Crackling phone line

onejontwo

I hope I'm in the right place for this but I'm experiencing a lot of crackling noise on the phone line recently, I've heard the phone companies charge you an arm and a leg to fix the problem if the fault is down to an internal fault. Therefore I'm trying to make sure it isn't something simple internally. I'm with Virgin broadband and land line. I've tried a different phone in the master socket but still the problem is there. On unscrewing the master socket to check the wiring I noticed one of the wires was adrift, the set up is as follows :-
2 terminal blocks:-
terminal 1 = blank
terminal 2= blue/white
terminal 3= orange
terminal 4= blank
terminal 5= white/blue
terminal 6= blank
the wire that was adrift was white/orange and after doing some research it seems unclear if this is used or not. I've tried pushing it into terminal 1 as the way it was cut to length suggests it can only go into the terminal block 1 ie 1 2 and 3 but the problem still remains. So could any of you knowledgeable people shed some light on this ? Thanks in anticipation.

onejontwo

Anybody?????????

macman

Are you on Virgin Media (cable service) or Virgin National (ADSL service)?
Assuming the latter, only terminals 2 and 5 need to be connected on a modern phone system, the others are not required. The colour codes you give are correct for these 2 terminals.
Crackling/noise is more likely to be an external line fault, which is BT's responsibility. Isolate your internal wiring by removing the master socket faceplate (undo the 2 screws in the lower half). Hinge it forward and connect your phone (preferably test with a corded phone). Dial 17070, after the number confirmation message select option 2, Quiet Line test. Listen for crackling/noise. if it's still present then call your line rental provider and report a fault.

tanith

My daughter gets this terrible crackling on her phone everytime there is heavy rain.. it clears up once the rain has drained away... it might just be water getting into the wiring outside the house somewhere..

macman

tanith wrote: »

My daughter gets this terrible crackling on her phone everytime there is heavy rain.. it clears up once the rain has drained away... it might just be water getting into the wiring outside the house somewhere..

That's exactly what it is-tell her to report the fault and get it sorted.

onejontwo

macman wrote: »

Are you on Virgin Media (cable service) or Virgin National (ADSL service)?
Assuming the latter, only terminals 2 and 5 need to be connected on a modern phone system, the others are not required. The colour codes you give are correct for these 2 terminals.
Crackling/noise is more likely to be an external line fault, which is BT's responsibility. Isolate your internal wiring by removing the master socket faceplate (undo the 2 screws in the lower half). Hinge it forward and connect your phone (preferably test with a corded phone). Dial 17070, after the number confirmation message select option 2, Quiet Line test. Listen for crackling/noise. if it's still present then call your line rental provider and report a fault.

I think I'm on cable (how do I tell?) but I switched over from BT to virgin for the phone so does the dialing 17170 still apply?

spike7451

macman wrote: »

Are you on Virgin Media (cable service) or Virgin National (ADSL service)?
Assuming the latter, only terminals 2 and 5 need to be connected on a modern phone system, the others are not required. The colour codes you give are correct for these 2 terminals.
Crackling/noise is more likely to be an external line fault, which is BT's responsibility. Isolate your internal wiring by removing the master socket faceplate (undo the 2 screws in the lower half). Hinge it forward and connect your phone (preferably test with a corded phone). Dial 17070, after the number confirmation message select option 2, Quiet Line test. Listen for crackling/noise. if it's still present then call your line rental provider and report a fault.

Not necisarily the case mac,
It depends on how the phoneline is connected up in the ETB,The ringer may be backwired to provide power to other extensions if they are NOT connected into the master socket but instead ran from the ETB.
If you plug a normal phone into the test socket,it's more likely to be a damaged wire or connection in the ETB (the grey box on the front of the house) normally caused by the installer useing a stanley knife to pare back the sheathing on the wiring.
However,it can also be caused by the connections on the Krone strips in the cabinet that your phone is connected to being corroded.We used to run a smaer of insulating jelly over the connections but H&S soon stopped that!:mad:
Below is a Krone strip,this one is in the Multiplexer & connects the network side (E Side) to the connections that run to the street cabinet you are connected to (The D Side) however they are the same.


FYI-the blue/yellow are residential,red/white are business.
HTH,
Spike (ex NTL/VM Service Engineer)

macman

You can't 'switch' from BT to VM cable. If you did go BT to Virgin, then you will have had a separate cable line installed alongside your old BT master socket, so it should be obvious. They run on completely separate networks.Just look at the box where your phone terminates.
If you are on Virgin National then you are on an ADSL, not cable connection. What is your tariff called?
The 17070 Quiet Line test will only function if you are on the BT network.

macman

spike: Iwas assuming that the OP is on Virgin National-I haven't a clue what the wiring on the master socket looks like on a VM cable connection, but assumed it is not the same as a BT one!

spike7451

PS,
Forgot to add,VM service calls are free unless you are found to have created the fault yourself. (or you did & then get stroppy with the engineer as with the woman who blamed me for turning the VCR on to cure the bad picture on her TV.It was turned off at the wall! Her fault,she got stroppy blaming me so she got a £50 bill! IF she had'nt,then she would'nt have been billed,but she was...and she did!)

onejontwo

macman wrote: »

You can't 'switch' from BT to VM cable. If you did go BT to Virgin, then you will have had a separate cable line installed alongside your old BT master socket, so it should be obvious. They run on completely separate networks.Just look at the box where your phone terminates.
If you are on Virgin National then you are on an ADSL, not cable connection. What is your tariff called?
The 17070 Quiet Line test will only function if you are on the BT network.

All I know is that the previous owners had NTL (now virgin) installed so when I "switched" from BT to virgin, nothing else was added in the house ie. no extra boxes were installed so I assumed he re-connected the original ones. As for my tariff it just shows up payments due, without any mention of Virgin national or ADSL.