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[Crawf62]

I'm new to the whole art of home wiring, so I apologise in advance if this is a simple query.

I am close to completing a major extension to my house.  As a result of the build, the telephone cable was cut and the cable now runs from the pole outside and terminates inside the house.  Prior to plastering, I run a Cat5 lead which I intended on (somehow) connecting with the telephone cable.  The Cat 5 lead runs to a central hub of wires where I plan on installing a master socket (I know about the whole BT thing - line and master socket being their property - but they wanted £150 to send out an engineer!)

Can anyone help me with how I connect a telephone cable and Cat5 cable together?  Is it even possible?  Are the wires the same, but just more of them in a Cat5 cable?  Also, is there a junction box that can do this?

Many thanks for any help.

[HPsauce]

An incoming BT wire may contain several cores, but only 2 are used.
It should be terminated, by BT, on a genuine BT master socket.
Pay the money to BT to sort it out. You are asking in public for advice on how to commit an illegal act that may also put their technicians at risk if done incorrectly.

[roseway]

Yes, I'm afraid I must echo what HPsauce said. Whoever cut the cable is responsible for the cost of getting it fixed properly by BT, and we will not support illegal DIY action.

[oldfogy]

Far be-it for me to recommend anything illegal, but.

Obviously the cut cable was originally connected to "presumably" the master socket, from there you can see which cables were actually used by their colours, which should also be the ones connected to terminals 2 & 5 with (you need to verify those numbers as it's been a long time since I did any phone installation work) terminal 3 being used for the bell ringer going to any extensions.

However, you will find that Maplin electronics sell all of the necessary equipment (with instructions) for the type of work you want to do, the later part is quite "legal" as it's classed as your own equipment being used for your own "internal" telephone setup.

[kitz]

If the cut cable was before the master socket then that is BTs property and cannot be touched. 
The master socket is BTs demarcation point.. what happens after the master socket - ie fitting extensions etc, thats up to the owner if they pay BT to do the work, or you can use the DIY method.

Touching the dropwire behind the master socket is a big NO NO.  The drop wire consists of different cabling and is 2 twisted pairs (A+B) rather than the 4 strands in normal telephone extension.

From the OPs post its not 100% clear to me which part was cut.. {quote}"now runs from the pole outside and terminates inside the house."{/quote}. 


Its also illegal to replace an LJU2 master socket with an NTE5.
However if the cable beyond the existing master is still intact and if its a case of wanting to wire up a "new NTE5" so that you can connect the new extension wiring.. the only way it can legally be done is by following the instructions on the bottom of this page. 

By using one of the clarity specially adapted NTE5s, you can then connect into that the ethernet cable youve laid which runs to the new extension.  Theres an example how to do that on the same page.

At the risk of being repetitive but I really cannot stress this enough - you cant touch anything before the old master socket... and if that is the part thats been cut, then you will have to call out BT.

[Crawf62]

Thanks everyone for your assistance.

For clarification, the drop line was cut and is now a loose wire, i.e before the master socket.  As this appears to be BT's equipment, I'll maybe have to call them in. 

Nevertheless, BT strangely told me that it would cost £150 to call out a BT engineer.  They further told me that I might as well try to do it myself, and if it worked then great (and I'd save £150).  If it doesn't then I'd have to call someone out and I wouldn't have lost anything!  It's also bizarre that Maplin sell the master socket - how can they do this if it is illegal?

(whilst not proposing to, if I did happen to touch any of the wires in the drop line, are any live and going to fry me???)

[dave.m]

It's also bizarre that Maplin sell the master socket - how can they do this if it is illegal?

If you fully read the last post by Kitz you would see that you CAN install a NTE5 socket AFTER the BT Master Socket and it could then be used to run extensions fromm.

Go to this page and scroll down to the bottom article and it explains how to connect an NTE5 socket to your old type BT Master. That is the reason Maplins sell them, it is not illegal to have and install one.

dave 

[oldfogy]

1. They further told me that I might as well try to do it myself, and if it worked then great

2. if I did happen to touch any of the wires in the drop line, are any live and going to fry me???

1. Obviously it would be your word against theirs "if" anything did go wrong.

2. NO, although there is a voltage of about 50 volts which has in the past given me a tingle, but my hair is still straight (what little there is)

£150 ?
If you recognise the original coloured wires that have been cut.
I would ask that you re-read my earlier post and save yourself £150.

[Ezzer]

If it's damage to bt plant within your curtlage then it is chargeable.

Current standard drop wire has 2 pairs of wires, orange/white and greenblack for a 2nd line. There are also 2 steel cantineries which are there for physical support (nicknamed the hypodemics, very sharp and very painfull) we use crimps to connect wires out in the network which are gel filled to waterproof the connection and theres a whole range of closures depending on the cable and position of the joint which again are waterproof.

Using cat5 for internal wiring is ok, just connected in the same way as normal internal wiring. as per the link which Kitz has for fitting an nte5 just after your existing nte, then the nte5 will give you a easy point to connect your wiring to and the easy ablility to seperate your wiring if you have a problem with either dsl or normal voice telephony