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Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment

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Old 5th Jan 2008, 8:56 pm   #1
trevwgb
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Question Boosters and Telephone wiring

Hi all
Could the experts give a bit of advice please. I need to get BT upgrade my master socket to the modern type. I will then run some additional wiring so that I can get my old phones working in the main living room. 2 questions
1. I was hoping to install a booster after the master which is suposed to increase the REN to 11 instead of the current 4. Does this actually work?
2. Does it matter what wire is used when making an extension ie is there such a thing as "high quality" or "low loss" telephone cable or will anything bought in Dixons etc do just as well?
Many thanks and happy new year to all
Trev
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Old 5th Jan 2008, 9:30 pm   #2
Alf
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Default Re: Boosters and Telephone wiring

Can't help you with the problem but, are you aware that a call-out charge may apply for BT

Do I have to pay for an engineer visit?

Do I have to pay for an engineer visit? For most engineer visits, there is no charge. The call out charge does not apply if the engineer is already visiting the premises to carry out other work. However, there may be a charge if it's something you can fix yourself. So please check your own connections and equipment carefully before arranging a visit by an engineer. When charges do apply, they are: £99.00 plus VAT, (£116.33 inc VAT), call-out charge, then £85.00 an hour (or part of) plus VAT, (£99.88 inc VAT). This is a total of £184.00 plus VAT, (£216.21 inc VAT), for each minimum visit period, which is an hour.

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Old 5th Jan 2008, 9:42 pm   #3
matthewhouse
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Default Re: Boosters and Telephone wiring

Why do you need the master socket changed? If you can just use a plug in adapter which has terminals to connect extention wiring I would go for that, it is certainly a lot cheaper. I have phoned BT on two occasions requesting a new master socket in two houses to replace faulty ones, and both times BT didn't want to know, 'the fault is on your wiring' I think in the end both people changed them theirselves with ones from the local hardware store.

I fitted one of these boosters in a massive house which telephone points were added to each of the 10 bedrooms as well as around the house. I think they sense the ring signal and supply their own higher power one from their buit in psu to the outlets. It certainly worked ok.

I seem to remember seeing you could also fit broadband filters to each socket and have a few more phones as the filters have thier own cap for ringing fittd inside, and don't use pin three at all. I think the problem with REN4 is the size of the ring cap prevents it being able to power a lot of phones, hence seperate caps allow it to work, but I can't be sure.

As for cable standard 4 core twisted pair is good, the untwisted version can cause problems for data use over long lengths, better quality cable is easier to install and tends to be a little more robust.
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Old 5th Jan 2008, 11:16 pm   #4
Dave Moll
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Default Re: Boosters and Telephone wiring

Quote:
Originally Posted by trevwgb View Post
I was hoping to install a booster after the master which is suposed to increase the REN to 11 instead of the current 4. Does this actually work?
I have one of these, as I have telephones (mostly vintage) dotted around the house. Most of the wiring around the house originates from the booster and usually supplies a total REN of at least 5 in addition to at least one more plugged directly.

Into my master socket is plugged the ADSL filter followed by the booster box and the one above-mentioned 'phone.

It has the additional advantage that I can switch off the ringers of all the 'phones connected to the booster by switching off the power to the box. The 'phones still work, but don't ring - great for when I want an early night and don't want to be disturbed by incoming calls!
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Old 6th Jan 2008, 12:54 pm   #5
KeithsTV
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Default Re: Boosters and Telephone wiring

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alf View Post

Do I have to pay for an engineer visit? For most engineer visits, there is no charge. The call out charge does not apply if the engineer is already visiting the premises to carry out other work. However, there may be a charge if it's something you can fix yourself. So please check your own connections and equipment carefully before arranging a visit by an engineer. When charges do apply, they are: £99.00 plus VAT, (£116.33 inc VAT), call-out charge, then £85.00 an hour (or part of) plus VAT, (£99.88 inc VAT). This is a total of £184.00 plus VAT, (£216.21 inc VAT), for each minimum visit period, which is an hour.[/color]

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At a previous house when I moved in in the mid 80s I asked BT to update the installation with sockets so that I could use my own phone. This they did, but I can't remember how much I was charged. The engineer put the master socket in the bedroom rather than at the point where the phone line came into the house. I guess it was more convenient for him to do it that way.

When we had an extension built about 10 years ago I rewired the phone wiring making sure that sockets etc were in convenient places and using the correct wiring, obtained I think from RS. I enquired from BT as to how much it would cost to connect my wiring to the master socket where the phone line entered and was told £100 +VAT for the first hour and £50 +VAT for subsequent hours. Faced with that exhorbitant cost for what amounted to connecting up 4 wires I'm sure you can imagine what I did. I never had any problems with the phone.

Keith
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Old 6th Jan 2008, 11:58 pm   #6
Tim
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Default Re: Boosters and Telephone wiring

ISTR these are called ringing converters or regenerators(a white box about the size of a pack of 10 fags that connects to your internal wiring.) I used to carry a few on the van, handy for large vicarages/manor houses pubs etc. with long internal cable runs or locations a long way from the exchange.
Can't remember the item code though off the top of my head.
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Old 15th Jan 2008, 2:17 pm   #7
Baker Light
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Default Re: Boosters and Telephone wiring

As per previous replies do not get BT to change your master socket - do it yourself, there are only two wires to connect.

Have installed several boosters, and all work well.

Normal twisted pair (CW 1308) telephone is fine, three pair gives you a few extra wires in case of future open circuits.
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