BT Phoneline on the blink - BT want £200+ to fix it..

liz_uk

3 weeks ago. our BT phone packed up!

For callers, it would ring once then cut off, then we went through a stage of it being engaged, now its just dead!

Called BT, they said if its an internal problem they will charge approx £150 call out plus £98 for the first hour.

Have checked all sockets, and the main socket into the house with 2 different phones.. internet and sky connections checked and i`m worried i`m missing something..

any ideas before I call them up again???

Browntoa

access the test socket

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/view-master.html

if the phone does not work there then you have only a connection straight to the BT line , it elininates all the internal wiring

if it's faulty there then its BT's side

dont plug any ADSL splitter in the socket

liz_uk

Wel, tried everything and still not workin - got BT coming out on Thursday as out Broadband has now decided to pask in aswell!!

Just hope its not something simple !

macman

If you tested from the test socket in the master socket and it's still no good, then it must be a fault on the BT side (not sufficient just to test from the master socket itself).
I assume you have already swapped the handset in case it is faulty?
If you've done all this then you've eliminated all possible faults on your internal wiring or equipment, and BT will not charge you to fix it.

liz_uk

Well all back up and running - for now !

Turns out the connections outside had ERODED due to water getting in!

Bloke from Openreach was fantastic, managed to fix the problem but said eventually it will go again, and BT will need to put a new main socket it, then we`ll have to get an electrician in to connect all of our pther phone sockets to it - Great!!

But for now, i`m pleased ! No charge either!

macman

Nor should there be a charge-the wiring the other side of the master socket is BT's responsibility. But surely if BT need to fit a new master socket, they are responsible for reconnecting your existing extensions? Assuming the master socket is in the same position as the existing one, this is a 2 minute job, just reconnect 2 wires per extension? Unless you've got 10 of them or something?