BT Telephone Drop cable
Incubus
Quite a few years back I had a Telewest telephone installed. When the
guy fitted it he cut the external BT line on the outside of the wall. At
the time it didn't bother me but now I want a BT line in again.
I had a look at the cable coming from the telegraph pole and the colours
are like this:
3 X RED (no distinct markings between the reds)
White
Black
Orange
Green
I've had a look about and can't seem to find this cable anywhere so I am
presuming that the the wiring colours have changed.
Firstly, am I right in saying that all I need from this cable are the
orange and white cables?
Secondly, anyone know what purpose the other cables are for?
I will need to do all of the work myself as BT are wanting Ł175.00 to
reconnect!!!!!! I am thinking I could use a potting compound once I join
the cables to keep them dry. Does this sound ok?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
John.
Chris J Dixon
>
>Quite a few years back I had a Telewest telephone installed. When the
>guy fitted it he cut the external BT line on the outside of the wall. At
>the time it didn't bother me but now I want a BT line in again.
>
>I will need to do all of the work myself as BT are wanting £175.00 to
>reconnect!!!!!! I am thinking I could use a potting compound once I join
>the cables to keep them dry. Does this sound ok?
>
As has already been asked elsewhere, have you any evidence that
there remains a live connection at the BT end, and that BT would
enable this line without verifying that all is well at your end?
Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
ch...@cdixon.me.uk
Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.
Incubus
> Incubus wrote:
>> Quite a few years back I had a Telewest telephone installed. When the
>> guy fitted it he cut the external BT line on the outside of the wall. At
>> the time it didn't bother me but now I want a BT line in again.
>>
>
>> I will need to do all of the work myself as BT are wanting £175.00 to
>> reconnect!!!!!! I am thinking I could use a potting compound once I join
>> the cables to keep them dry. Does this sound ok?
>>
> As has already been asked elsewhere, have you any evidence that
> there remains a live connection at the BT end, and that BT would
> enable this line without verifying that all is well at your end?
>
> Chris
Not sure about live connection. I take it you mean have they
disconnected me from the exchange? Is it common practice to physically
disconnect people from the exchange if they no longer have an account?
My thinking was that if my end is sound then they would sort their end
relatively cheaply.
John.
Derryck Croker
> Chris J Dixon wrote:
>> As has already been asked elsewhere, have you any evidence that
>> there remains a live connection at the BT end, and that BT would
>> enable this line without verifying that all is well at your end?
>
> Not sure about live connection. I take it you mean have they
> disconnected me from the exchange? Is it common practice to physically
> disconnect people from the exchange if they no longer have an account?
They would pull the U link from your line (of course, it might be a tap
or two on a computer keyboard these days). If your line just happened
to be still connected, I'd expect to be able to hear a dialling tone
most likely.
> My thinking was that if my end is sound then they would sort their end
> relatively cheaply.
Don't they give you a credit back for any money that's left over after
said reconnection has been paid for?
--
Cheers
Derryck
Incubus
>> My thinking was that if my end is sound then they would sort their end
>> relatively cheaply.
>
> Don't they give you a credit back for any money that's left over after
> said reconnection has been paid for?
>
not sure, but I would rather try and sort as mush as possible myself and
then at a last resort hand over money for reconnection. I'm of the
thinking that I am doing them a favour for being a customer again so
they could at least give me a break ;o)
John.
David Kennedy
>
> not sure, but I would rather try and sort as mush as possible myself and
> then at a last resort hand over money for reconnection. I'm of the
> thinking that I am doing them a favour for being a customer again so
> they could at least give me a break ;o)
>
These days if you have no service then it's a 125 quid charge. Unless,
of course, _more_ work is involved in which case they can charge more...
Alang
I went back to BT last year. The only evidence of a former BT
connection was the hook on the wall to take the cable from the pole.
That was enough to get me reconnected for free. New cable from pole to
a new box in the house. Otherwise it was going to be £125
Midge
you sure?
Normally a pole fed installation has a grey drop wire containing just two
solid cores. You'll be able to confirm this at a distance as it will appear
to twist en-route to the pole (this is by design to reduce the effects of
high wind I think). This will typically terminate on a BT NTE5 - which is
like a normal phone socket but has a removable lower half where the BT
internal wiring connects. The colours for the latter have been standard
since the BT plug/socket system has been around which must be close on 25
years. The colour in caps is the primary colour of the wire and the one in
lower case is the thin stripe.
