Wierd line problem

stuart.pinfold

A BT engineer is coming out tomorrow morning, just trying a last-ditch attempt to avoid the £125 call-out fee if it is something inside the house...

Sometime on Friday our landline started playing up. It was fine at around 08:00, but by around 16:00 it wouldn’t work properly.

I noticed it when I had an incoming call, which rang both of the cordless phones (using two base-stations plugged into two different phone sockets but using the same phone line, with one phone registered to each base station) as usual. When I picked it up I heard a very distorted “ringing” tone which you get when the number is connecting.

Afterwards I played around with the phones and discovered that there appears to be a loop-back on the line - whatever you say (or whatever happens in the background) is repeated back to you quite loudly. Dialling out (to my mobile) results in the DMTF tones being dialled (as normal) but the line not connecting. The same thing happens when you attempt to dial another landline.

Incoming calls still ring the phones but produce a distorted ringing tone on answer, and the caller continuing to hear the ringing tone even after the phone has been picked up.

I tried de-registering the cordless handsets and re-registering them to the same base-units, then the alternate base-unit, and even only one phone to one base-unit. Our emergency NON-cordless phone, plugged into both phone sockets, produces the exact same problem.

I called BT who reported that, as far as they can see, there is nothing wrong with the line itself. Neighbours on our street, also with BT, reported being able to use their lines as normal.

I don’t know whether it’s the line or the phones which are at fault, but the law of averages (that three phones, two of which are significantly newer than the other, would stop working on the same day) would suggest it’s not the equipment.

The fact that I pulled all the batteries out of the cordless phones, replaced them, swapped the telephone cords on the base-stations, power-cycled the base-stations, removed the broadband filters, and tried the non-cordless phone, would seem to back this theory up.

Only problem is BT want a £125 call-out charge if the problem isn’t something that only they can fix (i.e. the line, link to exchange, telegraph lines, faulty sockets/cabling, etc), which we really can't afford at the moment as I have just lost my job.

Any ideas from the experts on here?

RTNI

If you have tested your phones in the test socket (which is accessed by unscrewing the two screws as shown here: http://www.gradwell.com/support/howto/article/371) to remove the internal wiring from the house and testing the point at which BT's line enters your house and you are still getting the problem then it's not your fault. It must be something at the exchange or the line itself.

Try that and see how you get on!

DVardysShadow

What RTNI says, BUT, you really need to test with a corded phone, to eliminate issues with your handsets.

macman

I would cancel that engineer call out until you've carried out the basic tests to establish where the fault may be (or more importantly, where the fault may not be) i.e. in your handset or in your internal wiring.
So far you've done neither of these.
Edit: sorry. I see in re-reading that you've done the test with a corded handset. So repeat that test using the BT test socket inside the NTE-5 master socket. If the fault is still present, then it is upstream of the master socket and you will not be charged.

BT_company_representative

Hi stuart.pinfold, you can find hints and tips on how to test your line at https://www.bt.com/faults. If you need anything further please email your query, Forum name and BT details to btcare@bt.com and I will be more than happy to assist you.

Regards Rodney

stuart.pinfold

BT engineer came, promptly unscrewed the master socket and, while he was doing that, I asked him if he had a report of the actual problem. He said he did and that it was 'faulting' on the exchange test (even though it had been done over the phone twice and was told there was no fault!).

Plugged in his little device, said the problem was 39 meters away, went to the junction box and stayed there for an hour!

When he came back he said that the junction box had been compromised and there was a pool of rain water which flooded out when he opened it up, which had corroded away about a tenth of the street's cabling inside it!

Now fixed and we have a happy phone line...

Now, to claim compensation from BT for the 5 days without service and the extra cost of having to use our mobiles (as we normally get free landline-to-landline calls outside of peak hours). Any advice?

BT_company_representative

Hi stuart.pinfold,
Under the terms of our customer service guarantee scheme you are entitled to a refund of your line rental for the period of the fault. You are not entitled to compensation for calls made on your mobile phone. Can you advise if there was a diversion on calls for the period of the fault? If this is the case then you would not be entitled to a refund of your line rental but instead you would receive a £1.00 per day call allowance. For more information visit http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerOrders/control/termsandconditions?docId=28237&pageTitle=Terms and Conditions

Many Thanks
Donna
BT Support

stuart.pinfold

Hi Donna, thanks for your reply.

I requested - both online and on the phone to the Faults number - that calls were redirected to my mobile, but this was never actioned. Instead, callers heard a "This line is faulty and the owner is aware" message.

So, do I claim for the line rental refund or the call allowance? How do I claim for this?

DVardysShadow

stuart.pinfold wrote: »

... I requested - both online and on the phone to the Faults number - that calls were redirected to my mobile, but this was never actioned. Instead, callers heard a "This line is faulty and the owner is aware" message. ...

This is not customer service at its finest. It is worse to fail to redirect, having indicated they would than to be straight from the beginning and say they were not going to redirect.