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Telephone socket buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You are looking at a yellowed BT plate, or you want a phone in another room, and amazon.co.uk mixes RJ11 splitters with wall plates that look alike. This telephone socket buying guide is the order of decisions for the eight listings on our [telephone socket comparison](/hub/sockets-and-extension-leads/telephone-socket): role, then terminals, then whether a box is in the pack, then size. Finish and the £3.89–£14.20 prices come after that. The master-versus-secondary fork is on [master or secondary telephone socket](/hub/sockets-and-extension-leads/telephone-socket/sub/telephone-socket-master-or-secondary). If the handset already plugs into the router, read [telephone socket on full fibre](/hub/sockets-and-extension-leads/telephone-socket/sub/telephone-socket-full-fibre) before you add a plate to the basket.

You are looking at a yellowed BT plate, or you want a phone in another room, and amazon.co.uk mixes RJ11 splitters with wall plates that look alike.

Our top picks

1STec NTE5c MK2 faceplate, tool-less IDC

Best overall

1STec NTE5c MK2 faceplate, tool-less IDC
9.2/10about £9.95
View offer
1STec 1STec 2/3A surface kit with IDC tool

Alternative

1STec 1STec 2/3A surface kit with IDC tool
8.2/10about £8.95
View offer
British General BG white secondary, screw

Best value

British General BG white secondary, screw
8.8/10about £3.89
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are actually buying
  2. 2.Terminals, cable, and the box
  3. 3.86 mm plate or 68 mm surface jack
  4. 4.What the listing must say
  5. 5.Which listing matches which job

What you are actually buying

A telephone socket here is a UK wall outlet for a BS 6312 BT plug, or the customer-side faceplate that presents that outlet. It is not an RJ11 dongle and it is not a 13 A socket. The master is where the line enters and feeds other sockets. A secondary is only an extra point. An NTE5 faceplate is the front of the Openreach master. A decorative 86 mm master is a different object even when both titles say master. TalkTalk’s guide tells you not to unscrew a plate with no horizontal line, because the test socket is only on a split plate. None of the eight rows is clearly an MK4 filtered plate. The usual miss is a secondary bought as the only socket on the lead-in.

Terminals, cable, and the box

Screw terminals suit a plug-wiring habit. The white BG master, 8BTM/1 (B004TRRV48, £5.99), and the white BG secondary, 8BTS/1 (B004TRRVA2, £3.89), both say screw, claim BS 6312-2, and state a 25 mm minimum box with fixing screws and no back box. IDC wants unstripped solid copper. CW1308 is the BT specification sold for that cable. Stranded alarm cable is the usual mistake. The 1STec kit (B08L6G7XZJ, £8.95) names CW1308 and includes the IDC tool and a back box. The NTE5c faceplate (B07WR6YBZ7, £9.95) claims tool-less cam locks and is faceplate only. The DRUT NTE5a (B0CPD1DG9B, £14.20) says IDC, and its back box is only a bullet. The black nickel master (B00KCYLMWO) and the DRUT secondary (B0CJQFSMZ9) do not state the cable terminals. A BG trade sheet prints 35 mm for the white master while the amazon.co.uk bullet says 25 mm. Follow the listing you buy.
1STec NTE5c MK2 faceplate, tool-less IDC

Testsieger

1STec NTE5c MK2 faceplate, tool-less IDC
9.2/10about £9.95
View offer

86 mm plate or 68 mm surface jack

The white BG plates are 86 mm single-gang. The 1STec 2/3A is about 68 × 68 × 29 mm including its back box. thinkbroadband treats 68 mm as an old socket or an extension, and that size will not take an NTE faceplate filter. It will not hide the outline of an 85 mm NTE. Use the 68 mm kit for a new surface point when a master is already there. Leave it when you are covering a full-size plate. The DRUT secondary states no plate size, so you cannot check it against the mark on the wall from the listing alone.

What the listing must say

BS 6312-2 appears on the two white BG plates, and BS EN 6312-2 on the antique brass master (B07KGHMVKB, £11.72). BS 6312-1:1994 is the plug specification. The other five listings do not print a BS number here, so do not invent one. The NTE5c bullet says the plate can take a separate MK4 filtered front. The pack is not that front. A new faceplate does not raise broadband speed. The antique brass page also prints 13 A, 240 V, Wi-Fi and 3,120 W in a separate attribute block. Those lines describe a switch, not this socket. The white secondary’s connector attribute says RJ45 while the title describes a BT slave. Treat a conflicting attribute as a conflict.

Which listing matches which job

For a white screw master, open B004TRRV48. You are buying the specification: 4.1 from six reviews, with no texts. Black nickel is B00KCYLMWO, with terminals unstated. Antique brass is B07KGHMVKB, only if you ignore the 13 A block. For an extra point, B0CJQFSMZ9 has no stated terminals. The 68 mm kit brings the box and the IDC tool. For the Openreach front, B0CPD1DG9B keeps the back box as a bullet. Who should leave each row is on the best telephone socket page. Prices are amazon.co.uk figures from 16 October 2026. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This is not a lab test.

Common questions

Screw terminals or IDC?
Choose screw terminals when you want to terminate wires like a plug, which is what the white BG master and secondary state. Choose IDC, including the NTE5c cam locks, for unstripped solid-core CW1308. The black nickel master and the DRUT secondary do not state which they are.
Is the back box in the pack?
The 1STec kit states a socket, a back box, and an IDC tool. The white BG plates state fixing screws and a minimum depth, not a box. The NTE5c title says faceplate only. The DRUT NTE5a claims a back box in a bullet and has no components list, so check the photographs.
Which listings say BS 6312?
The white master and white secondary claim BS 6312-2. The antique brass master claims BS EN 6312-2. The black nickel master, both DRUT plates, the 68 mm kit, and the NTE5c faceplate do not print a BS number in these files. The plug specification is BS 6312-1:1994, the rectangular BT plug rather than RJ11.
Is a VDSL bullet the same as an MK4?
No. The NTE5c listing says it can accept a separate MK4 filtered front, and the pack is not that front. The NTE5a listing says VDSL/ADSL in a bullet, without an MK4 part number. A reviewer who wanted a built-in RJ11 splitter did not find one. Do not buy either plate to speed up broadband.
Why does one listing say 13 A and Wi-Fi?
The antique brass master, B07KGHMVKB, carries an attribute block with 13 A, 240 V, Wi-Fi and 3,120 W. The title and the telephone bullets describe a screw master. Those mains lines are a conflict, not the socket. There is no IP rating beside the moisture-gasket sentence. Order it as a telephone plate, not as a 13 A outlet.

Related pages

Wall plug comparison

Telephone socket

Best telephone socket: match the hole, not the stars

Telephone socket on full fibre: often the wrong buy

How to fit a telephone socket on the customer side

Master or secondary telephone socket, one on the line

Sources

Public UK sources on the master socket, BS 6312, and the digital landline switch. Listings checked 16 October 2026. Prices on amazon.co.uk move.

  1. Openreach copper handbook (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  2. Openreach new-sites wiring, August 2024 (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  3. Openreach PSTN switch-off (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  4. GOV.UK telecommunications modernisation timeline (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  5. Ofcom, future of landline calls (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  6. Ofcom, broadband and landline faults (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  7. BSI BS 6312-1:1994 plugs (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  8. BT Digital Voice setup (retrieved 16 October 2026)