Moving your master phone socket can be done. When I moved to my new home the phone socket was in an awkward position in our living room. I was using an extra-long extension cable for my telephone and broadband router. The old phone socket was not near any plug sockets either which was annoying as well.
So how did I move my master phone line for free?
My existing phone socket was put in by Virgin Media, who run their own cables and have their own phone lines. Most phone-line providers in the UK rent their phone lines from BT Open Reach. When I switched to my new provider, a BT engineer came out, since everything was required to be re-connected, I was given the choice to put the master phone socket wherever I wanted.
So if you are serviced by Virgin Media or another provider, one option is to switch providers from Virgin Media to another provider or visa versa. This was a relatively simple decision for me, as I had just moved home. Understandably, you may not want to switch providers, thankfully you have some great options anyway.
You can pay to move your master phone socket – But get 50% or more off!
You can pay to move your master socket, but your service provider is required by law to share the cost with you, how great is that!
Your service provider will be able to move the master phone socket for you and will share the price with you to move the socket within 2 days of the order being placed. Your service provider is liable to share the price with you, and if they don’t, as a customer is within your rights to act against them.
In this instance, it’s actually cheaper to go through the middle man. If you go directly to BT Openreach, the likelihood is that you will pay more. This information is directly from BT Openreach by the way (I phoned them).
If you contact BT Open reach directly to move your master phone socket, the chances are that they will direct you to your service provider. What’s also great though is that you may be able to negotiate a deal where your service provider pays the full charge to move your phone socket. In return, you can offer your continued custom if your deal is coming up for a renewal lets say.
How do I identify my master socket?
If you are unsure of how to identify your master socket, don’t worry, they are super easy to identify.
A master socket is where the phone line enters your home and it’s where your broadband signal is the strongest. Look for the white box inside your home to locate it.
Moving your master socket makes sense for a few reasons. In older homes, master phone sockets tend to be in bedrooms or hall ways, before the concept of an internet modem was known.
Since televisions, laptops, and mobile phones all require an internet connection in today’s day and age. In a large home makes sense to have the master socket in the room, where you spend the most time.
The best place to position your modem though in general terms in the middle of your home, if you want generally good connectivity throughout your house. This may also be worth bearing in mind when moving your master socket.
Does My Broadband Router Need to Be Connected To The Master Socket?
Your broadband router usually does need to be connected to your master phone socket and is recommended in order for you to have the best and quickest broadband connection.
Check with your service provider, but the master socket is usually the only one the broadband signal will come from. The other sockets will be filtered for phone use only.
It’s worth checking though. I have a master phone socket and a secondary socket. In the past, I have tried to connect my broadband modem to the secondary socket, although I found that the modem did not work.
This may not the case for all homes, with many sources stating that your modem can be connected to a secondary socket. It’s worth trying before you rule it out.
Boost your WiFi Signal without moving your Broadband Router
Try boosting your WiFi signal. There are things that you can do for free or at least relatively inexpensively. Before you think about moving your master phone socket to boost your WiFi signal, there are a few things you can try, to increase your reach more generally.
How to boost your WiFi signal for free
- Avoid putting your router next to a window. If you do, half of your signal will be sent outside of your home.
- Don’t lock your router away in a cupboard. This will slow down how far your signal can go
- Don’t leave your router on the floor. Put it on a shelf or a small table. Otherwise, you’ll lose signal through the floorboards.
- Avoid metal items. Metal scatters your WiFi signal, so avoid placing on metal boxes or right behind your TV.
- Keep away from fish tanks. Water is a sucker for WiFi signals. Your signal will be absorbed and reduced if near a fish tank.
You may have of course tried all of these things with no success. You may have moved your master socket and router but still experience WiFi dead-spots in your home. The best thing to do in this instance is to look for ways to boost your WiFi signal in the ‘dead-spots’ in your home.
Things you can buy/do to boost your WiFi Signal:
- Ask your provider to help you
- Get a WiFi Extender
- Buy a new router
- Switch Provider
Asking your provider to help you
Internet service providers can be really helpful and often guarantee coverage in your whole home, if you are experiencing WiFi deadspots, you should be calling them first to see what they can do.
Get a WiFi Extender
You could invest in a WiFi extender. Essentially whatthey do is take areas of you hoem where the WiFI signal is strong and re-distribute it around your home. you can distrubute the signal to specifc areas of your room as well which is super cool.
Buy a new router
This may sound silly, given that you usually get a free router included as part of your broadband package. If you have a broadband deal you are happy with, and your service provider won’t give you one; It may be worth getting a router to guarantee great coverage in your home.
Switch your Broadband Provider
You may just have a bad service provider that cannot give you the coverage that you need. See what else is out there!
As well as broadband speed, when speaking to your provider ask them about the range of WiFi coverage their router can offer. If it’s 50 ft for example, but your home is significantly larger, you know you may have issues.
It’s at this point you can ask about a WiFi extender and possibly negotiate a better deal. Ask if the service provider guarantees WiFi coverage in your home, so that you can hold them to account if something goes wrong.
In Summary…
Moving a master phone socket may seem like something that cannot be done.
But after I did it and after speaking to telephone and broadband service providers, I have come to find that it’s something that can be easily be done. A lot of the time you may even be able to get it for free!
If the reason you are moving your master phone socket is to improve your WiFi coverage in your home, make sure you have tried boosting your broadband connection through the tips mentioned in this article.
I hope this article has helped answer your question on master sockets.
Any DIY or Home issues I tackle, I address them on this blog, so feel free to check out some more of my content just in case you have another DIY issue that I may have faced too!
