Which phone outlets are safe to disconnect?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Which phone outlets are safe to disconnect?

semigeek

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#152390 25-Sep-2014 09:03

In my house I have 4 phone sockets, 3 pictured here and one I can't get to at the moment due to being behind a heavy cabinet.
I want to disconnect at least two of them, and I am thinking the ones in the photos with the pair of Orange and Black and Red and White are safe to disconnect?

Is the outlet with the thicker Blue and White wires connected to the larger yellow object the master and is the larger yellow object a filter?

I want to disconnect these as there is no longer a landline in the house, but need at least one to remain for the VDSL modem

RunningMan

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#1137116 25-Sep-2014 09:06

That is not a master filter pictured.

Ideally, find where the wire from the street arrives in the house, and trace it from there to the first socket.

Most ISPs will roll Chrous to install a master filter for a VDSL connection anyway through.

semigeek

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#1137121 25-Sep-2014 09:18

RunningMan: That is not a master filter pictured.

Ideally, find where the wire from the street arrives in the house, and trace it from there to the first socket.

Most ISPs will roll Chrous to install a master filter for a VDSL connection anyway through.

I already have VDSL, I just want to disconnect the unneeded sockets, and can't trace the wire from the street, it goes under the house, and not a lot of room there to see where it goes.

sbiddle

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#1137133 25-Sep-2014 09:36

Why do you want to disconnect them?

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#1137135 25-Sep-2014 09:38

If you did get a VDSL install (Master Filter install) then only one jack can be used for VDSL. The other jacks are voice only. Also they won't impact VDSL performance, due to the master filter.

semigeek

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#1137154 25-Sep-2014 09:53

sbiddle: Why do you want to disconnect them?

No longer needed and I want to see if removing them makes a performance difference to naked VDSL and they will have to come off soon anyway to put new wall linings up

coffeebaron

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#1137156 25-Sep-2014 09:55

No one can tell you which ones are safe to disconnect without going to your house and wire tracing. Each setup is different.

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semigeek

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#1137158 25-Sep-2014 09:56

ubergeeknz: If you did get a VDSL install (Master Filter install) then only one jack can be used for VDSL. The other jacks are voice only. Also they won't impact VDSL performance, due to the master filter.

No Master Filter installed.

I just want to know if I can disconnect the orange and black and red and white wired sockets at this stage anyway

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trig42

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#1137160 25-Sep-2014 10:01

You need to find where the leadin from the road comes in. Ideally, the socket that the lead-in is connected to should be the only one you are using, and you can disconnect all other wires.

The one on the Left above looks like the leadin, but it may not be.

Bung

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#1137190 25-Sep-2014 10:18

The extra yellow item in the RH jack is a Test Termination ie a dummy master so that the connection is visible to the old line test equipment without any phones plugged in. Where does the white surface mounted cable go to? If not the 4th jack maybe that is the input.

sbiddle

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#1137191 25-Sep-2014 10:18

If you don't have a VDSL2 master filter installd at present you've presumably gone with Bigpipe as they are the only ISP who doesn't install one.

My recommendation is to get in an expert. Your wiring will probably be in series so you won't be able to disconnect jacks further up the loop without impacting all others.

This is a job for an expert and the only way to know how it's wired up is to trace the cables. Photos will not help.

semigeek

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#1137226 25-Sep-2014 10:35

sbiddle: If you don't have a VDSL2 master filter installd at present you've presumably gone with Bigpipe as they are the only ISP who doesn't install one.

My recommendation is to get in an expert. Your wiring will probably be in series so you won't be able to disconnect jacks further up the loop without impacting all others.

This is a job for an expert and the only way to know how it's wired up is to trace the cables. Photos will not help.

Nope, with Slingshot and apparently you don't need a Master Filter with naked VDSL, or so I was told. I just remembered there being an old Telecom box on the outside of the house, from that there are 3 wires in to the house - Blue, White and Grey, which doesn't help me much. But yep, might leave it to an expert.

sbiddle

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#1137232 25-Sep-2014 10:42

semigeek:
Nope, with Slingshot and apparently you don't need a Master Filter with naked VDSL, or so I was told.

Anybody from Slingshot want to comment on this lie?

You should be ringing Slingshot and asking when the Chorus technician will be coming to install the filter and sort out your wiring.

RunningMan

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#1137235 25-Sep-2014 10:47

Ideally a master filter would go in that box on the outside of the house with a new run of cable to a dedicated VDSL jack. Is that doable?

semigeek

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#1137292 25-Sep-2014 11:18

RunningMan: Ideally a master filter would go in that box on the outside of the house with a new run of cable to a dedicated VDSL jack. Is that doable?

It's doable if they are quite slim-ish, the average size person may have trouble getting under the house.

Niel

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#1137812 25-Sep-2014 20:34

At a guess, the socket on the left is your first one with a second cable to connect to the sockets on the right. The white cable out of the sockets on the right is probably for a Sky installation. Just guessing.

Try it and see what happens. Worst case you need to re-connect the wires for which you can either buy a push-down tool or bypass the socket by twisting pairs together so the circuit connects through from one cable to the next.

Where does your modem plug into? To me it looks like one cable from the photo on the left is already disconnected which suggest that it is the only working socket, the others are already out of the circuit. But the photo is not clear enough.

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