What is this ugly (unconnected) wire coming out of my Openreach Box

neilmcl

GDB2222 said:

If you do it yourself, you’ll need a punch down tool.

One drawback is if there’s a problem with the line at some point, it may be obvious that the line has been moved by an amateur. I’m not sure what the consequences are?

Not if you have a later NTE5C sockets, they all have cam lock connectors now so no need for any specialist tools.

neilmcl

desktop said:

I bought a punch down tool but didn't need it.  A small screwdriver did the job fine.  The tool cost around £3 from eBay so it wasn't a massive loss.

A TalkTalk engineer replaced my line prior.  The original BT point was in the hall and I asked him to move it into the lounge.  He rerouted the line from the BT external grey box around the external walls to this location.  I would have thought that this was a common task carried out for consumers.  As such, I would have thought that BT would have no clue who did what and when and probably wouldn't care less.

Most ISPs have agreements with OR to allow their own engineers to move master sockets etc, as long as no external fittings are touched.

cajef

desktop said:

I bought a punch down tool but didn't need it.  A small screwdriver did the job fine.  The tool cost around £3 from eBay so it wasn't a massive loss.

You should never use a screwdriver to push the wires into the connector, it splays the terminal and makes a bad connection for the wires, always use a punch down tool.

Sareck

cajef said:

desktop said:

I bought a punch down tool but didn't need it.  A small screwdriver did the job fine.  The tool cost around £3 from eBay so it wasn't a massive loss.

You should never use a screwdriver to to push the wires into the connector, it splays the terminal and makes a bad connection for the wires, always use a punch down tool.

In agree , those krone connectors are easily damaged if using a screwdriver , us the correct tool for the job

As for the original pictures , I would unscrew the faceplate and pull the wires out of 2 3 & 5 , rather than cutting the cable , leaving it or cutting the cable could result in a fault like a short circuit , better to remove it completely