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Router info for a new customer please

NeilByMouth
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Router info for a new customer please

Hi
I just signed up for Plusnet phone and broadband. I am assuming that the router that will be sent out is the Thompson/Technicolor  582n that there are support pages for.(?)
q1) Can somebody please tell me when and how this is usually delivered. I live in purpose built apartments and a delivery company needs to get buzzed into the main door to get access to my front door. They usually leave parcels in the vestibule shared by me and my nextdoor neighbour which is fine but there is no letterbox outside the main build through which to leave a card if I am not in and  they don't try another flats intercom. I (surprisingly) got an email minutes after placing my order that my phoneline will be active on Monday. So I am guessing my router is due to come mid week(?). Is there any way I can plan to be in? If they send them via the post office then there is no problem as the postie can get regular access.
q2) Does anyone know how long the router cables are for the "internet cable" and the power supply? My master socket is in my (v.small)hallway and annoyingly the only power outlet is on the opposite wall. I am hoping I can take the flooring  up and pass the power cable under it. I am hoping the "internet cable" is long enough to come out from where the master socket is to where the router can be placed. Failing that is this just an ethernet cable, a crossover cable or something with other than RJ45 plugs? (If it is either of the former I can make one to measure).
Thanks in advance to anyone with any info.  Smiley
9 REPLIES 9
newagetraveller
Pro
Posts: 690
Thanks: 144
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Re: Router info for a new customer please

New customer myself, just transferred from Madasafish (Plusnet with another name).
I assume I have the same router you will receive. Mine was delivered by Royal Mail and the package is small enough to pass through a standard letterbox.
The power supply transformer plugs directly into a socket outlet and the low voltage cable from that to the router is about 1.6 metre in length.
The cable which plugs into the 'phone socket microfilter and router is 1.5 metre long. There are two microfilters included.
I've not measured the ethernet cable - router to computer.
If you're taking the floor up surely it would be better to run a spur from the existing electic socket and fit a new one near the 'phone master socket? Smiley
NeilByMouth
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Re: Router info for a new customer please

I would put a power outlet where the master socket is. In fact, it is in the same very small cupboard as the electricity meter. There quite simply is not enough wall unless it was placed at hip height outside of that cupboard. My hall is literally four doors and the bare minimum of space in which to open them. I have to take the flooring up anyway as it is the only neat way to run ethernet to my workstation. Its easy enough to take up the flooring where I need to.
Thanks for the info on cable lengths and royal mail etc.
It might all be a moot point as I just went to measure it and looked in the cupboard to find there is no Master Socket after all (I was thinking of my old place) just some very tatty and exposed wiring! SO if I end up having to pay to get some wiring done anway I will have the master socket put in and good quality  extension placed where I need them. I have extensions in the lounge and bedrooms but having seen what they are wired to I am not hopeful.... Though it appears the previous owner disconnected the RING cable which pay indicate they had broad band at one time. If I find that the existing wiring is sub par how do I go about getting a master socket put in. Do BT do that and I pay them or do I pay plusnet and they organise the work?
newagetraveller
Pro
Posts: 690
Thanks: 144
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Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Re: Router info for a new customer please

BT own the line to your property/master socket and the master socket.
If your 'phone is with Plusnet I suspect you would contact them re a new master socket install and they will contact BT. If your 'phone is with BT then I'd think you'd call them. I would think there most definitely will be a charge for the work.
Zap
Grafter
Posts: 284
Registered: ‎22-11-2007

Re: Router info for a new customer please

It is usually £60 if a fault is in your home but if the flats are new they should be fine.
BT has not contract with you and so will charge you via Plusnet
NeilByMouth
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Re: Router info for a new customer please

Thanks all for the info so far. I am hoping the wiring will work well enough to get me up and running. I am a bit of a fretter when it comes to technology and would rather "be prepared" (dib dib dob dob).  Wink
Looking at where the wiring enters my property the gpo "coffin box" (which has its cover off ) is from pre 1980. The extensions inside the flat are probably from around the 90s. (For my sins I worked for BT Business Faults Reception in the Early 90s for a short time).

There are some utility cupboards outside of my flat in the communal areas and  it looks like the wiring might come in via those but I don't think I have a key and the neighbour who is the organiser of Owners' Assoc and seems to (and has done for decades) sort everything to do with building work etc is on holiday. I cannot for the life of me see where the wire from the telegraph pole goes after hitting the exterior wall. I think it is possible the wires run through the communal part of the roof and drop to these cupboards on each floor. Looking at where the wire and that for my intercom enter my flat it looks like these are outfitted with counduit for pushing cables up and down.
Has anyone ever heard of the BT demarcation point being in such a box for POTS wiring? I believe they do something similar in some buildings for new builds and  fibre products now. I don't want to go chasing up keys etc while people are on holidays if it is pointless
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Router info for a new customer please

The telephone wiring to our mid-1980s purpose built block of flats is underground, but it comes up to a distribution point in the services cupboard in the communal area. From there cables run through the service ducts into individual flats. Each flat has a master socket in the flat, old style in our case - not sure about the other flats. Our extensions run from the back of that socket, removed and put back by the BT engineer on one occasion when investigating a noisy phone line (pre broadband days).
David
NeilByMouth
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Re: Router info for a new customer please

The plot thickens.
I just moved my sofa to have a look at where my new workstation is going and what the extension was like there and it appears that this is a Master Socket! It looks like this is a bona fide one fitted by BT- I've popped the cover off.
Is there anywhere I can check the part number? Or are all BT stamped sockets with the internal sockets behind the fascia Master Sockets?
My best guess is that at some point a BT engineer has been at bit lazy and tapped into the coffin box in the meter cupboard rather than pulling new cable up and so fitted the master socket in the lounge that way (lounge and bedroom are at opposite ends of the property which is quite long and narrow in layout). Previous residents must later have realised that to properly run an extension off this would require much more cabling / redecoration so have retapped the coffin box in the meter cupboard and directly run the extension from  that into the bedroom.
I'm guessing that I'm okay to disconnect the bedroom extension at the meter cupboard to make my installation up to spec? I don't need it anyway as I'll use wireless in other rooms than the lounge and a cordless phone.
Edit: DO I also have to reconnect the RING / BELL cable (can't remember what they are called) in the coffin box. I know its not required but is it required to qualify as having "not tampered with your installation"
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Router info for a new customer please

Kitz provides some BT socket identification images here.
Do the other sockets in your flat go dead when you remove the detachable faceplate from the newly-discovered socket?
David
NeilByMouth
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎03-08-2012

Re: Router info for a new customer please

My phone goes live tomorrow but I am pretty confident that even then this would not deaden the second extension. I can see that the wiring for the bedroom comes off the line *to* the Master socket before the cable run to the MS.
The socket is a master socket (part # 1036886). Pre 2007(not incl bell circuit filter) and from the logo it was manufactured '91-03 (the fella "with the horn" as he was called when I worked at BT) Nothing is wired to up to any user available terminations on the fascia plate.