Question about connections on a bt master socket 5c.

[PaulMUK68]

Hi,  my Mother in law has moved from Talktalk to Sky for her broadband/phone, she already has Sky TV.

In the house there is an ordinary BT phone socket in the lounge (RJ11) this had an emergency  phone/pendant thing plugged into it, after the switch over this could not call out.

In the home office (bedroom) there is a BT master 2 port socket 5c, the data cable used to go into the TT router and the main phone came out of the BT socket (RJ11). Now the BT(RJ11) socket seems to be dead. The data cable now goes into the Sky router and the phone comes out the back of the Sky router and is split into the emergency box and main phone, this works ok.

After getting it working in the home office I tried to get it all working from the socket in the lounge by using a ADSL filter, but nothing I tried would make it work. Ideally I want the whole setup to work from the lounge.

So my questions are as follows;

1: Does that mean the BT(RJ11) sockets are now dead/useless?

2: Can anything be fitted into the lounge socket other than a ADSL filter that will make it work, would I have to get it turned into a master socket like in the office?

3: Is it legal to shoot the Mother in law for making changes without bothering to tell her 'engineer' Son in law what she was planning on doing?

4: After pairing the Sky Q box with the Sky router it seems that the Wifi range has been extended through out the house, does it work like this or is it that the Sky router is just better than the TT router?

Anyway I hope the above makes sense and thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

[Chrisee]

@PaulMUK68 the question is it legal yes it is the copper phone network is being replaced at some point it will be no more. However when your mother-in-law was sold the connection she should have been asked if she had access to a mobile and if she had a alarm system that required a phone connection. Sky tell us that their systems require the agent to ask these qvuestions and record the answers before the order can be processed.

If it appears she was misold then complain to Sky but you will need to get her authority to act before Sky will talk to you. 

[PaulMUK68]

Erm the legal part was the bit about shooting the MIL, that was a joke.

I cannot say what was asked when she phoned up Sky as I wasn't there and had no idea what she was planning on doing. She is of the age where, well you know, things get misunderstood and has also recently lost her husband who would have dealt with this. I'm not suggesting Sky are at fault at all and I'm just looking for some answers to the questions I posed.

[Skull+Treaty]

@PaulMUK68 

It may be worth noting that the normal phone plug (the flatter, oblong when viewing head on) is not RJ11, it is commonly known as a "BT Plug" and officially labelled as BT431A. The RJ11 is almost square shaped when looking head on. Just in case there is any confusion on the socket types ; ) 

[PaulMUK68]

Thank you, I'd always thought it was called RJ11, seems that I can't edit my original post on here?
I think its still kind of obvious what sockets I'm referring to though, but thanks for that and well you learn something every day!

So with regard to the BT master 2 port socket 5c, there is the BT Plug socket and the data socket, is the data socket RJ11? I ask as I looked and couldn't find an answer before I posted so left it blank whilst thinking I was spot on about the RJ11 😉

[Skull+Treaty · Accepted solution]

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@PaulMUK68 wrote:

1: Does that mean the BT(RJ11) sockets are now dead/useless?

The BT431A (normal 'phone plug) will no longer work if you have Sky Internet calls. A call to Sky would be needed to see if they can reverse this for you.

2: Can anything be fitted into the lounge socket other than a ADSL filter that will make it work, would I have to get it turned into a master socket like in the office?

I think the only workaround would be to  use of mulit-handset DECT 'phones, the base station connected to the Hub

3: Is it legal to shoot the Mother in law for making changes without bothering to tell her 'engineer' Son in law what she was planning on doing?

Of course

4: After pairing the Sky Q box with the Sky router it seems that the Wifi range has been extended through out the house, does it work like this or is it that the Sky router is just better than the TT router?
The Sky Q box does act as a wifi hotspot so could extend your wifi range

[Skull+Treaty]

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@PaulMUK68 wrote:

So with regard to the BT master 2 port socket 5c, there is the BT Plug socket and the data socket, is the data socket RJ11? I ask as I looked and couldn't find an answer before I posted so left it blank whilst thinking I was spot on about the RJ11 😉

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@PaulMUK68 

The smaller (data) sockets on the faceplates on the bottom row are indeed RJ11

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Skull+Treaty 

"Of course" 😁

[PaulMUK68]

Just had my reply to you vanish off into the wilderness!
So here goes again,  I'm not sure how to do copy and paste like you have done, but ....

