a screwdriver and a plastic tool to shove the wires in -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=crimping+tool&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=tool+for+connecting+phone+socket&_sacat=0

MsNikkiB

Thank you for all of your replies - hopefully we'll get it sorted.

AndyPK

worth paying £2 for the proper insertion tool. THe plastic one are hopeless

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KRONE-IDC-INSERTION-PUNCH-PUSH-DOWN-TOOL-BT-TELEPHONE-SOCKET-NETWORK-RJ45-TOOL/182385675156?hash=item2a77088b94:g:sYwAAOSw4GVYTbA4