Crackly Land Line

[woodbloke]

For the last few days the land line has been very crackly (had to hang up on SWIMBO the other day 8-[ ). I've disconnected everything and then replaced all, but no difference. I think this is also affecting the broadband connection as the router keeps on dropping the signal...any remedies, what can be done or will it clear itself after a while? Thanks - Rob

 

[Sawdust]

Difficult to say without knowing how many phones you have etc but I would connect your phone direct to the box where it come in to the house - removing any extension leads etc but leave the micro filter in if you have broadband.

If it is still crackly, the chances are it's a bad connection or water in a junction box somewhere and BT or whoever supplies your line will need to check it.

The above checks are worth doing first because if it just turns out to be a dodgy extension lead that you have fitted, they can charge you for checking it.

Cheers
Mike

 

[mickster]

Get BT, or whoever, out to sort it. I had exactly the same problem a couple of months ago and they had to change the drop-line.

What was previously a constantly re-syncing 3200kbps connection, has now become a very stable 7500kbps connection.

You will probably find your connection speed will have dropped since the crackling and will take 3 or 4 days to reach it's max stable rate following repair.

 

[OLD]

The line jack unit (LJU) provided by BT has two screws in the front remove and pull off the face it retains. Some cabling will be attached, there is the same type of socket under, plug in the phone dial a single number say 2 and listen for line noise if it there try a other telephone instrument, still faulty ring BT faults as you are now monitoring BTs equipment line and LJU.If the fault centre say there tests show no fault still insist its noisy and a line man will sort it for you.
If its ok the fault is on your house wiring or equipment.

 

[Woody Alan]

The 'quiet line test' here's some instructions

The BT line test facility can be accessed from any BT dialling 17070.

Quiet Line Test

Unplug any extension phones, extension cables, answer machines or fax (anything except the phone you will use to do the test!). Or as OLD suggested unscrew your master socket and test from inside with a known good phone. First test from each internal socket.

Dial 17070, press option 2 (quiet line test)

You should hear 'Quiet Line Test' and then silence, there should be no pops, clicks, whistles, buzzing etc. If there is noise on the line, make sure it's not your phones connection to the socket (wiggle it about a bit) and that you are using the master socket. If you are sure its the line making the noise then dial BT and report the fault, they should be able to sort it out. Remember that 'mis-reporting' a fault (e.g. if it turns out to be your phone, extention cord etc.) may be charged a call-out fee by BT

If it doesn't work You have caller line id (CLI) blocked, if this is the case then on dialling 17070 the message will include 'there is no CLI detected for this circuit'. You can get round this by dialling a prefix before 17070, the prefix is 1470, so the full line test number will be 1470 17070.

Be aware that a favourite failure can be the ADSL filter breaking down, especially if you have the BT master socket conversion with filter included in the socket as opposed to the filters you plug into your sockets.l
The fault could very easily be the dropwire or water in a joint the point is you want to eliminate everything that could be considered your responsibility. The next hurdle will be the awful 150 interface. Once you get an engineer round be nice to him give him a cup of tea/coffee explain exactly what you have tried, and invite him to double check your findings. It's also entirely possible it's a line card fault in the exchange in which case the Openreach engineer will have to hand the fault back to a control and it will be handed out to an internal faultsman. The two are no longer allowed to communicate by regulation.

Alan

 

[pobo]

i used to work in telecoms, fitting internal telecoms in small to med sized business's, and used come across this problem a lot. i agree with all OLD posted. but as OLD said BT will test the line and say its fine.

Over my 5 years in telecoms reported at least 50 lines faulty in this way, and never had them charge and they always fixed.

most of the BT engineers are good, but the people in the call centers use a computer test system, and if the computer said you were an orange the call center folk would think you were an orange.

Good luck

 

[Woody Alan]

Over my 5 years in telecoms reported at least 50 lines faulty in this way, and never had them charge and they always fixed.

Things move on, when were your 5 years, don't be misled into thinking you won't be charged if it is your fault. The engineers are checked and watched to make sure they do things by the book now (usually if they CAN help you they will). The change in regulations means that "BT openreach" are the providers and maintainers of the Network for all telecom operators including BT's own operation as an operator. The outcome of this is that "BT openreach" must not be seen to give any advantage to any operator including and extra importantly BT itself. What this means for the customer potentially is greater difficulty dealing with problems, as different departments within BT are no longer allowed to cooperate/communicate in the way they were, but that's the way of the world these days.

Alan

 

[woodbloke]

Thanks for all the replies fellas...I've disconnected all the broadband stuff and used the corded 'phone into the master test socket after unscrewing the front plate...no difference, still crackly so have got a BT engineer coming Wed pm to sort it...will keep him well supplied with T and biscuits as advised :wink: - Rob

 

[pobo]

hi alan, i happy ended my life in telecoms about 2 half years ago, about same time as openreach were taking over.

sorry i was not trying to miss lead and was just speaking form my own experience.

Good luck rob with your BT man.

 

[Rod]

Don`t give him too many cups of tea as if you are charged the time starts from when he leaves his last job (in our case 5 miles away) .The one who visited us found the fault in a few minutes and then said i was into the second hour of the job by about ten minutes and at £65 an hour ,or part of .Anyway the same fault happened again a short while later (crackly line) and another engineer changed our line at the nearby exchange and no probs since.

 

[Woody Alan]

Pobo
No problem, as has been said many times if we were having a chat in the pub these things would form a conversation with rapid exchanges of info to the better of all of us, where we could bemoan the plight of the service industry. I just wanted to make sure the OP covered all the angles and didn't get caught. Trust me as you may have gathered I work in the business (internally)and I have personally had billing issues that took 6 months and more to resolve, and wheras in the old days when I could pop up the office or into maintenance control to resolve something it's all gone now. I rely on the few contacts I have for a bit of info or have to suffer the consequences as everyman in the street does. It's the same for the Gas board, I had my meter changed a month ago and chatted to the fitter asking if he did several a day, no he said only one or two but they were taking that task away from him..bet he gets them back in a few months. Companies don't seem to know what to do for the best so they keep changing. I really do feel for the "ordinary" people who just want a resolution to a problem but it's endemic at the moment if your problem doesn't fit the tick sheet god help you.
Alan

Alan

 

[woodbloke]

Just and update on this one. The BT engineers arrived and sorted out the drop line, the existing one was about 40 years old, so no wonder it was a bit knackered. As the afternoon progressed, I eventually ended up with four BT guys and three white vans :shock: parked outside my place...what do they say about buses? Anyway, line is all sorted and internet connection as well as the 'fone are back to pristine operation - Rob

 

[andrewm]

Just and update on this one. The BT engineers arrived and sorted out the drop line, the existing one was about 40 years old, so no wonder it was a bit knackered. As the afternoon progressed, I eventually ended up with four BT guys and three white vans :shock: parked outside my place...what do they say about buses? Anyway, line is all sorted and internet connection as well as the 'fone are back to pristine operation - Rob

Had a similar problem a couple of months ago. Be aware that if it was dragging broadband speeds down it will take about five days for a higher speed to be established. The equipment at the exchange end needs five days without re-synching before it switches to the higher speed.

Andrew

 

[mickster]

Rob,

you can go here to check your broadband stable rate according to BT:

http://speedtester.bt.com/

Mine had dropped to 500kbps as the line deteriorated and took 4 days IIRC to come up to where it is now, which is twice what it was before I noticed any problems with the phones.