Telephone Line Issue - BT GRRRR

[jaymanek]

Right,

-Wind last Friday
-BT Cable on Floor
-Call BT, say put back please
-5 days of messing about / engineers looking at the house from over the road
-Today they tell me new legislation means they cant just put the cable back as our bungalow is less than 3.2M high...
-BT now applying for planning to put in a new post or something
- I get very angry at idiots at BT
- Cannot wait for them to apply for Planning over Xmas (Sister needs Internet for coursework/exam revision)
- So i screw the holder thing with the cable back on the house myself

Now how do i test the line is still live and they havent turned us off?

The wires are different colours to the ones on the house, so cannot figure what connects to what... have tried different combinations for about 3 minutes this morning whilst eating toast..

Will my voltmeter measure anything or am i wasting my time?


Thanks

Jay

 

[robert.saunders]

Y'see, eating toast should be an experience best savoured, and I would say allow a good 6 minutes for eating said toast.

As to an answer for your predicament, I hope someone replies soon with a better response than me, as I don't actually know.

 

[Howard]

Hi Jay,

PM Reflexboy ... he's a BT engineer ...

H

 

[jaymanek]

Hi Jay,

PM Reflexboy ... he's a BT engineer ...

H

thanks have invited him to the thread!

 

[Rory]

Is it just a normal single telephone line?

If so, only 2 of the wires are used, and it doesn't matter which way around that are connected.

They used to use a grey 2 core cable so it was nice an easy, but now it tends to be a black multicore cable.

Ours just comes straight into the house and connects into the back of the master socket - sounds like you're looking at an external connector box? If it has pulled apart, is it not still wired on one side?

ETA: This page would seem to indicate the incoming wires should be orange & white - I don't think you can rely on that being the case though:
http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/wiring_info.htm

 

[jaymanek]

yes there is a connector box which i put up when we moved in... It looks like three wires were connected, so i need to figure out which one is useless.... what i will do is pull the socket apart in the house, see which colours are being used..

BUT i think this could all be in vein if they have simply switched us off while they are scratching their heads?

 

[Rory]

The voltage is actually -48V DC across the 2 relevant wires.

As I said earlier, it doesn't matter which way around it's connected, but in a perfect world, white would be 0V and orange -48V.

It's entirely feasible (indeed likely) that the voltage is still there but the phone may not work if it's been disabled at the exchange.


ETA: The incoming pair is referred to as A & B - A being 0V (white, ideally) and B being -48V (orange, ideally).

 

[jaymanek]

minus 48V? what does that mean? is my voltmeter going to spin the other way?!

 

[imadoofus]

Why can't you just try making a phone call?

If it doesn't work, report it as a fault.

 

[Rory]

minus 48V? what does that mean? is my voltmeter going to spin the other way?!

If it's a digital one then it will just display -48V !

It's just that it's referenced to ground - remember +ve earth cars?

If your meter has a needle, then the needle will try to go the wrong way, so just swap the probes around.

 

[jaymanek]

ok cool, yes my meter is a needle type... trusty old thing it is...

 

[Parrotman]

If you've got 3 wires in the house then 2 are the line and the 3rd is the bell circuit to the other socket(s).

 

[Carrotchomper]

Rod Hull. Football game- Arial troubles. Jay, stop it. It might only be a bungalow, but the ground is still very hard!

 

[jaymanek]

Rod Hull. Football game- Arial troubles. Jay, stop it. It might only be a bungalow, but the ground is still very hard!

eh?

 

[Howard]

Rod Hull went for a burton off his roof while trying to fix the TV aerial ..

I think Jays box is at ground level ..... Fnaar Fnaar !!

 

[Parrotman]

On your socket(s) terminals 2 and 5 carry the line and 3 carries the bell circuit. As another poster said, it does'nt matter which way round the 2 wires are that come into the house but it does matter when you connect the wires to the sockets after the main socket. Depending which type of cable you've got, terminal 2 will normally have white and blue ( that is large white ring with small blue ring): terminal 5 will have blue ( large ) and white ( small ): terminal 3 ( bell ) will normally be Orange & White.

As long as you keep the same colour wire to the same respective terminal you should'nt have any problems.

If by any chance you get continous bell ringing when the phone's plugged in, then somewhere ( probably in that same socket ) wires going to 2 + 5 have been reversed.

 

[Rory]

If you've got 3 wires in the house then 2 are the line and the 3rd is the bell circuit to the other socket(s).

That's only within the house though - from the master socket onwards.

I went to a house refurb the other day where all 6 wires in the incoming multicore had been joined up in choc block to 6 wires going to the master socket - and all jumbled up. Every secondary socket had all 6 wires connected - wrongly. It was a nightmare.

 

[Parrotman]

That's only within the house though - from the master socket onwards.

I went to a house refurb the other day where all 6 wires in the incoming multicore had been joined up in choc block to 6 wires going to the master socket - and all jumbled up. Every secondary socket had all 6 wires connected - wrongly. It was a nightmare.

Spent many a time in someone's loft unravelling those spaghetti junctions!

Another curse was when the installation fitters did a socket conversion and if there was a cable fault they'd simply replace the extension socket with another mains socket just to get it ringing. Would work for a time, but just one of their shortcut bodges which maintenance would have to later go out on and do a proper rewire.

 

[LastMinute]

went for a burton

Had to look that up... not come across that expression before!

 

[Howard]

A very useful turn of phrase ...

When you stumble for instance .... ' Ooops , i just went for a burton '

Or my personal favourite , when you see someone buckle off a kerb or some stairs or something is to cry ' SNIPER ! ' ...