1 {GREEN/White - hardly ever connected }
2 BLUE/White B Wire
3 ORANGE/White Bell Wire
4 WHITE/Orange Earth (rarely used in domestic installations)
5 WHITE/Blue A Wire
6 {WHITE/Green- hardly ever connected }
So what you have is some OTHER cable. Possibilities are:
a) for some reason a multi-core cable has been used rather than a normal
drop wire (maybe there was more than one line at some point?). I can confirm
my underground fed cable into my NTE5 is a 4 wire comprising a white,
orange, black and green wire which are NOT banded with other colours like
internal wiring. White connects to the A terminal, orange to B, and black
and green are unused. It seems possible yours uses the same convention -
though I am at a loss to explain what the three red wires are for UNLESS
they are actually support strands because the cable is used in the air.
b) someone has been hacking about and you have encountered a non-standard
section of cabling. In that case, start at the BT drop wire which might be
as I described above, and trace it through.
The cost issue is simply one of whether you are talking over a working
install or not. In your case, it currently ISN'T working so you would likely
be charged the full install rate. So worth a bit more digging.
HTH Midge.
"Alang" <inv...@invalid.co.uk> wrote in message
news:svj9f45k7jremd5e5...@4ax.com...
Midge
white/orange should be the active pair.
http://www.buzzhost.co.uk/colourcodes.php
In the section on two/four pair overhead dropwire it states:
"One important point about dropwire; people often ask why there are three
white or yellow wires in it and get confused by them. They are nothing more
than steel support strands designed to keep the wire taunt in the air. They
are not designed to be used as conductors."
Maybe these support strands were sometimes red too....
Midge.
"Midge" <mi...@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:5tidnUl68upNnmjV...@bt.com...
Andrew Gabriel
"Midge" <mi...@somewhere.com> writes:
> You say the cable coming from the telegraph POLE has all these colours? Are
> you sure?
>
> Normally a pole fed installation has a grey drop wire containing just two
> solid cores.
Not for some time. Pole drops are a multi-core cable with 2 pairs
(white and orange, black and green) and 3 additional steel cored
wires (all red or all brown) which are just for strengthening.
I can't remember which is the primary pair, but you could test for
any voltage between white and orange or between black and green.
If you find something like 50V, then it's still connected to the
exchange, but it won't be enabled. Depending on the exchange, you
might even have a dialtone, but you will find you can only call BT
sales on 15-something. All other numbers give number unobtainable.
> The colour in caps is the primary colour of the wire and the one in
> lower case is the thin stripe.
>
> 1 {GREEN/White - hardly ever connected }
> 2 BLUE/White B Wire
> 3 ORANGE/White Bell Wire
> 4 WHITE/Orange Earth (rarely used in domestic installations)
> 5 WHITE/Blue A Wire
> 6 {WHITE/Green- hardly ever connected }
This is the internal premises wiring, which is very different from
the dropwire. Only the A and B are connected to a dropwire pair.
--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
Incubus
>
> "One important point about dropwire; people often ask why there are three
> white or yellow wires in it and get confused by them. They are nothing more
> than steel support strands designed to keep the wire taunt in the air. They
> are not designed to be used as conductors."
>
> Maybe these support strands were sometimes red too....
It is an old pole - roughly 1950's so I reckon the cable is same age.
The three reds being support strands sounds very plausible since there
is not distinct markings between them.
Its a bit of a shame as I nearly had the thing sorted for free. A guy
came to the house a few months back and needed to look at the pole which
sits at the bottom of my garden. He said they were needing to replace
them all. When they get replaced they would put new cables in and I
would get payment for the fact the pole was in my garden :o) Hence I
would be reconnected to the pole for free.
Unfortunately, he discovered that about 2 poles down the cables were
crossing a small substation. Apparently that breaks the rules and he
said the whole thing has to be canceled and re-thought which he said
could take a few years :o(
Bummer,
John.
Midge
house too long!).
Internal wiring was just provided for clarity to make sure we were
definitely talking about external stuff.
John - so it looks like you're *probably* going to find white/orange as your
line in.
Midge.
"Andrew Gabriel" <and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:48f50d55$0$504$5a6a...@news.aaisp.net.uk...
Incubus
>
> John - so it looks like you're *probably* going to find white/orange as your
> line in.
>
> Midge.
>
>
Excellent, thanks for your help (and everybody else too).
John.