BT land line wiring question...?

Question

Having moved into our new (but rather old) house, we discovered an existing bt land line. We got connected and received a new telephone number (it was our first house and so did not already have a number to transfer or anything). The house needs loads doing to it; one thing being the fact that the existing bt master socket (which receives the wiring at the first point it enters your home) looked ancient and abused, not attached to the wall and with several wires dangling freely. Our phone works, although the line is a bit fuzzy and people who phone us always sound extremely quiet at our end. My question is, is it safe to open up this socket and try to find out where the loose wires should be connected (i'm sure this has more than a little to do with why the line is fuzzy etc) or is this dangerous - is there an electric current on telephone wiring?

Answer 1

the incoming cable only uses 1 pair of wires. these should be terminated onto numbers 2 & 5. it doesnt matter which way round they go. if you have a buzz still it could be a fault on a parallel. this is an extension coming of your master socket. simply remoce these parallel's untill the buzz has gone. when you replace the wires they should be the 2 blue ones. if this still doesnt fix it call bt to send an engineer. dont worry about the voltage as its only low and will only give you a real shock if you have them in your mouth and someone tries to call.

Answer 2

Where the phone wires enter the premises only two wires are used. These will be in a small box near a window, they then go to the master socket.     As with any job if you are unsure how to do it, then you should not.

Answer 3

just open it up and disconnect all the extension wires, your quality will improve and then get a sparky in to give you some proper extensions where u want them.. cheaper than BT

Answer 4

No its quite safe - you can get a small belt from it but only like you would from a small battery.  I've rewired mine loads of times with no problems xxxx

Answer 5

Yep, you can open the master socket and re-terminate / remove the extension wiring and fix it back to the wall.

The extensions will be on the terminals marked 2,3 & 5.

The cable from outside belongs to BT and you must not tamper with this. DO NOT, as one answer above states, buy another master socket and fit this instead of the BT master socket.  This is illegal and if at some point in the future a BT engineer visits your home (at your request) and finds a non BT master socket you will be charged for the time it takes to remove this and fit a BT socket.

50 volts DC is on a BT landline, but don't worry there's no amps with it ( they're the bits that hurt ! ).

Answer 6

No its low voltage , you should have two wires incoming, one going to a terminal marked A the other marked B, if you have no addition telephone sockets , that should be it, it is easy replaced go to your local electrical wholesaler and ask for a telecoms master socket.