Are microfilters still required without telephony?

[#1]

I recently renewed my FTTC contract and lost telephony. All working well but is a microfilter still necessary? The router cable plug won't fit directly into the BT point obviously, but there may be a suitable cable for that. My thinking is that I could simplify the connection, reducing clutter and possible failure points, and improving speed at the same time.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

All working well but is a microfilter still necessary?

Technically , no. If you look at the schematic for a typical DSL filter, the DSL port is a direct connection to the line, all the filtering is on the phone side. Having said that, a DSL filter is probably the simplest way to convert the RJ11 to BT plug.

[#3]

---

@MisterW wrote:Having said that, a DSL filter is probably the simplest way to convert the RJ11 to BT plug.

---

Or fit a NTE5C Mk4 faceplate with separate phone and VDSL sockets.  I believe if you already have an old single socket 5C the Mk4 filtered front plate is a straight swap.

[#4]

@MisterW wrote:Having said that, a DSL filter is probably the simplest way to convert the RJ11 to BT plug.

Or fit a NTE5C Mk4 faceplate with separate phone and VDSL sockets.  I believe if you already have an old single socket 5C the Mk4 filtered front plate is a straight swap.

Presumably, as the 'phone socket will become redundant, faceplated with only the VDSL socket will become available.

[#5]

As most people, if they have the option, will be moving to FTTP, you won't need a phone socket - or the VDSL one.

[#6]

I rather suspect there will be lots of customers who won't have the FTTP option - rural, awkward for other reasons, or awkward landlord (block of flats, campsites, other such) who won't allow access across their land/building to lay the fibre.

[#7]

---

@G6JPG-0 wrote:

I rather suspect there will be lots of customers who won't have the FTTP option - rural, awkward for other reasons

10 minutes walk from Deansgate at the centre of Manchester my building doesn't have FTTP. It will take a while for the whole country to get it.

I was hoping to get rid of that microswitch hanging from the BT point, but I suppose I will have to live with it for now.

[#8]

As noted in another thread I just hard-wired an RJ11 cable to the connectors on the backplate and clipped a simple shallow BT plate to the front. Really it now just needs a blanking plate! Are they available for the latest NTEs?

The plug-in filter, if used, only functions as an adapter between the BT socket and RJ11 cable to the router.

[#9]

My understanding is that the Openreach Mk4 faceplate incorporates a RF filter which is there to increase line stability by reducing the effects of REIN (Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise).