In my new flat, there is a BT line (which I've paid the deposit for so it can be activated) but it's just the wire coming in, and there's no socket on the end of it. Would it be illegal to wire up my own socket to it? (I'll probably do it whether it is or it isn't, as I'm not paying £100 for a trained monkey to do it...) Is it just a matter of wiring up the master socket? The line just seems to come straight in - I can't see a junction box anywhere - is this normal?
You can buy those junction boxes all over the place. I'm not sure on the legality of it, but if you tell no-one, who will know? Right? Just make sure it looks like a proper BT one and you'll be laughing.
I had a problem where I asked BT to test the line as I wasn't getting a signal, they sent an engineer out as they weren't experiencing problems. Engineer came out, rewired the master socket, job done. Didn't charge me 1p.
Any wiring from the exchange up to and including the master socket is owned by BT and therefore not chargable, unless your dog pisses on it or youve ripped the socket out off the wall trying the throw the phone at your missus, both I have experienced during my short run as a BT engineer. Also the only way they know if you have a working master socket is by detecting the CAP inside the socet, if they get a CAP kick on the meter, there is a socket present
If there's no line box installed then get on to BT, as they own everything from the line box back. If you do your own install and later need an engineer visit, they'll charge yo £70 Ring and complain that you've just moved in and no-one has been out to connect your phoneline - they'll say that it's already connected, just reply that there just a wire coming through the wall and there is no where to connect your phone. When the engineer comes out, they'll install a NTE5 linebox.If you remove the faceplate then you'll have access to the master socket -this is so you can test if problems are down to your equipment or a fault in your line. You can also wire extensions into the back of the faceplate, or replace the faceplate with a ADSL filter combo one.