Removing landline phone sockets before plastering

[shinygoldcar]

Hi there,
3 rooms of my house are in the process of being re-plastered, and I've been thinking about something.
In the lounge are two phone sockets, another box that is closed and an "isolator" to which is attached my Virgin Media broadband router. One phone socket has the BT logo on it, and the other phone socket has a Virgin logo on it.

I bought this house over 13 years ago, lived in it 3 years, then moved away and let it out for several years, moving back in just over two years ago. I had a BT landline the first time I lived there, but the second time I have not had any landline.

Now what I want to do before the lounge is plastered is remove these phone socket boxes and the third blank box (really don't know what it's for), leaving only the broadband isolator. That is unscrew the faces off, remove the boxes completely from the wall, and cut or pull the cables, and have them plastered over, leaving no visible sign from the inside that they were ever there.

Are there any issues with doing this? What might happen if a future owner decides that they want a landline?

[jackdaww]

being on a re-wiring project , i am having to "unplaster" existing wires , and a messy job it is.

do new houses still have cables/wires plastered in ? or some sort of plastic routing cowling ?

[bungeejumper]

Are there any issues with doing this? What might happen if a future owner decides that they want a landline?

Funny, we've just had exactly the same decision to make while renovating a rented flat - except that this time the box was Telewest, which later became part of Virgin. It had been (incredibly clumsily) installed at the behest of a tenant who had kept his account going for six months and had then buggered off, leaving all the bills.

We asked our local tame builder what to do, and he'd seen it before. Just rip out the Telewest stuff, he said - if a new tenant wants a Virgin account, they'll be round in two days to install a complete new set of equipment, which may well be more up to date.

The BT master socket is another matter, because legally you're not allowed to touch the part that screws the backing plate to the wall - it all belongs to BT, and not to you. There are those, however, who say that if you lift it off the wall and either relocate it or simply plaster behind it and replace it in situ, nobody will ever give a stuff. I couldn't possibly comment.

I wouldn't just chop the BT wires off and plaster over, though. That cable carries 50 volts (at tiny amps), in theory at least, and BT would probably mind if the damp shorted it out.

BJ

[csearle]

One phone socket has the BT logo on it...

Yes, like BJ said this becomes an issue if it is your BT master socket. If it is then it will need to be either tolerated or relocated along with all the wires going to it, assuming you want any other BT points to continue working.

If it is a slave BT point then you just need to find out where the cable connects with the consumer side of the master socket wiring and disconnect it there. That will then allow you to bury the wires in the wall.

A BT master socket often looks like this:


Cheers,
Chris

[shinygoldcar]

Thanks all.
Sounds like I should leave it well alone. Having said that, given that I have no relationship with BT at the moment, what gives them the right to store their equipment in my house? Is there some old law that lets them put a master socket in everyone's house whether they want one or not?

I've been doing a bit of googling and I can see that if I tamper with the master socket, then complain to BT about my line and they send someone out who sees that the master socket has been tampered with, they will charge £150 to put it right. However, if I have no relationship with BT and don't complain about anything, and they don't send anyone over, then what does it matter?

I guess whoever wants to reconnect with BT (whether myself or some future occupant) would at the time need to pay whatever the charge is to put it right. I guess the other question is whether my internet comes through BT Openreach, and therefore through the master socket. I believe Virgin Media have their own fibre-optic network (that they advertised about a couple of years ago). However, I would be prepared to admit that I'm wrong about that.

Anyway, I think it would be better to be safe than to be sorry, and leave the BT master socket alone, if indeed it is a master socket, which I will determine when I get home (am away from home for a few days).

Regards
sgc

[richlist]

I don't understand why you are so keen to remove all traces of BT Phone sockets//lines. A little white box on the wall the same sizes as other white boxes can't be that bad to look at can it ?

Some of my places have BT, Virgin and Sky boxes and none of them are visually unattractive but I guess it's down to personal preference.

[bungeejumper]

Given that I have no relationship with BT at the moment, what gives them the right to store their equipment in my house? Is there some old law that lets them put a master socket in everyone's house whether they want one or not?

LOL, you might as well say the same about your gas meter. Even if you're not using gas, it's still theirs.

Anyway, I think it would be better to be safe than to be sorry, and leave the BT master socket alone, if indeed it is a master socket, which I will determine when I get home (am away from home for a few days).

