No dial tone - BT say it's our internal wiring but ...

bbb_uk

Beckipeg wrote:

We've taken off all the covers to check the wiring - 2 wires connected are in slot 2 a blue wire with white stripes, in slot 5 a white wire with blue stripes. Both seem secure.

It seems to be connected correctly. See here for more info on how the UK telephone wires are connected.

Can you buy another box, or ask your neighbours friend who works for BT, can he connect a knowing good working BT box up - temporary only - straight to the two incoming wires BEFORE all other boxes, etc with nothing else connecting to this new box. Then plug in your known to work telephone to determine if you can get an outside line.

If you still can't get a dial-tone then I would say it's a BT related fault for them to investigate.

If you can get a ringtone then that proves the line is fine and the fault is with master socket or something after the master socket which from this point it's a case of eliminating one at a time what may be the cause.

bbb_uk

Beckipeg wrote:

We've taken off all the covers to check the wiring - 2 wires connected are in slot 2 a blue wire with white stripes, in slot 5 a white wire with blue stripes. Both seem secure.

It seems to be connected correctly. See here for more info on how the UK telephone wires are connected.

Can you buy another box, or ask your neighbours friend who works for BT, can he connect a knowing good working BT box up - temporary only - straight to the two incoming wires BEFORE all other boxes, etc with nothing else connecting to this new box. Then plug in your known to work telephone to determine if you can get an outside line.

If you still can't get a dial-tone then I would say it's a BT related fault for them to investigate.

If you can get a ringtone then that proves the line is fine and the fault is with master socket or something after the master socket which from this point it's a case of eliminating one at a time what may be the cause. If this is the case, post back and we can give you a list of things to do to try and determine what is causing the problem.

Beckipeg

Thanks for all the advice - I'm a bit wary of changing the master socket for another as I think that's part of BT's responsibility. If I disconnect the master box I'm not sure I'd be able to connect it back up correctly before the BT engineer comes next week - and then I'd definitely have to pay the charge for messing up their box!

I'm hoping that as there's no dial tone from the BT master box that it must be a BT fault - maybe in the wires going to our house / hot weather fault perhaps?

Just realising how much we use our landline telephone now - need to watch the pennies on the mobile!

Will let you know what happens,
Thanks.

DonnyDave

Beckipeg wrote:

Thanks for all the advice - I'm a bit wary of changing the master socket for another as I think that's part of BT's responsibility. ...

Whether the master socket is an NTE5, as pictured above, or an older version (LJU2/1A, I think) it shouldn't be touched as it's illegal to tamper with it. The only thing you can do it remove the two front screws and connect your wiring to the NTE5, as shown above.

The LJU2/1A looks like this:


If no phones work when you plug them in to the master socket, with all extensions removed, then I think it'll be a BT fault. If BT's fault test shows it to be OK, then it could be something like one of the pins in the master socket that isn't making contact with plugs.

So am I right in presuming that you cannot receive incoming calls aswell?

Sooler

Beckipeg wrote:

Thanks Browntoa,
But even when the phone is plugged into the main socket without splitters it still doesn't work.

I don't think you've mentioned if you have tried any other known working phone in your socket, other than your own phone.

BexTech

Also is the extension wiring removed when testing the master socket.

Sometimes the extensions have been known to be wired not from the master socket (LJU2/1A) but from the same "oval GPO socket" that the master socket has been wired from.

Beckipeg

Thanks for the extra comments, I really appreciate the time people have taken to reply. We have the older version of master socket (so no test socket under the cover).

We have no wired extensions, just a plug in one which we've disconnected.

Our own phone is wireless and doesn't work, neither does the corded one that works fine in our next door neighbour's socket.

No incoming calls heard - although we tried dialling our number there was no ringing in the house. We've diverted our calls to our mobile number (free option from BT faults service) but, of course, are paying higher rates if we want to phone out as we only have PAYG on our mobile.

Fingers crossed it's down to BT to fix without charge.

DonnyDave

Beckipeg wrote:

Our own phone is wireless and doesn't work, neither does the corded one that works fine in our next door neighbour's socket.

I think that seals it. It's a BT fault.

So you have reported it as a fault and BT are going to attend. I believe that they have to fix this sort of fault that leaves you without service within so many days or they have to give you free line rental. Someone else may be able tell you more.

Keep a record of all calls to BT and any calls to you by them. Then if you need to write to complain, or they question it, you can say what was done and when.

BexTech

You can either have compensation paid in way of credit on your phone bill for each day without service or have incoming calls diverted to the mobile.

Now33

I had the same problem last tear with my line - broadband was working fine but the phone was dead. I spoke to BT and they sent an engineer out saying that it may be a chargeable call out. Anyway the line was fixed - there was a problem on the phone circuit in our house. On our next bill there was a £60 charge for the call out.

If you look on the BT website at http://www2.bt.com/static/i/microsite/help_and_tips/faults/faq/faults_faq2.html it says that you will be only charged for "if one of our engineers visits your property and finds that the fault could have been fixed by you. For example, if your phone is broken or has been left unplugged".

My problem was a lot more complex than a broken phone or unplugged line. I argued the bill on this point - I am not a phone engineer so how could I fix the fault! Anyway I phoned BT on this issue speaking to serveral member of staff all of whom wouldn't help. In the end I wrote to the BT complaints dept threatening to take them to the ombudsman etc. Anyway within days I recevied a phone call saying the charge had been withdrawn.