BT Master Socket

Author
Discussion

pmanson

Original Poster:

13,374 posts

252 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Hi All,

We recently moved house and having had Virgin Fibre for the last 10 years we've had to order Fibre BB but this time delivered via Sky/telephone line.

The router is plugged into an extension socket in the bedroom/office as the 'master socket' is in the middle of the hall with no power point nearby (or space) to install the router.

As such i'm only getting around 23-24mbps of the claimed 35-40mbps - this is causing major issues for my Wife & Son as it looks like Amazon Prime needs around 25mbps to be able to stream 4k content properly.

So, the question is - how easy is it get a Master Socket moved? (there looks to be three extensions coming off the Master Socket - one for the kitchen, one for the office and Master bedroom and one for the alarm system.

At present we have the main cordless/answerphone plugged into the kitchen and the rest are just DECT handsets.

The cables for the extensions are simply clipped to skirting boards (and run up outside walls etc) so i'd like to take the opportunity to remove them too if possible

On the opposite wall to the Master Socket is a cupboard (where the original floor standing boiler would have been) which has the alarm panel etc.

I was hoping to do the following:

  • Have the Master Socket 'moved' to a new location in the cupboard (I'm assuming this involves running a cable to the new location and simply connecting to the old one?)
  • Connect the Alarm system to the new connection in the cupboard
  • Install the router in the cupboard and run a couple of CAT5/6 cables up to the office (should be fairly easy as they can be run through the garage) to cover things like printers etc

Is this all feasible? From my reading up I don't think i'm legally allowed to touch the master socket so I'm guessing i'll need to get someone in to do this for me?

Could I (for example) put a new 'master socket' on the end of the cable that is currently feeding the alarm system? (then connect the alarm to the new socket?)

Cheers,
Phill

Orchid1

877 posts

107 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
You're technically not supposed to touch it as it's not your property. You're supposed to phone BT and let them charge you a ridiculous amount of money to have it moved.....or you you could accidentally find someone on Gumtree who'll do it for fifty quid.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Power off all of your DECT phones and test again, they *might* be causing the problem...

Road2Ruin

5,167 posts

215 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Think this might be better in the first world problems thread!

Anyway.. Amazon prime 4k just needs a minimum of 15Mbps so you should be fine! May be your wireless in the house is the problem.

With regards to your incoming speed it could be many problems, often extensions are an issue if the wiring is poor. But also long able runs are bad too.

2ono

552 posts

106 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Don't know where you are based, but give this guy a call, his name is Geoff Grove, this is his website, www.exbtengineers.com

He has engineers dotted all round the country, so if you are not local to him don't worry.

pmanson

Original Poster:

13,374 posts

252 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
Think this might be better in the first world problems thread!

Anyway.. Amazon prime 4k just needs a minimum of 15Mbps so you should be fine! May be your wireless in the house is the problem.

With regards to your incoming speed it could be many problems, often extensions are an issue if the wiring is poor. But also long able runs are bad too.
Indeed you're correct, however i'm paying for it and i'd like to use it!

To be fair with the size of the TV we could also feature on the 'Council' thread as well

I'll have a play about with the wireless settings, interestingly when I was home during the day the other week, I tested it and it was working fine so I wonder if contention in the evening is causing issues...

Either way it would be good to tidy up some of the wiring!

ashleyman

6,963 posts

98 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Have you plugged the router into the master socket and tested the line speed from there?

It'll mean trailing cables whilst you do the tests but it will give you an indication if the lower speeds are being caused beyond the master socket in the BT network or if it's the cabling between your master socket and the secondary socket. Do these tests with a wired connection first, then a wireless connection.

If the problem still exists when you plug the router into the master socket you then know that you need to get on to BT about sorting the line out instead of paying out to have the socket moved and finding no change.

If the problem is eradicated by plugging the router into the master socket, I'd suggest getting someone round to either re-cable the connection to your secondary port or at least test it. It could be bad or low quality cable used thats slowing it down.

V8RX7

26,765 posts

262 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
I've had Openreach out today to sort a BB issue and learnt the following:

According to his device the master socket is seeing 4500

However any router usually loses 500 so with a wired connection I should see 4000 however I only see 3400 whether wired or not - his diagnosis is that my router is faulty.

He also said my DECT phones had become faulty (there is no obvious sign of a problem) but he said they regularly do and the first thing you should do when getting a BB problem is to unplug the phone.

BTW I moved my mastersocket over a year ago using cat5 cable as it was in the "wrong" place - no one has ever questioned it.

pmanson

Original Poster:

13,374 posts

252 months

Friday 30th September 2016
quotequote all
Ok, just moved the router downstairs to the hall and we're seeing 31mbps d/l from the master socket.

Time for a bit of re-wiring I think!

stirling37

113 posts

96 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
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2ono said:
Don't know where you are based, but give this guy a call, his name is Geoff Grove, this is his website, www.exbtengineers.com

He has engineers dotted all round the country, so if you are not local to him don't worry.
thats a really handy website. that guys local to me aswell. im going to give him a clal, onl last week so door fitters sliced a phone cable into my house and i was trying to fix it to get the inernet up and running.

Fore Left

1,411 posts

181 months

Saturday 1st October 2016
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Not sure if this still matters but you might also want to check if the bell wire is connected. I once got an extra mbps on a 3mbps connection which was quite an improvement at the time.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq/sections/radsl.h...