2: Can anything be fitted into the lounge socket other than a ADSL filter that will make it work, would I have to get it turned into a master socket like in the office?

I think the only workaround would be to  use of mulit-handset DECT 'phones, the base station connected to the Hub

The lounge socket now just seems dead, I could not get anything out of it, it was previously just for the emergency thing to call out. My Father in law set it up ages ago and without a seance I now, sadly, cannot ask him. He apparently set it up himself as he was an ex BT guy. The situation seems to be that the office connection has phone and data, but the lounge only HAD phone. I'm going to get Sky to arrange for someone to look into this further.

On thinking further about this Sky could have potentially left my MIL without a phone/emergency call system. Though as previously stated the MIL was probably not understanding what she was being told.

I thank you again and will mark your response as being the answer. Despite getting me getting my RJ's mixed up, I like to leave as detailed post as I can to get my problem sorted and have it available to help others.

I will update this futher once Sky has been involved, but again, many thanks!

[Skull+Treaty]

@PaulMUK68 

Sky do record the calls so if it is a case of being missold  they will be able to check - as @Chrisee mentioned, you'll need the MIL to update Sky for you to act on her behalf though. 

[PaulMUK68]

Sorry I'm struggling at the moment with not being able to correct my last sentence 'Despite getting me getting my RJ's mixed up,'      just too much 'getting' going on LOL

Think I've cracked the copy and paste thing 😉

@PaulMUK68 

Sky do record the calls so if it is a case of being missold  they will be able to check - as @Chrisee mentioned, you'll need the MIL to update Sky for you to act on her behalf though. 

I do not think she was missold, she wanted to get it all under Sky, it was definitely her choice.
The problem is that I wasn't there, so I couldn't advise on what was being said and she is 70+, stuff starts going wrong at that age.

For example, a while back my Mum (same age range) nearly got bank scammed, luckily no harm became of it. Because of that my Mum has basically been trained to say to anyone that calls about money etc "Please give me your name, company name and contact number and either my Son or Daughter will be in touch with you".  I even got some random friends to call my Mum in an attempt to scam her,  just to 'test the water' and thankfully she passed the tests.

I just have to try harder to keep on top of what the MIL is doing/planning, obviously easier said than done, but I'll try and I suspect from your replies that you are from the same mindset as me.

They may well be a pain in the backside, but we must protect the old folk regardless of how annoying they are!

Again kudos for everyones help with this issue!

[Chrisee]

@PaulMUK68 don't knock all 70+ old people some of us like to think we still have a few operational brain cells 😀

You need to get your mum-in-law to authorise you to speak on her behalf to Sky. Being with her when she calls is the easiest way so she can answer the security questions and introduce you to speak to Sky. However simply if you have the password she set up with Sky they may speak to you if you call from the number linked to her account. Normally I would escalate your post for an online chat but that is not going to work unless your id is linked to her account and authorised first.

Sky have a system called SOGEA which delivers the voice line over IP which is why the phone sockets dont work its nothing to do with plugs erc it is simply there is no voice service connected to,the exchange the voice service is provided by the hub over IP which yourMiL's pendant doesnt work with. That is why the questions should be asked before the sale are important as several alarms dont work using that system and if your internet is down you need a mobile to call 999. In theory the sale cannot proceed without answers to those according to the response we got from Sky..

Sky maybe able to get Openreach to reconnect the voice line as normal in these cases so hopefully they can help but in the longterm the pendant alarms will need updating so they can use these VOIP connections as the copper network is due to be de-commissioned over the next few years. If you MiL is vulnerable then consider registering that with Sky when you speak to them so it is marked on her account.