Modern BT master sockets (as in Chris's picture) have a detachable front lower section, which is fastened in place by removable two screws and can be slid out like a drawer. You're allowed to do that - you just can't mess with the backing plate. Some have an integral extra socket for broadband, but if yours is 13 years old that probably won't apply.

Yes, it's correct that BT will charge you £150-odd (plus VAT!) if they find that a call-out is caused by any anomaly in the cabling system that's downstream of their own wall socket. In theory they'd have the power to hit you quite hard if you'd messed with their socket. I've never heard of it happening, though.

BJ

[shinygoldcar]

richlist, BJ,
I know I'm just ranting. My house is overdue a redecoration and a bit of a modernisation, I've removed the dated dado rails, am removing the old wallpaper, having the artex ceiling plastered over, getting upstairs light-switches and sockets pattressed and I want the house to have a clean, beautiful look. I'm very much a details man! The current array of four boxes on the living room wall does look unsightly: BT phone, Virgin phone, unknown and Virgin broadband. It might look better when I'm down to two, though I'd much rather prefer one. I don't have a hallway as such, you come in the front door and you either go forward up the stairs or you turn right into the living room, so the living room would have to be the room with the BT master socket. Why couldn't it have been in the corner of the room though? I joked with my colleague today about having it under the floorboards, and running a wire down to it if I really need it (don't I have a killer sense of humour?).

Yes I do have a gas meter, and an electricity meter, and a water stopcock, and they are uglier, but thankfully they are not in the living room, they are in out-of-the-way places, and even outside the house in the gas meter's case.

do new houses still have cables/wires plastered in ? or some sort of plastic routing cowling ?

And jackdaww, my electrical wires are behind metal channels, which are then plastered over, so the wires themselves aren't in plaster. I don't know about these phone sockets though... haven't been home yet.

[pompeygazza]

you joke about having it under the floorboards, that's exactly where mine is!

I have virgin so no need for a BT line, never had a BT line....ever. So just disconnected it from the wall and popped it under the floor. If I ever move I may leave it topside before i go.

[bungeejumper]

We have a small but unsightly panel from our burglar alarm in a place where we don't really want to be looking at it. We hung a small picture over it, and it's gone. Works for us, anyway.

BJ

[csearle]

My house is overdue a redecoration and a bit of a modernisation, I've removed the dated dado rails, am removing the old wallpaper, having the artex ceiling plastered over, getting upstairs light-switches and sockets pattressed and I want the house to have a clean, beautiful look.

This is understandable, you are not alone. There are many people out there striving for that uncluttered look. If you don't fancy doing it yourself you could get a local electrician in to take a look. If they are anything like me then they will not shy away from moving a BT master socket to somewhere, where the customer can tolerate it.

I was with VirginMedia for broadband and they laid their own cable into the building with no connexion to the existing BT point. I am now with talltalk (following a change of address) and they use the BT connexion with no apparent cabling.

Cheers,
Chris

[shinygoldcar]

I'm confused. The one with the Virgin logo looks like a master socket though I haven't removed the cover yet. (It has the upper and lower sections on the front). The one with the BT logo is smaller and doesn't have separate sections. Having had a closer look at the "unknown" box, it has a socket on the side similar to the Virgin Media broadband one, so it was probably some other ISP. I suppose the BT master might be somewhere else.

[quelquod]

When I moved into my present bungalow (c1975 vintage) the BT incoming connection was in the loft then branched into 4 separate loops to sockets around the house, all BT logo' with one of them a master. The ADSL speed was dreadful so I rejigged it and replaced the incomer (black) junction box with an NTE5 which improved the ADSL no end. When the OpenReach man came to install my fibre connection he was bound to have noticed that it was unlike a normal BT install but it didn't seem to bother him that I'd hacked BT's property about though, just drank the coffee and ate the biscuits.

[bungeejumper]

The one with the BT logo is smaller and doesn't have separate sections. Having had a closer look at the "unknown" box, it has a socket on the side similar to the Virgin Media broadband one, so it was probably some other ISP. I suppose the BT master might be somewhere else.

Either that, or somebody has replaced the BT master socket with one that they've bought themselves. There are some bad hombres. BAD!!!!!!!

BJ

[csearle]

It might be worthwhile approaching things from the other direction SGC. You could observe where the BT line enters the building (often traceable back to where an overhead cable from a nearby telegraph pole attaches to the house). Then by attempting to follow the path of the cable it might become clear which accessory is your BT master. (Of course it might do funny things like at quelquod's place, but it also might be quite clear.)

Regards,
Chris