Installing New Phone Socket

[#1]

Hi

I'm moving soon and have already put in the request to take my service with me/have the phone line activated at the new property and signed up to a new 18 month contract. At my current home I have a 20m phone extension cable trailing from one end of the building to the other where the router is located. I wanted to avoid this when moving by having a second socket installed in the room where the router will be.

However, I was at the new property today and I noticed that behind the door in the room I want the router in, there is a cable that looks a lot like a phone cable coming out of the ceiling and onto the floor, however the end of the cable has been cut off and the wires are exposed. I would imagine that this was once used as either an extension cord or it plugged into a socket on the wall.

As part of my house move, would the Plusnet engineer coming to the property to activate the phone line be able to use this cable to install a new phone line? How much would it cost? Would it be cheaper than having a whole new line put in?

Thanks

[#2]

I would trace that cable back and see where it originates. If it is a phone cable, you MAY be able to persuade the engineer to re-terminate it. Where is the master socket?

[#3]

@chimicherry

It's not very difficult to terminate a phone cable into a socket.

Buy a phone socket (Amazon's "BT Extension Telephone Wall Socket - IDC Terminal - Slave/Secondary Outlet Plate" looks a reasonable bet) and punch the wires they recommend down in the socket using the supplied "one time" tool.

If it doesn't work then generally you need to push harder when punching the wires down.

[#4]

@markhawkin -providing it is a phone cable - they master socket is usually installed on the ground floor.

[#5]

@jab1 I'm not sure where it goes, it disappears actually into the ceiling and I don't know where it goes after that. I have noticed that in the living room on the other side of the property, there is both a Virgn Media branded socket and a BT socket... I would imagine it connects to the BT socket, but I have no way of being certain.

I have looked at the cable and it has 4 wires inside, if that helps narrow down the cable type at all?

[#6]

First do you get a technician visit if there is already a phone line going to the property?

Second, for the best performance you should install the router next to the master socket, not at the other end of the house. If it was me I would install, or get installed, a CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable between the two rooms. Then if necessary you could install a Wireless Access Point/Switch at the remote locatiob. 

[#7]

Sorry to ask another question, but what colour are the internal wires?.

The BT branded socket in the living room is probably your master socket - where do the wires enter your property from the street?

I can't personally see that it would connect to the master socket, it is possible, which is why you need to trace it.

[#8]

@Baldrick1

I have no idea, Plusnet told me when I asked them to move my service that there is currently no phone line at the property. They told me that my internet will be set up next week and that I need to be in to see to an engineer, but they told me that last time and nobody ever knocked the door, the internet just suddenly came on when he finished fiddling at the green box.

I know that for best performance I should have the router plugged into the master socket, but this isn't possible, and I'm not having thick CAT6 ethernet cables running across the entire length of the house. Seeing as there's already (what appears to be) a phone cable installed and running down from the ceiling, the easiest and most stress-free way of getting it in the room I want it would be to just make that live again if possible. Would I be right in assuming that if what Plusnet says is true and there's no phone line at the property, that there would be no voltage going through the wire?

[#9]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

First do you get a technician visit if there is already a phone line going to the property?

Second, for the best performance you should install the router next to the master socket, not at the other end of the house. If it was me I would install, or get installed, a CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cable between the two rooms. Then if necessary you could install a Wireless Access Point/Switch at the remote locatiob. 

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Probably not, @Baldrick1, which is why I think we need to correctly identify the master socket and the purpose of this rogue cable.

Your CAT5E/6 cable suggestion is a good one, though.

[#10]

@jab1

I'm not sure, I'll have to double check when I'm there to finish painting tomorrow. If memory serves, I believe one was blue, one was an orangey-red, I think one was white... Not sure about the other. 

Do you know how I would go about tracing it? It just runs up along the corner of the wall and into the ceiling - I even looked in the loft and can't see where it would run across...

[#11]

@chimicherry -that sounds like a phone wire to me -  although I could be wrong, I'll need to check tomorrow when I have a bit of time.

As to tracing it, you'll just have to follow it in the loft from the same corner as it enters the ceiling at - it may even have been connected to something the previous owners had, which they have taken away, but should still enter the loft at some point.

[#12]

So if it's a phone wire, is it something I could use to fix a socket plate to the wall, or could I connect it to like an extension cord thingy? Or both? Just thinking of my options here.

Thanks for all the help and advice so far, I'll definitely have a look tomorrow and snap a picture or two so we can tell for sure what it is.

[#13]

I'll reply to that tomorrow, @chimicherry - I have got a thumping headache tonight so not thinking all that straight.

[#14]

Look at the master socket. It should look like this. http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/40812/~/what-type-of-master-socket-have-i-got%3F  You should find that the front comes off, you may need to undo 2 screws first. The front then pulls off showing the test socket in behind. If there is a connected extension cable it will be connected to the front section, which is now dead. You can then reconnect the cut off end.

[#15]

@jab1

No worries, thanks for the help and advice so far - hope you feel better soon!  

@Baldrick1 Aha, I didn't think of that... I'll take the front off the sockets tomorrow and see if any of them have any cables coming out of them. I would imagine it's the BT one - there's a Virgin one down in one corner below a Virgin cable box the previous owner had, (although confusingly, from the outside the wiring seems to lead to a Sky satellite dish... ), while the BT one has a bit of trunking going up as if its covering a cable. I shall look into this in the morning - thank you!