Sunday 14 August 2011

Rewiring My Phone Line Experience / Guide
 
Warning: You are NOT allowed to replace any old style master sockets with an NTE5 socket or any other BT equipment such as junction boxes, wires, etc by yourself, and this should only be performed by a BT/Openreach engineer. Failure to obey these rules may result in prosecution and/or a fine by BT. This is against the BT/Openreach Regulations, so if you still want to proceed following my example to modify your British Telecom (BT) analogue phone line - UK only, you will be entirely at your own risk!!

I'm trying to get the full 16MB out of 20MB for Sky Broadband Unlimited (formally Sky Broadband Max - up to 16MB) - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) based Internet package for £10 a month before, currently it's £7.50 instead of my previous Fibre optic based from Virgin Media (formally Cable London / Telewest) charging me £25 a month for Virgin Broadband > Size: L (up to 4MB) using my own customised home network connected from Telewest's Motorola SURFboard SB4100 Cable Modem, even the bill was in my dad's name, I was still paying the whole bill in full via Direct Direct until I've decided to cancel the whole Virgin Media package / contract and I've transferred to Sky, excecpt this time I've put the whole full Sky package / bill in my name, making me the Sky account holder since I'm the only one in the family always paying the bill in full every month without any problems or issuses. Transferring from Virgin Media to Sky around May 2007 as mentioned in Sky User Forum and since I'm only 960 metres away (approx 965 metres) or 2.2 kilometres away from Maida Vale exchange, but according to Sky, "Actually, you're much less than that, you're around 1120 metres which is 1.12 kilometres", if I remembered correctly!!

I’m total novice to this stuff, having a very huge bad problem!! I’m living in one of the huge Victorian houses, with BT Phone line installed in 1973!!! During that time, I wasn’t born until 1980! The whole phone line is completely out of date, very old fashion styled design, obsolete phone kit containing the following - added with photos:
 Main Distribution Point or Network Interface Device - External Black Junction Box (Non-Exterior NTE)


Drop Wire going up: 4 conductor "quad" – older four core cable


Internal Brown Junction Box: General Post Office (G.P.O) box 52A


Demarcation Point: Non-Network Termination Equipment (NTE5) LJU2/2A PAXBX BT Master IDC Socket


Wire to Local Exchange (Maida Vale - WEWMAI)
 

Very thin BT Interior wire, at the moment, its been set up exactly the same as my Current Final ADSL Plan (Sky User Forum) with no BT Hard-wired extension sockets installed because of the non-NTE5 Master socket, instead I have Commtel Internet & Phone Guard physically fitted onto BT Non-NTE5 Socket with the following - all connected onto 1 x Sky supplied Microfilter:
  1. 3 x 15M Extension Reel with Extension Lead/Splitter (Flat-type)
  2. 1 x 15M Extension Reel without Extension Lead/Splitter (Flat-type)
  3. 1 x 10M Extension Cable (Flat-type)
  4. 1 x Two Way Splitter Adaptor
  5. 1 x 20M Phonapart High Spec ADSL/Broadband Modem Lead (Twisted Round Pair cable extension)
Causing in that result of having a quite good connection on what look like a shoddy line (the one on the left hand, shaping like a U shape, wiring going up - black cable) with 15323 kbps Download speed (15.3MB) with 764 kbps Upload speed, while some of the people have the full 16MB or higher, and I wanted to have the same full 16MB like everybody else, and Sky thinks that I’m one of the lucky ones for having 15.3MB when my obsolete phone line supports up to 13.8MB, as T3 from Sky said to me on the phone "Your phone line supports up to 13.8MB, but you got 15.3MB instead. You're one of the lucky ones, as you got more speed than your phone line handles, but at the moment, it’s already set at 16000+bps, but capped to 15323bps, and your phone line cannot handle more. And I cannot put more higher than 15.3MB unless you got 10.5db Noise Margin, so that I can spread between the two - both Noise Margin and Syn speed. I think it’s better to leave at 15.3MB."
 
