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Self installed

rookey
Grafter
Posts: 572
Registered: ‎23-01-2009

Self installed

I really wishes plus net offered self installed fibre like BT does. This means engineer doesn't need come into the house as he does the trick outside somewhere. This meaning I can use any BT socket in the house with a filter splitter this then I can have the router plugged in where I use to have my ADSL router sweet spot of the house
12 REPLIES 12
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Self installed

There's nothing stopping you removing the SSFP from your master socket and using a plug-in microfilter in every socket with a telephone. Or connecting the pair of wires for the socket you want to use to the connectors on the SSFP for the VDSL extension. You will probably get a worse broadband speed if the VDSL2 signal goes to all your extension sockets than if it were filtered off at the faceplate on the master socket, depending on the number of sockets, and the quality and arrangement of the wiring.
What you should have done is requested the data extension kit when you placed the order. Then the engineer would have installed an extension socket for the VDSL2 modem. But it's a bit late for that now.
rookey
Grafter
Posts: 572
Registered: ‎23-01-2009

Re: Self installed

Well I wasn't told at the day of order I would need use the master socket and this won't be set up like ADSL if I've of known I may of requested it. But the though of the cable trailing from one end of house to other
Bobsta
Grafter
Posts: 61
Thanks: 6
Registered: ‎23-12-2011

Re: Self installed

They may not advertise it but PN will allow you to self-install. Phone them and tell them it's not convenient to ever have an Openreach engineer visit as you're always away at work, and ask for them to post out the modem to you. You may have to get passed around a bit but if you speak to the team responsible for the broadband provisioning they can definitely do it - as that's how my service was delivered.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Self installed

Unfortunately it's a bit late once the service is already installed though.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
gmqa
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎25-07-2015

Re: Self installed

I too am interested in self-install, but would prefer not to negotiate over the telephone to speak to someone who can sanction it, and would like to know if I would have to accept a  wall-hung modem from Plusnet when at present one small box with one mains connection holds wireless, modem and a router which accepts the four Ethernet connections which I need.
ejs made a couple of useful points which I have noted, but would like to see a thorough and detailed explanation of the whole changeover procedure, rather than stuff like 'you can be provided with a 30-metre "data cable" which is part of the "kit" '. I would prefer to buy my own choice of electronics, install my own extension cable, and change myself the part of the master socket which belongs to me if that would provide filtering.
pwatson
Rising Star
Posts: 2,470
Thanks: 8
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎26-11-2012

Re: Self installed

BT Openreach will stop supplying the modem early next year so it's likely that most ISPs will be providing integrated modem/routers fairly soon...
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Self installed

@gmqa
The BT modem can either be wall mounted or flat mounted
The Plusnet router plugs into that
The engineer will fit a new master socket with a built in filtered faceplate
Once you have that you can do whatever you want including a single VDSL capable router
If you want to fiddle with the everything beyond the rear part of the master socket including fitting your own faceplate with or without built in filter you can do it but don't expect any assistance from Plusnet if it doesn't work satisfactorily
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Self installed

The DSL socket on a faceplate (or microfilter) is unfiltered1. It's telephones and other devices that use the voice line, like fax machines, that need to be connected through a filter.
VDSL2 from the cabinet is actually much the same as ADSL in terms of filtering, wiring and sockets, it's just that VDSL2 will suffer far worse from bad wiring than ADSL.
If you don't have a centralised filtered faceplate on your master socket, the DSL signal will go to all extension sockets, you could plug the modem/router into any one of them, each telephone would need to be connected to a plug-in microfilter. VDSL2 can work like that, possibly not as well as it would with a centralised filter, it's probably not optimal for ADSL either.
With a BT SSFP (Service Specific Face Plate), the DSL signal is removed from all wiring connected to the removable lower front part of the NTE5. The DSL signal is present on the RJ45 top socket, and there are IDC terminals on the SSFP for extension wiring that will carry the DSL signal, as circled in red in one of the pictures here: http://www.run-it-direct.co.uk/btvdslfaceplate.html
(I expect you could find a Mk3 SSFP on ebay for less than the Mk2 from Run IT Direct)
Extension wiring is your own responsibility, if an engineer installs the data extension kit, that becomes part of the end users' extension wiring, and comes with I think a 12 month warranty.
It may be too late for rookey to get an Openreach (or contractor) engineer to install the data extension kit, but anyone can do their own extension wiring at any time.
@Oldjim
What master socket are BT installing these days? Isn't it still an NTE5 with a SSFP plugged in and fixed on with screws?
Note 1: The Mk2 and Mk3 SSFP also contain "common mode" filtering components, which remove interference from the DSL signal.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Self installed

It is indeed and when he installed fibre he only changed the filtered faceplate  to the Mk3
gmqa
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎25-07-2015

Re: Self installed

I am not training in telephony, or in spelling, but just want to know enough for the task in hand. I think that I read that a BT person had to fit a new faceplate which included a filter, and what else was not specified, though I think I remember comments about wiring that was special in some unspecified way. My only telephone is plugged into a filter which is plugged into the faceplate.
The road in which I live was created in 1998, so fibre could easily have been provided along with the copper wire, but I presume was not. Even a rookie or a rookey would know that transmission distance usually involves attentuation. Adding five or six metres of cable should be comparatively unimportant, though knowing the optimum type would be helpful.
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Self installed

The cable needs to be "twisted pair", it contains pairs of wires, the two wires in a pair are twisted around each other, this reduces the amount of interference that gets picked up by the cable. It should be made to "CW1308" specification. CAT5 networking cable could also be used, that should be better because the wires are twisted more, but it's also thicker and less flexible. You have to use both wires in the same pair, the pairs are colour coded.
You don't strip the ends of the wires, you push them into the IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector) with a special tool, the IDC cuts through the insulation as the wire is inserted. This also means the wires need to be solid core, cables made of stranded wires won't work in IDC terminals.
The videos here may be useful: https://www.youtube.com/user/mymatevince
gmqa
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎25-07-2015

Re: Self installed

I'm postponing a change to fibre until I have a better understanding of the subject. Today I opened up BT's two sockets and the extension socket I installed myself ten years ago, and made notes on the wiring, added a few tips from the forums to my notes, and read two appalling accounts of failed updates by other members.
I have had three ISPs. BT's service didn't work, and they said they couldn't help me fix it as the work was contracted out. Tiscali earned themselves a web page entitled "Tiscali the pusillanimous", because they closed down my website at the bidding of a dishonest and corrupt Sussex policeman named PC Francis. Plusnet has been irreproachable and good value for ten years, and I don't want to put at risk a system that is currently working well.