Strange BT fault!

1882

I'm (somewhat reluctantly) the communications guru for my Mother and her elderly friend. Due to problems I got her friend to change her calls back to BT (line rental was always with them), signing up for the free evenings and weekend deal which enables her to use 18185 for international and daytime calls.

I thought her problems would be solved by the change but not completely. She invested in a lovely new DECT cordless phone as her old one was a bit tatty. The new one refuses to dial out on her line but works perfectly on another BT line we tried. I bought a sub £3 corded phone from Argos and it also refuses to work on her line but is fine on another BT one!

Her old tatty DECT phone works most of the time on her line but does have occasional problems such as getting the speaking clock when dialling a number starting 01236 so it would seem to be failing to register the 0 at the start of the code.

I don't know if its relevant but her phone line was installed in the last year by underground cable dug under her garden which replaces a wire from a pole utilised previously.

Any suggestions as to the reason and/or cure would be appreciated. We haven't yet contacted faults.

Thanks

PS All the phones mentioned get a dialling tone on her line and receive incoming calls no problem!

Paul_Varjak

Take the front panel off the master socket and plug the phone into the test socket behind the front panel.

If the fault still exists then it most likely a problem with the line and you should call out BT for what should be a no-charge call.

If the fault appears 'cured' by plugging into the test sopcket then you could have a problem with internal wiring. and that may mean a chargeable BT callout.

1882

Thanks PV - works fine from the test socket. It would be so easy for BT to advise these things rather than just insisting there's no fault on the line!

macman

As far as BT is concerned there is no fault on the line. BT's responsibility ends at the master socket, anything downstream of that is your own wiring and BT will only fix it as a chargeable call out, which will be a minimum of £120. Get a local electrician or telecoms engineer in to sort it for you for much less, BT do not have to be involved.

LeeSouthEast

Alternatively, leave it plugged into the test socket. This will bypass any internal extensions, but as it's DECT and cordless anyway, that doesn't really matter?