 In additional, to that result, my family can’t hear properly on the phone, sometimes I hear crackles, pops even only 1 cord phone is connected! I report a fault by BT, but they given me different set of instructions. So, I've been trying to say to BT fault dept, they keep saying its fine after they have tested my phone line when I know its not! I agree with Brian69 100% when he said “Electricians tend to use any old reel ends when it comes to wiring phones, and while this may be ok for voice, it is no good at all for ADSL BB.”, here is the proof to back up Brian69’s point, according to Telephone Wiring Tips web site web site, it says "Older houses often contain 4 conductor "quad" cable. This cable often contains four wires which are solid in color. The wire colors are almost always red, green, yellow, and black. If you decide to use these wires, you will not obtain the highest quality voice or data signal."
 
 So, I keep on trying to get BT Engineer to come round to mine, saying that sometimes I hear pops, crackles, sometimes it’s clear. So they send BT Engineer called Tony to check it out on 20-03-08 around 8:20am, he didn't seem to care, couldn't wait to leave my house faster enough, checking out my Height: 68mm x Width: 68mm Non-NTE5 Master Socket, and he use the BT Line Test using 17070, but there is no noise at all, no fault found, but when I showed him my G.P.O. Junction box in the living room, he said "Oh, my gosh! It’s very old, but still works perfectly".
 
 Fortunately, the piece of old drop cable on the right side snapped when he touched my junction box, containing Corrosion in the junction boxes, which is causing the wires to snapped when he touched them. High Resistance Disconnections (h.r. dis) are not good on any line. Unfortunately, he just only added a small new wire joining from the old wire to my old junction box, but not changing my old phone line to the new standard wire. Then he said that I won't charge you for the £116 call out fee because the wire did snapped when touched the junction box, and same for external wiring outside my house, and its seems clearly now, so I let you off and left to check my phone exchange, but seems fine, no problems, after he spend about 2 hours checking out all the phone posts and phone exchange, as well my phone line. I said to Tony, “I'm better to have a new phone wiring connection..” Then he said, “I have sorted the wiring a bit, but if the noises come on again, call 151 again and tell them that you want to have new wiring installation which cost around £124.99 + VAT, but I not sure.” According to Unity, he says “You need a brand new upgrade”. BT wanted to charge me £168.32 for only getting BT Engineer to replace from my Non-NTE5 socket to brand new BT Standard NTE5 Master Socket with Engineer's Test Socket inside. So I started doing gathering very thorough research on the Internet, noting down the measurements and recorded it all down on my BT phone line set up plan, drawing some diagrams while planning to do my own DIY for rewiring my phone line, as I can’t find any one to do rewiring on my own phone line and BT won’t upgrade my phone line. So I have no choice except to do it by myself even, I haven’t done any rewiring on phone lines before or having no Phone Engineer experience at all!
 
As a bonus: I get a chance to ripped out all full of old & crappy phone wires, piece of trailer park trash BT 52A G.P.O Junction box and laughing my head off!!! Saying "If BT don't want to replace my 36 years old fashioned wiring, then they leave me no choice except to do it by myself the hard way, its your lost, not mine at the end of the day and I've got perfect results for very cheap price!!!" And my pockets are still full, lol!

My list so far:
  1. 1 x BT/Openreach NTE5A Master Socket with integral ring bell circuit filter - later version £3.87 + £2 p&p (eBay) = £5.87 - without the Back box!! - 19/11/09
  2. 1 x KRONE Type IDC Punch Down Tool (eBay) £2.89 - 22/11/09
  3. 1 x 15M WHITE TELEPHONE CABLE 2 PAIR/4 CORE BT Spec CW1308 £3.99 (eBay) - 25/11/09
  4. 1 x 5M BT SPEC CW1378 EXTERNAL TELEPHONE CABLE DROP WIRE No.10 £3.25 PER 5M £3.25 (eBay) - 26/11/09 - No longer needed to use it at the end!!
  5. 1 x BT 80B RF3 Internal Junction Box (3 way IDC to 3 way screw) - £6.82 (run-IT-direct) - 26/11/09 Note: You'll get 10% Discount for Skyuser Memebers
Total: £22.82

Extras:
  1. 4 x Masterplug Standard 15 Metre Extension Cable Reel £8.99 (Argos) £35.96 - May 2007 (maybe around 10th - 14th May 2007, according to my first Sky User forum)
  2. 1 x Masterplug UK Compact Double Adapter (Argos) £3.99 - May 2007
  3. 1 x Masterplug 10 Metre Extension Lead (Argos) £7.49 - May 2007
  4. 2 x Commtel Internet & Phone Guard £0.99+ £4 p&p (eBay) £4.99 - 28/09/07
  5. 1 x 20M Phonapart High Spec ADSL/Broadband Modem Lead (Twisted Round Pair) £7.95 + £2.50 p&p (eBay) £10.45 - 8/11/07
  6. 1 x ADSL National XF-1e Microfilter £7.99 + £1.50 p&p = £9.49 (ADSL Nation LTD) - 20/11/09
Total: £72.37
Sub Total: £95.19
Make sure you’ve the right set tools for the job, as for me, I have Electricians Tool Kit - Cat no: 701/5696 purchased from Argos on 29/04/2003 for £14.99 as well, the following list above. Make sure you’re fully understand, doing a lot research, follow the instructions, before you start doing your own wiring. Search for your Non-NTE5 Socket, make a plan of where you want the sockets to be, as for me, I want to put it in the same place as my old Non-NTE5 Socket was before – in the hallway because its very convenient location for the phone socket. After you’ve decided where to put the new NTE5 Socket, measure your internal wire from the old socket all the way where it stops to the wall, mine one was 11.85m long.
 
 Search for your Main Distribution Point junction box like mine, as a example, as soon you’ve find your external junction box, open the cover of external junction box, by pushing it upwards, taking a few notes with the colour wiring connections or take a few pics from the external junction box. After that, closed the cover of external junction box and move on to search for your internal junction box - if not sure to identity your existing internal junction box, check this link out, may it looks like mine as an example, open it up and taking a few notes or draw a diagram with the colour connections. Next, open up your non-Non-NTE5 BT Master box and start taking a few notes with the colour connections. So far, you should have a few notes with the following colour connections something like this as shown below:
 
Main Distribution Point BT 80B RF3 Junction Box & latest version Demarcation Point: BT/Openreach NTE5A Master Socket & latest version
Screw-down Terminals IDC Block Terminal
Orange 1st hole – top (A) Orange = A (top) White wire with Blue stripes - A (bottom) White/Blue = Pin A (Pin 5) - Bottom
White 2nd hole – bottom (B) White = B (bottom) Blue wire with White stripes - B (top) Blue/White = Pin B (Pin 2) - Top

Note: My update on 24-11-09 02:45 - I just find out that Tony (BT Engineer) has put the wires in my External Black Junction Box wrong way round. According to BT wiring question web site and this diagram, it should be the following:
 
Main Distribution Point / BT 80B RF3 - Screw Terminals BT 80B RF3 - IDC Terminals
/ BT/Openreach NTE5A
White or White/Orange 1st hole – top (A) White/Blue Pin A (Pin 5) - Bottom
Orange 2nd hole – bottom (B) Blue/White Pin B (Pin 2) - Top

According to Smith99 from Sky User Forum: As long as they are connected the same way in the socket then it won't matter what colour they are.
 
As for replacing the drop wire connecting from external junction box (DP) to internal junction box, I was planning to connect my new 5M drop wire from external junction box (DP) to my old internal junction box first and test it out on Non-NTE5 Master Socket to see it works, I was looking forward to it and about to do the real challenge as I'm both very keen and determined to do it by myself, knowing exactly what to do, thinking exactly the same idea as Isitme has mentioned on Sky User Forum - leave the old wire in place connected up until you have connected and tested the new wire. When it tests OK, remove the old wire.
 
