Please note: The master socket is the demarcation point between Openreach's equipment and your own. Therefore you must not tamper with any equipment or cabling before this point.
The first step of assessing whether you can improve your internal wiring or not is identifying the
master socket.
Once you have identified the master socket you will need to identify if the socket is an NTE5 socket or an old style LJU socket. To do you you simply need to check the
types of socket.
LJU (old style) socket
If you have an old style LJU socket the best course of action would be to have a BT engineer to upgrade your master socket to an NTE5 socket. It is very important that you do not attempt to do this yourself, as the master socket is owned by Openreach.
If this isn't an option then there are third party guides online on how to make an NTE5 socket a direct extension of the master socket, however we strongly advise the first method.
If you would rather stick with the old style master socket then you may be able to improve performance by removing the wiring from pin 3, as this is used for "ring wiring" and can reduce broadband performance.
To do this you would simply take off the faceplate by removing the two screws either side of the socket and carefully pull the faceplate away from the wall. You will then see 6 pins, one of them will be numbered "3". Simply remove the wire from pin 3 and replace the faceplate.
NTE5 socket
With an NTE5 socket you are able to test if changes would improve your broadband by comparing the stats of the router whilst connected normally with those whilst it is connection to the test socket.
Firstly check the stats of the router whilst connected normally, the stats you're looking for specifically are the sync speed, attenuation and the noise margin (SNR). There will be two sets of stats for each, an upstream and a downstream.
Once you have done this connect the router to the test socket and compare them to the stats recorded earlier. If the sync speed or noise margin is higher or the attenuation is lower then that gives a very good indication that some internal wiring changes can improve your broadband speed and/or stability.
One way to improve the conditions for broadband with a non-DSL NTE5 socket is the same as the old style socket, which is to remove any wiring from pin 3.
To do this is the same as the instructions above, you would simply take off the faceplate by removing the two screws either side of the socket and carefully pull the faceplate away from the wall. You will then see 6 pins, one of them will be numbered "3". Simply remove the wire from pin 3 and replace the faceplate.
The way we would advise, however, is to upgrade the faceplate to a DSL faceplate, if it isn't a DSL faceplate currently. This removes the need for inline filters on every extension and separates the voice and broadband signals at the point of entry to your network. The only downside of this method is that the extension sockets would only receive voice, so the router would have to be plugged into the master socket, which is advisable anyway.
To upgrade the faceplate to a DSL faceplate you would need to follow the following instructions:
- Remove the 2 screws holding the existing faceplate onto the master socket.
- Carefully remove wiring from the existing faceplate.
- Lay wires over the following pins on the new faceplate:
Pin 2 - Blue w/white
Pin 5 - White w/blue
Pin 3 is for the ring wire, we strongly suggest not connecting this
- Using a punch down IDC too, firmly push down on the wires so they are secure in the terminals.
- If necessary, carefully trim any wire overhang "tails".
- Secure cable with to the round cable post using a cable tie.
- Screw new faceplate on to the master socket.
