Anyone with a BT Openreach NTE5C + Mk4 Faceplate should change

[#1]

these things!!! -  nothing but a nuisance...  it has been welll documented on various brodband and tech forums since the release of these units that they can cause issues, im in a second property where a BT engineer installed one without even saying he did, and ever since my speeds have dropped and dropped and dropped....INP and Interleaving has been increased by far especially on Upstream...my line normally runs with INP and Interleaving OFF...but not with this!! now in my previous property, I had the exact same issues...replaced it with NTE5A and Filtered Faceplate Mk3 resolved the issue with a line reset afterwards.... I have the same kit here the NEXT 4TH ENGINEER can install....why should it take multiple visits like this?

I once was with sky, my 18Mb dropped to 9Mb - it took 3 months and 7 engineers to resolve a "split pair"... it drove me into despair with the amount of calls and carry on, I was compensated for my problems.

Point is....if you have one of these units fitted...you probably do best getting rid and replace with NTE5A and SSFP Mk 3 (or dongle filter)

It is of MY opinion that the whole metal plate design of the internals on the 5C attract interference from around your home into the signal thus causing error protection levels to increase! (and speeds to drop)

do yourself a favour and be rid of it!

[#2]

They are indeed a fault liability, as often mentioned in various techie forums. A friend of mine is on his fourth one in two years.

I've got a couple of NTE5A/Mk3 sets from a popular auction site in my spares box - they usually go for around £12 or less.

Stock up while you can!

[#3]

I have FTTC for several years was 40 Mbps dropped to 38 ish, I lived with that. 

A month or so ago had a download drop by 25%, long story but fixed about ten days ago, since then speeds got a lot better.

The yesterday speed dropped from 45 Mbps (best I have ever had) to 35 ish so I reset my router in the hope of better speed and it reduced (ok I know about resetting and learning again) and has stayed at 26/27. 

The fix for the 25% drop was some bad wiring in  a cabinet and subsequently a profile reset. 

OK so where does the "5C" come in ?  🙂 

During the Engineer visit he fitted (unknown to me ! )  what looks like a new face plate on the existing back plate. I'm assuming the old back plate just don't want to break the circuit at the moment by removing the face plate.

The new part has "Openreach" on the front and hidden from my view due to position of socket "Master Socket 5C"

I should mention at this point that the face plate supplied has only ONE socket not like the one shown in this post which has two sockets i.e. a phone socket & and RJ11 (I assumed filtered inside like my old Mk3).

This single socket I have has a dangle filter plugged in out of which come my only phone connection and my broadband connection.  Seems a bit daft as I assume inside this new 5C is a filter already? 

Why I didn't get a face plate with the two connections I have no idea, but admittedly it HAD been working fine, before the dramatic drop from 45 to 25/26 Mbps. 

I did find a few blogs on the new "Master Socket 5C" with lots of interesting info, like a way to extend the "already filtered"  ! !   connection to a more accessible place to connect a router. 

I found this post more by accident than design as I had intended to just ask if anyone had this 5C box.

Now having not received any info on the 5C (I certainly would have asked about the reason for dangle filter! ) from the Engineer although there is Openreach info on this on the web ...

https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/helpandsupport/how-toguides/howtoguides/downloads/NTE5C_Instru...

(He did leave the old MK3 face plate on my desk! which had me wondering if it just fitted back onto the back plate!)

I am in limbo as to what to do...

A.  Ask for a different face plate with phone and RJ11 socket as above i.e. Mk4

B.  Wire a new connection from inside the 5C for broadband, assuming it is filtered inside the back plate.

C.  Emigrate to somewhere with FTTP. 

Back to reading blogs and the above OR link. 

[#4]

@snadge 

When you say speeds have dropped, is the connection / sync speed, or the speed as a result of a speedtest?

Did the sync/speedtest speed drop soon after the replacement speedtest?

Have you had any GEA test results prior/after the face-plate change?, if so  was there cross-talk or interference detected.?

Is there a reduction in sync or speedtest results at any particular time of the day?

Can you provide a link to a tech forum(s) where this issue is discussed.

[#5]

I've just fitted one (the latest 2019 version with clear CamLock) and all is AOK, at the moment.

Still getting 40/10

https://i.imgur.com/GlSRiNa.jpg

[#6]

I now have the new face plate MK4 with the two sockets phone and RJ-11 for broadband.

All is good over the last few weeks, speed remains constantly good (famous last words! )

One possibility is that the fine finger like connectors in these sockets that connect to the phone plug and BB plug, are no longer gold plated (= in theory no corrosion) which means they are possibly going to get some sort of film on them creating a bad contact.  The answer plug in and remove a few times to clean them up.  A old trick from the maker of my HiFi who suggest the plugs with gold contacts are re-fitted once a year.

PS   The Openreach .pdf file info on the MK4 is a little lacking in information. 

[#7]

I have these on my two lines and you've got me thinking that this might explain the discrepancy I have between, what in theory, should be two identical connections. Hmm I wonder...

[#8]

I have had the combination of NTE 5C + Mk 4 faceplate fitted for about 6 weeks , and over that period of time I have had nothing but problems with noise on line. I think the material that the contacts of the faceplate are made of are the cause , they look like aluminium and quite black , I have tried cleaning them but that just doesn’t work. Who takes responsibility for this Openreach fitted them , but how do I have any comeback on them to change it. Plusnet will not be interested as they will say it’s my problem. Looking on the internet it appears it is a known problem , who will sort it out , in the meantime it is very difficult to use our home phone because of the noise and consequently my broadband speeds are ridiculously slow.

HELP

[#9]

@OldRaft  I had a 5C Mk 4 faceplate with MK 2 version (with clear IDC) fitted a couple of years ago and 2 sockets on the front. Can't say I've had any problems at all. But knowing my luck that might all change by tomorrow! But strange that you ended up with only one socket. Old stock, rehash of one that he / she had rolling around in the van?

Sometimes, it is fatal to clean contacts i.e. you remove the protective layer in doing so making things much worse. Not all contacts are gold......

[#10]

There are three parts to this new master socket.

A.  The base screwed to the wall 

B.  A middle section fastened to "A" and to which the front (removable) plate clips

C.  A front plate which may have a single phone socket "X" (which may not have "MK marking?) or a MK4 "Y" which has phone + BB socket.

My understanding of the regulations is that you should not mess with "A" as this has the wires connected by Openreach, but the rest you can touch.   This is backed up by the fact that on the previous type you can remove the front plate for testing, i.e. to reveal the test socket.  Equally you can wire both a phone extension and BB extension yourself by removing the MK4 front plate.

On this basis I see no reason why you should not replace the Mk4 front plate yourself?   Checking on a certain next day delivery site the whole MK4 master socket costs around £9  I have seen a ref (below) to how this is constructed but it seems tricky to remove the inside of the MK4 front plate (which you DON'T need to do to assemble it)  if you do this you can see some long thin metal connectors {hard to see but between the two sockets} which form the contacts back into "B" ( i.e. the ones suggested as being corroded?)   the actual phone sockets contacts are gold plated.

https://www.telecomgreen.co.uk/home-phone-repair/bt-openreach-new-nte5c-master-socket-guided-tour/

If there are corroded parts that you can't replace yourself then Openreach via a call to your ISP should replace these for free regardless of if they are in the middle plate "B" or the front plate "C"