Originally, I was planning to use the full 20 metres of 6W Phone Cable White - Ref No: XS04E, £0.79 per metre (£15.80) - 22/11/09, after walking very briskly and jumping on either 31 or 328 bus from Kilburn Job Centre bus stop, rushing to get to Queensway branch at the last min and got there about 8 mins before the store closes at 6pm, connecting from the main DP, all the way to my master socket, and don't replace the junction box at all, but I've changed my mind & returned the 20M cable - untouched / unused back to Maplin - Queensway branch the next day and got the full refund back after I've shouted in very angry way to the same guy saying to me its very suitable for outside after I've asked him first before I've purchased it when it wasn't because I just find out on the Internet while while researching for more info about phone cables and realised that wasn't suitable for external use, even the guy from Maplin has lied to me, it was only White Internal Telephone CW1308 Cable with no sheath, only White PVC insulation, it was quite easy to squeeze the cable, therefore its not very thick cable and the cable will soon gets damaged from UV rays / direct sunlight!!! Plus, I just realised about the Radio / Electrical Interference, as the idea about BT I Plate (Interstitial Plate)/BT Broadband Accelerator just popped inside my head, so I've decided to purchase BT 80B RF3 Junction Box to both replace my old BT 52A junction box and having Radio Frequency Interference protection for ADSL at the same time - killing 2 birds with 1 stone!! During at the time, some Sky User Members putting the brakes on me and telling me don't do it as follows:
 
Brian69 - Post #53: "I would not advise you to interfer with the DP outside as it contains lines to other flats and Openreach will take a very dim view if you damage others lines."
Brian69 - Post #56: "Sorry but I do not give any info when it comes to DP's. Messing about with your own line is one thing, there are only a couple of wires and if you were to bugger it up you would only affect your line. But DPs have other peoples lines, which may be monitored alarm lines, or care lines for the disabled, so do not go in there."

RUNITDIRECT - Post #68: "One thing though, i gather you are planning on entering a BT DP, this really is pushing the boudries IMO, connecting your own NTE5 is one thing but entering a BT DP with OTHER USERS lines is a deff NO NO for the DIY'er. I know BT engineers wouldn't have a problem with us terminating to a DP but an end user may not be so fortunate if you manage to mess anything up."

Even my friend who lives in the same area as me - just only a few blocks down away from me, works for BT/Openreach told me the same thing, don't do it, you'll have the risk of damaging other neighbours phone lines, if it only 1 phone line in the DP, its ok to do, but since you 3 phone lines installed in the DP, then forget it and he's afraid of trying to do it, as he doesn't know about telecoms wiring with the external side of things, only with the internal wiring. So, I just left the old external drop wire as it is.
Once you got your colour connections sorted out, remove your existing internal junction box and replace it with BT 80B RF3 Junction Box - this junction box is same as BT 80A, but incorporating RFI protection filters to reduce radio frequency interference on telephone line & compatible with ADSL, having the inductor as the same as fitting the BT I Plate/BT Broadband Accelerator. No need to purchase BT I Plate/Broadband Accelerator separately and open up your existing faceplate from your BT NTE5 Master Socket - you're fully sorted and money saved! Lovely and sweet... Lovely and 2 in 1... Following from your notes for the colour connections and use the KRONE Type IDC Punch Down Tool to install the new wires onto the IDC block terminals as follows:
 
  • White wire with Blue stripes - A (bottom)
  • Blue wire with White stripes - B (top)

And then get your screwdriver out to remove the two existing wires coming from your drop line connecting to your external main DP and feed it onto the new screw down terminals inside your BT 80B RF3 Junction box as follows:
  • Orange = A (top)
  • White = B (bottom)

Once you have done that, looking something like this, feed your new internal White BT wire, carrying around the room until you've reached the spot to place your NTE5A Master Socket. Take two wires and use the KRONE Type IDC Punch Down Tool again to connect onto the back of NTE5A Socket as follows:
 
  • White/Blue = Pin A - Bottom
  • Blue/White = Pin B - Top

Then, I finally realised that I don't have the Height: 85mm x Width: 85mm with Depth: 21mm Back box!! Lucky for me, I just removed the old Cable London NTE5 Socket by just pulling the wires out - no need to use the IDC tool to remove the wires! And use the existing back box from it. It was very dirty, painted all over, so I removed it too and give it a very good clean!! Afterwards, I fitted the back screws onto the wall and then I fitted my nice & BT/Openreach NTE5A Master Socket onto it!
 
