Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[tubaman]

I've just had the email from BT telling me that my Digital Voice (DV) conversion is immanent and I'd like to keep my my current phone sockets working. My master socket is a NTE5A with Mk3 VDSL SSFP and I've seen various topics showing connecting another socket to it to plug the hub into but I think there is an easier and neater way.
Is there any reason why I cant just cut off the pins that connect the bottom section of the faceplate to the filter and then plug the DV hub into that using a 431A - 431A lead.
I've dismantled a spare bottom section and circled what I intend to cut off below.
It seems so obvious that I think I must be missing something!

[meritez]

https://support.aa.net.uk/VoIP_How_to:_Voice_reinjection

I think the above guide is probably what you are needing.

[tubaman]

https://support.aa.net.uk/VoIP_How_to:_Voice_reinjection

I think the above guide is probably what you are needing.

Thanks, I had seen that article and it seems unnecessarily untidy. It's also not for BT DV where the bell capacitor is incorporated in the Smart Hub 2 as far as I am aware and the Smart Hub has a 431A socket for voice.

[HPsauce]

Modern phone handsets don't need the bell wire signal anyway, so unless you have some vintage/antique telephones you just need two wires connected (the 2 and 5 on the BT jack).
And surely you can simplify things even further, depending what you're prepared to do? The fact you're considering a lead from the router to the BT master socket faceplate implies you don't intend to plug a phone in there anyway, just at your extension socket(s).

So all you need is a simple blanking plate over the baseplate and a couple of choc-bloc connectors inside to join up to your extension wiring? Just run a BT-plug-terminated lead from that to the router.
Or if you prefer to use IDC connectors fit a simple standard BT phone faceplate and use the connectors on the back. You could in that case also just use a BT-to-BT cable from the router and plug it in.

Either way will be tidier and less obtrusive than a bulky NTE with VDSL faceplate.

As a footnote, it's not the same problem but I was very annoyed at the "standard" way BT installed FTTC broadband for me last year (SOGEA so no POTS phone). A surface-mounted backplate then an NTE5 and a VDSL faceplate with a superfluous phone socket. Why can't they supply a simple RJ45 faceplate?
Anyway I decided to "slim down" this bulky nonsense by first of all recessing the backplate into the plaster then fitting a simple slim phone-only faceplate.
One suggested method of using that tidier setup is to plug an ADSL filter in and use a standard RJ11 broadband cable, but I decided that was too messy.
The cable to the router I just stripped the wires at the master socket end and joined them to the incoming FTTC copper using the connectors on the back of the faceplate. The cable feeds out through the lower edge behind the faceplate.

[tubaman]

@HP-sauce, I could go that route and hard wire it all as I suppose the filter is superfluous as there will no longer be a POTS connection running to it (it's a FTTC service as no sign of FTTP in foreseeable here  )
I will need the bell wire as I have a lot of old phones as I collect them and some are in use. I'll be interested to see how the Smart Hub handles them for ringing!
In respect of plugging a phone into the master socket I may just put a socket doubler into the mix too. I know it's a bit of bulk but the master socket is in a corner behind a desk so it doesn't get seen.
 

[HPsauce]

No @tubaman you don't "need the bell wire as I have a lot of old phones as I collect them and some are in use" honest!
The simple "trick" I have used in the past is to just plug the old phones lead into an ADSL filter then plug that into a 2-wire socket. 
Almost any model of ADSL filter recreates the bell signal (on terminal 3 IIRC).

I even remember having to do that for a quite modern BT-branded cordless phone, I think because some extremely pedantic engineer in BT procurement required it to conform to some ancient specification and wouldn't ring without the bell wire signal! Every other modern/cordless phone I've had didn't require the bell wire signal to ring. 

As for:  (it's a FTTC service as no sign of FTTP in foreseeable here  ) I'm in exactly the same boat. 

[tubaman]

@HP-sauce - I do have a few of those filters left but I'll see how I go with my existing plan (assuming it actually works) as the 'conversion' itself should take all of a couple of minutes.
I'll let you all know how it goes when the time comes, which is currently 10 days time.
 

[HPsauce]

Sorry @tubaman I've just realised my brain wasn't working 100%.....
I'm guessing your FTTC will be coming down the same existing copper into your existing master socket as currently your ADSL broadband and POTS telephone service do. With the extension wiring in there too.
I confused myself because when I moved from that setup to FTTC/SOGEA I had a new master socket installed a few feet away, so my extension wiring went to the old master socket which is separate from (but near) the new one! 

In fact while I was in "transition" I had both lines live and a Gigaset N300IP VOIP/POTS base station connected to the router and old master socket.

If I was in your position I'd be tempted to simplify things by adding a second phone socket - sounds a bit crazy, but here's the logic!
Install a second second alongside the current one, one socket for FTTC the other for telephones.
Depending on exactly where the holes in the wall are or incoming/extension cables decide which is best for which purpose, but keep them totally separate.
Probably, to keep BT/Openreach happy the incoming FTTC should terminate on a genuine master socket, either with a faceplate, or you could simplify to a hardwired lead to the router as I have.
The second socket, which could even be an old-school smaller type, will have your phone extension wiring connected to it and a cable from the router phone outlet by whatever route you prefer. e.g. plugged in or captive.

[4candles]

I will need the bell wire as I have a lot of old phones as I collect them and some are in use. I'll be interested to see how the Smart Hub handles them for ringing!

I'd be interested to hear how that goes. I'm currently using a FRITZ!Box 7530, and it will only successfully drive one modern phone, or an old one with the 3kΩ bell mod. With two there's a very weak ring, and nothing at all with three.

[HPsauce]

Someone has tried to investigate this problem with the Smart Hub 2 as installed: https://bt-digital-voice.blogspot.com/p/bt-smart-hub-2.html

[4candles]

Very interesting – thanks HP

[tubaman]

DV service is now live and I have just finished connecting the Smart Hub 2 back into my home phone sockets as per my original post.
It seems to be happily ringing 1 x Bell 50E (4k ohm mechanical bell), 1 x American character phone (Mechanical bell, unknown ohms but likely 2.5k), 1 x Panasonic DECT base station, and 1 x BT Viscount (claimed REN 1 but electronic ringer so may be less).
Also, the leaflet that BT sent me states that I can no longer use my own answerphone but must use their 1571 service. I've set the 1571 to max answer length and my old DECT answerphone works just nicely (of course it does), so why they give this misleading information I do not know.

All I need to do now is tidy the horrendous wiring mess that is at the back of my desk..... another day maybe.