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[111888]

The BT grey box that is usually installed at the front of the house, is it normal to see cobwebs/insects in there? Could this bugs cause internet issues if they are crawling around on the wires? Ive also seen a big slug inside too, could high wind get inside the box and cause interrference? should I seal it all up with water proof sellotape?

[tubaman]

It's certainly usual to get small insects inside but not slugs in my experience. Whether it's a problem or not depends on how the joints are make inside the box. If it's still screw terminals it needs to stay pretty dry but if it's jelly crimps it doesn't matter so much.

[111888]

Jelly crimps.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/enclosure-Openreach-weatherproof-connection-waterproof/dp/B09K5R7S5B

This is the grey box that is installed out side front of my house. as you can see theres some pretty big gaps fo slugs to enter.

Admin; Edited link to remove a ridiculous amount of superfluous code in a 1600 char url causing a page width span of ~4000 pixels.
The subsequent collapse to viewer window size and a horizontal scroll bar causing a weird page view

[tubaman]

Same box that I have. I wouldn't worry about it as the jelly crimps are moisture-proof. The danger with filling the holes is if some moisture does get in it'll be trapped.

[kitz]

is it normal to see cobwebs/insects in there? Could this bugs cause internet issues if they are crawling around on the wires?

This was the rather nasty interior of my BT66 when it was opened. It hadn't been touched since the house was built appx 1993. The OR engineer wasn't at all concerned about the amount of dirt and cobwebs which he said wasn't too unusual.  In my case it was oxidisation of the joints that was causing SNR fluctuations on the upstream when the phone rang.    The copper wire literally fell apart when he poked with his screw-driver. 

So to answer your question about insects, then yes a spider crawling about  over any of those particular joints which are badly corroded could easily have disturbed them and cause fluctuations in the SNR.  However, newer installs no longer have those metal IDC blocks, they use jelly crimps to make joints thus eliminating what is/was a common fault point due to oxidisation. 

As tubaman says, it depends on the joints.  As you have jelly crimps you should be ok.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I was absolutely stunned when I saw the state of my E side cable when they were replacing the joints because they had all corroded from water ingress.  It was aluminium and turned to white powder which of course broke and they hadn't even noticed yet. :/

Guess I must have been on ADSL at the time as I immediately did and ran down the street to check what was going on and they repaired it on the spot.  But they noted that if it broke again, there wouldn't be enough slack left to repair it again.

The most shocking thing of course is my ADSL had been performing remarkably well until it broke entirely.  Was quite shocked to see it was aluminium given I'd been holding onto a 3dB SNR downstream for years.

[Tinea Cruris]

This thread reminds me of my daughter's experience with such things. A lizard got inside the electrical junction box of a neighbour's house. There was a loud bang, a dead lizard and the whole street lost power!

Fortunately that was in Luanda, Angola rather than the UK.

[tubaman]

This thread reminds me of my daughter's experience with such things. A lizard got inside the electrical junction box of a neighbour's house. There was a loud bang, a dead lizard and the whole street lost power!

Fortunately that was in Luanda, Angola rather than the UK.

Not quite on the same scale but I had a rogue currant in a currant bun trip my electrics a while ago when it fell out in the toaster and got between the element and the metal grid. 

[111888]

This was the rather nasty interior of my BT66 when it was opened. It hadn't been touched since the house was built appx 1993. The OR engineer wasn't at all concerned about the amount of dirt and cobwebs which he said wasn't too unusual.  In my case it was oxidisation of the joints that was causing SNR fluctuations on the upstream when the phone rang.    The copper wire literally fell apart when he poked with his screw-driver. 

So to answer your question about insects, then yes a spider crawling about  over any of those particular joints which are badly corroded could easily have disturbed them and cause fluctuations in the SNR.  However, newer installs no longer have those metal IDC blocks, they use jelly crimps to make joints thus eliminating what is/was a common fault point due to oxidisation. 

As tubaman says, it depends on the joints.  As you have jelly crimps you should be ok.

thanks