I Keep Reading/Hearing That The Box...

[#1]

you plug your telephone cable into especially if you think you have a fault, you are supposed to unscrew some kind of plate and plug the cable into this connection. I haven't a reason to do that at present(Fingers crossed)but my box just has a sliding door and nothing else.  Should I request or be entitled to what seems to be a more up to date connection box? And if that is the case should I get it for free?

[#2]

What would you plug into a upgraded box...

[#3]

Several questions
Do you have more than one phone point in your property
If the answer is NO then you don't need one as you don't have any internal wiring
If the answer is YES there are two more questions
Are you sure that is the master socket - you need to check the wires where it enters the property
If it is the first socket in the house is there a connection box outside the property  called an external NTE - read about it here http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/btsockets.htm
To answer the main point BT charge fore fitting a normal NTE box under most circumstances - I know that a few people have got them for free but I don't know how

[#4]

I think our phone line has been in this property for 50 years(I assume the outside box and cable will have been changed at some point over that time.
The master switch that is on the windowsill in the lounge I think is like the following image...
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/images/phone/LJU1_large.jpg

[#5]

If you get any noise on the line with just your phone connected, report it to BT or who ever provides your phone and if or when the engineer is there to fix it request a new master socket.  If not it will cost you for the call out and work carried out.
To check with just your phone plugged in with no filter, dial 17070 and use option 2, give it a minute and listen for any hissing/crackling, ideally you want to try with a second phone as well to rule out the phone causing it. Then if you get any report it to BT or who ever.

[#6]

Is that the only phone socket in the house.

[#7]

Everything seems fine at present but yes that is the only official socket in the house, all other phone lines are extensions run from that master socket. There are only two phones in total. One downstairs in the lounge and the second in a bedroom. I only asked about the master socket because whenever things go wrong people are told to go into the master switch remove a plate and do some tests themselves before calling an engineer out and with the kind I have I cannot do that...as all is well I can leave things(fingers crossed)

[#8]

have you checked out the bell wires?

[#9]

@brightspark1
I'd seriously not be too concerned about the lack of a test socket. Although the property I live in is only about 5 or 6 years old it originally had an LJU type of socket with no removable section of faceplate. I had experienced a fault last year which needed engineer intervention, whereas not every engineer may carry them constantly the one that visited me replaced it for an NTE5 socket (with test socket.
Adam