Old Copper Line and Terminal.

[#1]

Hello Plusnetters!

I had my Full Fibre / Hub Two router installed yesterday, everything is running as it should.

I just wondered: what now with the old copper line and terminal in my home? The engineer said it will be deactivated the day after the new install.

Are BT going to take it out when they come for all the copper down my street?

What's the plan? Is there a plan?

[#2]

@craggyducks 

As far as I know there is no plan to remove the copper wire from Cabinets to the premises. It's not economical.

They almost certainly will remove the heavy duty cable from Exchanges to Cabinets. I seem to recall a new article a couple of years back on how much OR expected to receive for the redundant copper cable.

So long as you're careful when disconnecting the wires to the Master Socket and tape them up so no shorting there is probably nothing to stop you removing the MS and decorating over it.

Brian

[#3]

If it is an overhead cable from the pole, complete a request here.

https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/object-to-move-or-remove-openreach-equipment

[#4]

@craggyducks  I just wondered: what now with the old copper line and terminal in my home? The engineer said it will be deactivated the day after the new install.

I suspect you’ve missed the boat! When I went from FTTC to FTTP on the day of install the engineer was quite happy to remove the old copper whilst he was up the pole installing the Fibre cable. When I asked are to going to remove the old copper he said “I will if you want me to”. In fact he used the existing mounting bracket on the house to secure the new cable. As for the master socket he told me I could remove and bin it.

It seems to me to be a nonsense leaving the old cable in place, not to mention untidy. Both my immediate neighbours and two houses across the street have both. I know for a fact that with three of them the copper is totally redundant!

As for de-activation the next day? My application to transfer my ‘landline’ number to a VOIP supplier was done as the engineer was driving away.

It’s rather sad that walking down the average street there are so many properties with two cables coming from the same pole! I wonder why – assistance alarms etc not withstanding.

[#5]

@bmc wrote:

So long as you're careful when disconnecting the wires to the Master Socket and tape them up so no shorting there is probably nothing to stop you removing the MS and decorating over it.

---

From my experience, after about 30 days (during which time your landline phone is still likely useable to call out on non chargeable numbers, but not from your old number) the entire service is cancelled and there is no longer any power on the line.

[#6]

Mine took longer than that to go unpowered. As the NTE was always an inelegant bodge I reverted it to an old-school LJU master socket on a box recessed flush with the wall - found an old early 80s-style one with the "T" logo and it fits the age/style of the house. 😀