There are underground phone lines run to some new housing developments, but in general if somebody requests service for an existing house, BT (British Telecom) will just surface run the drop line by the most convenient route.

That usually entails anchoring it to a bracket at about eaves level, running along/down an outside wall, then through to the inside to the network demarcation, which for new services is the NTE5 interface .

The NTE5 has a removable panel at the bottom, and the subscriber is allowed to remove it to connect extension wiring. BT will also advise anyone having line problems to first remove the panel and plug their phone directly into the main jack to check whether the fault lies on the internal wiring.

Everything up to and including the NTE5 is BT-owned. Before the NTE5 was introduced the master jack had no such removable panel, and strictly speaking the subscriber was not allowed to access it to connect extension wiring. (They were expected to either connect via a plug and two-way adapter or get BT to connect the extension wiring -- In practice, of course, that didn't always happen! [Linked Image]).

Until the early 1980s systems were most often hardwired where there was just a single phone, the line running to a 52A connection block:

[Linked Image from web.ukonline.co.uk]

The square cutout at the end of the box accepts the grooved, molded strain-relief of the phone cord.

All of these older systems had the entire system, including all extension wiring, owned and installed by the GPO (General Post Office), and nobody else was supposed to interfere with it in any way.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 01-09-2004).]