Electrical

What is going on with my telephone wiring?

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.20 PM

I'm trying to work out what is going on with my telephone wiring. I'm having my walls insulated, so any wiring on the wall or window frame will need to be moved or removed, and i'd like to figure out what to do. I've had a look at the wiring, and a bit of a read, and i've got an idea what's going on, but i'd love to hear an expert opinion. I am in a flat at the top of a house, with two flats below me. The flat was previously owned by a madman, and work of all sorts (electrical, gas, plumbing, carpentry, you name it) has been done badly. Here are a couple of photos: http://imgur.com/a/58hM5 To the left of the first picture is a bit of a Telewest Broadband junction box. Let's ignore that for now! In the middle of the first picture, there's a socket, which i know works. The socket has four cables coming out of the side. Going clockwise from the top left: Top left: cable comes out, and runs along under the windowsill to the left. It eventually reaches another socket, after which it heads off towards the dining room (not shown). I assume this is an extension. Top right: cable comes out, hops over the windowsill, then disappears into a wall. I have no idea where it goes. Any ideas? Bottom right: cable comes out, loops up to what i believe is a 'block terminal' above. Another cable comes out of that block terminal, loops over the windowsill and back, and then goes out through the window frame. It then goes off down the wall, so i assume that's the connection to the exchange. Bottom left: cable comes out, drops down, and follows the skirting board to the second picture ... In the second picture is what i believe to be a 'box conn 201', which is a kind of box connection, also known as a distribution point. The cable from the socket in the first picture enters on the left, and three of the wires in it are punched down into the IDC connectors. There are then two giant bundles of cables coming out of the wall behind the box. Most of them are cut off and not connected to anything, but one of them has its wires punched down into IDC connectors opposite to those of the cable from the socket. The cables running underneath the box are from the Telewest Broadband junction box, so again, let's ignore those. I really don't know what this box is for. I suppose it must be extending the phone line from the socket to somewhere else, but i'm not sure where. And i have no idea why there is such a huge number of cables coming into it. Any ideas? When i get the walls insulated, i want to keep that one socket working, and get rid of anything superfluous. So, am i right in thinking that as long as i move the block terminal and socket, and remove the rest, everything will be okay? Am i allowed to do that, or do i need to get a BT engineer in to do some of this?