Plug in any Corded phone, as for me, I used my all time favourite phone: Binatone Speakerphone 510 SMS to test out my new phone line, checking that there is a dial tone. Let see what happens:
 
  • If it works perfectly, tidy up all the new wiring, as for me, I used Rapid Cableline R36 ERGONOMIC Heavy-Duty Cable Tacker for cables up to 6.0mm diameter with 14mm Staples and then get rid off all obsolete phone kit, as you don’t need it anymore!
  • If not, check the “Wiring Faults” Section, remove both wires, if necessary.

Important: In the longer term, I would also strongly recommend that you consider fitting either a filtered faceplate such as ADSL Nation XTE-2005 Faceplate by removing the lower supplied BT Faceplate and replace it with XTE-2005 Faceplate or ADSL Nation XF-1e Microfilter, then transfer all your existing connections onto either new faceplate or Microfilter.
 
 According to ADSL Nation Technical Support, after I've spoken and asking them on 20-11-09 over the phone which is better to get - XTE-2005 Faceplate or XF-1e Microfilter after I've fitted the latest NTE5A Master Socket? The guy said "ADSL Nation XTE-2005 Faceplate contains exactly the same components as the XF-1E Microfilter! The results will be the same either way!"

As for me, I just physically fitted Commtel Internet & Phone Guard onto BT/Openreach NTE5A Master Socket first and then transfer all my existing connections from the Sky supplied Microfilter onto the new ADSL Nation XF-1e Microfilter, exactly the same setup as before.
 
After you have finished setting up your new internal phone line, it should look something like this:

Now surf the internet, checking your new Router stats, you should have new and excellent results!! Enjoy with your new high speed internet connection without any dropouts / disconnections, otherwise check / test your Master Socket for faults to find more improvements with your wiring.
 
 Update on 14-8-11 21:06: According to my new Router Stats, my Sky Broadband Unlimited speed has INCREASE in more Download speed to 16656 Kbps - 16.6MB!!! Previously I've 15.3MB, then 16.1MB, but now I've 16656 Kbps (16.6MB) Download Speed with 942 Kbps Upload Speed - I'm extremely very happy with the results, having very excellent connection!! Honestly, I've got to admit that it's definitely worth all the trouble gathering a huge amount of research on the Internet, making notes / plans, analysing / experimenting very thoroughly about phone lines and I love it - it's very easy to do as a piece of cake and it doesn't take very long to do either, addition to this, its much cheaper than getting BT Openreach involved!!

Update on 25-8-11 04:54: My Sky Broadband Unlimited speed has INCREASE even more speed to 17064 Kbps (17MB) Download Speed with 946 Kbps Upload Speed!!! Even, I'm very shocked with my mouth wide opened when I've saw my new Router Stats, surprising that I'm getting 17MB??? instead of 16MB When Sky has told me many times in the past that I can't get more higher than 15.3MB while I'm having argument with them that I can get higher than 15.3MB, this just goes to show that I'm always right and never wrong!! They should just listen to me at the beginning and don't argue with me!

Sky User members says about my new internal phone rewiring setup after I've finished testing out my new phone rewiring:
IWasNotTheEnemy from Sky User Forum: "Thing is, your line is doing exceptionally well, especially seeing as the Max rate is lower than your sync speed!!"

Isitme from Sky User Forum: "As I have said before you have an excellent connection. Unfortunately others looking at your stats will expect to get 16Mb from a 33.5 attenuation and very, very few will get anywhere near this".

IWasNotTheEnemy from Sky User Forum: "Bare in mind you must have an EXCEPTIONAL line to be getting 17Mbps on a 33dB attenuation."
 
I guess that I'm extremely very, very lucky with my own personal customized phone line modification kit!
Now that the new internal phone rewiring setup is fully completed with both latest BT/Openreach NTE5A Master Socket & BT 80B RF3 Junction box , only the remaining finally step to do now is rewire the external drop cable from main Distribution Point to BT 80B RF3 Junction Box, borrowing or needing anyone e.g. Electrician / Cable Engineer who has extremely very powerful Hammer drill & huge Masonry drill bit to drill a big hole in my living room wall above BT 80B RF3 Junction box for feeding a new drop cable through to the outside of the house and doing the rewiring with the external drop cable. I've got a small feeling that my Line Attenuation figure will reduce from between 33.5 - 28, allowing me to have a bit more both Download & Upload speeds after my old drop cable has been replaced with the new drop cable.
 
