topic Re: Going SoGEA in Broadband

Going SoGEA

Hector99 — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:20:40 GMT

I am about to be transferred over to a SoGEA connection. When I got on to customer service about the setup, they advised the landline disconnection was at the exchange. As there is no engineer to visit, I asked, regarding the physical connection to the phone handset, would that remain - they said it would. And it would make no difference if it were disconnected.

I was under the impression that the physical connection to the handset within the property had a significant effect on the connection speed.

Anyone who can comment on this please I would appreciate it, as I need to know should this be disconnected or not. If it should be disconnected, how should that be done, as it is to do with my master socket which I am not supposed to mess with.

Re: Going SoGEA

jab1 — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:28:29 GMT

@Hector99 when you move from 'Fibre - a connection which includes a PSTN landline - to SOGEA, which doesn't there is no need or benefit in having a phone connected to the Master Socket, and you are at liberty to disconnect it.

The connection to the handset has zero effect on the speed.

Re: Going SoGEA

pvmb — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:41:25 GMT

@Hector99 wrote:

I am about to be transferred over to a SoGEA connection. When I got on to customer service about the setup, they advised the landline disconnection was at the exchange. As there is no engineer to visit, I asked, regarding the physical connection to the phone handset, would that remain - they said it would. And it would make no difference if it were disconnected.

I was under the impression that the physical connection to the handset within the property had a significant effect on the connection speed.

Anyone who can comment on this please I would appreciate it, as I need to know should this be disconnected or not. If it should be disconnected, how should that be done, as it is to do with my master socket which I am not supposed to mess with.

IMO it usually doesn't need to be disconnected. I assume you would simply unplug the phone from whatever phone wall socket it is plugged into. If it is plugged in to some extension socket, far from the master socket that the router is plugged into, the extension wiring might have some small effect on your broadband performance. But, in that case, you should be able to remove the extension wiring yourself at the master socket, leaving just the connection to the Openreach cable into your home.

In my experience (after fibre installation) the phone line, after 'disconnection', does remain electrically connected to the exchange system for around 30 days, with dial tone and the ability to dial out to non chargeable numbers (e.g. Quiet Line Test) but with a dummy phone number you cannot connect to. After that time the line went completely dead, with no voltage on it. But, as I say, that was after I had my landline replaced by full fibre.

Re: Going SoGEA

Baldrick1 — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:44:39 GMT

@Hector99

What physical connection to your handset? Are you referring to extension wiring? If so is it connected to a filtered faceplate?

If it is extension wiring and it's connected to a non filtered faceplate then it could affect speed. It is not essential but if it were me I would disconnect it. If that is the case then you are allowed to remove the faceplate, some are clipped on and older ones retained with two screws, and remove the extension cable(s).

If you have a correctly wired filtered faceplate, in which case the router will not work when connected to an extension, or no extensions, then no changes are required.

The main connection to your property is connected to the rear of the master socket backplate. Any wiring to the removable faceplate is extensions, so there is no risk of disconnecting your broadband incoming signal, always assuming of course that your router is correctly plugged in to the master socket, not an extension!

Don't be surprised if it makes no difference to your download speed.