 But I'm not 100% sure which external drop cable shall I get either: CW1128 Cable, 5 Pair BLACK from run-IT-direct or CW1128 2 Pair Twisted Black Telephone Cable from eBay. Something is telling me that I should buy CW1128 Cable, 5 Pair BLACK. I've got a gut feeling about this.
 
I've decided to leave my notes explaining what I was planning to do with my new external drop cable here - as future reference:
 
Inside my main Distribution Point (DP), I've 7 out of 10 spare slots left as follows:
  1. #  1 - left hand side
  2. #  5 - left hand side
  3. #  6 - right hand side
  4. #  7 - left hand side
  5. #  8 - right hand side
  6. #  9 - left hand side
  7. # 10 - right hand side

To practice with, leaving the other 3 as it is! I might use either No 5 or 9 - both of them are on the left hand side, that way, I won't touch my neighbours line except only mine while using either slot 1 or 9, preferably, I use No 1, so that I won't knock off my old line connection while practicing with the new line connection.
I'll note them as reference:
  1. Mine one is No 3 - left hand,
  2. Downstairs neighbour is No 2 - right hand
  3. Next door neighbour is No 4 - right hand.
Measure your drop wire from the junction box all  the way to your wall, since my drop wire was going all the way up to the first floor - living room, I’ve measured half way from my window in the living room until my measuring tape stops, guessing where it ends, using the top of downstairs neighbours' window as marker, so I went downstairs and measure from the top of neighbours’ window all the way to the rocker on the inside of my external junction box, in total, it was 6.1m long including the 1.72m of unnecessary extra wire which it should be 4.38m!! But don't sell customised sized cables, only per metre, so I have to get 5M BT SPEC EXTERNAL TELEPHONE CABLE DROP WIRE £3.25 PER 5M instead, but that's ok.
Getting my brother's friend to drill a big hole in the living room near the old BT 52A junction box only and I'll take over from there, feeding through the first end of the new external drop cable out the new hole that just been drilled through, making sure that they are no stripping on both wires and place something on top of the other end of the cable onto the window ledge, so that the cable won't fall down while installing the new wire in the main DP and go downstairs to the outside of the house to the main DP.
Select any empty slot, I choose No. 1, unscrewing the rocker by screwing in anti-clockwise direction, that way, I won’t touch my neighbours wires, and insert 1 pair of two wires, making sure the Insertion length 40mm on both wires into the rocker on external junction box in the following order:
  • White/Blue or White - 1st hole (top - A)
  • Blue/White or Orange  - 2nd hole (bottom - B)

Tighten the 2 wires by screwing the rocker in clockwise direction. Then go back upstairs to the living room and proceed to the next step - as shown above!

While I was researching on the Internet to have all the information that I need to know about how to both rewiring my phone line & improving my ADSL connection speed, just in case, if I'm struck, which I doubt it. I've decided to leave all the links here for future reference.

Links:
  1. Guide to rewiring internal UK phone wiring
  2. Telephones UK - Wiring Information
  3. Tools & Installations
  4. Kitz - BT Phone Sockets
  5. UK Telephone Wiring
  6. Clarity UK ADSL BT Linebox Adaptor Faceplate
  7. Telephone Wiring Tips
Others:
Update on 03-09-2016 14:23 from Sky User Forum: My Sky Broadband Unlimited speed has INCREASE much more speed to 18640 Kbps (18.6MB) Download Speed with 1201 Kbps (1.2MB) Upload Speed!!! During that time, I've been using BT Openreach MK3 VDSL iPlate as a part of supplied purchase with BT Openreach NTE5a Master Socket, VDSL Faceplate & Back Box BRAND NEW & GENUINE for £12.99 from eBay on 01/04/14, removing both Commtel Internet & Phone Guard and XF-1e Microfilter from my existing setup as no longer needing them. Here are my new Router Stats from Sky Hub SR102 router purchased on 15/3/15.
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