No dial tone / engaged tone only.

davethetaller

Hi all,
Currently with Sky broadband , using also their line rental and calls.

Yesterday when trying to dial out, I find that I have only got the engaged tone.

I have tried a couple of plug in phones with the same result at the main socket.

As there is an extension off this main socket, (which may be faulty), I removed the lower faceplate off this main socket, which exposes the test socket. With my corded phone plugged in to this, all I get is a strong engaged tone.

I am receiving incoming calls ok, and the broadband is fine.

So how do I get a dial tone; or do I have a fault which requires an engineer?

Thanks in anticipation.

spike7451

It could be a couple of things but because you have removed the extensions & the fault is still there,then it likely to be back towards the exchange,then you need a BT Openreach engineer out,the fault could be anything,a dry joint,unseated line card,shorting,damaged cable ect..

davethetaller

spike7451 wrote: »

It could be a couple of things but because you have removed the extensions & the fault is still there,then it likely to be back towards the exchange,then you need a BT Openreach engineer out,the fault could be anything,a dry joint,unseated line card,shorting,damaged cable ect..

Many thanks for your quick response Spike7451, Do you think that I should report it to Sky or BT?

iniltous

if you are a Sky line rental and calls customer, why would you think of reporting anything to BT ?

davethetaller

iniltous wrote: »

if you are a Sky line rental and calls customer, why would you think of reporting anything to BT ?

On the basis that post number 2 said that I may need a BT Openreach engineer !

spike7451

BT Openreach do all the work on the lines up to & including the master socket,BT Wholesale do the work in the exchange.The ISP's like Sky/Talk Talk/O2 ect have no engineers,Openreach do the work for them.

davethetaller

spike7451 wrote: »

BT Openreach do all the work on the lines up to & including the master socket,BT Wholesale do the work in the exchange.The ISP's like Sky/Talk Talk/O2 ect have no engineers,Openreach do the work for them.

Many thanks again Spike7451.

I am sure that your information is correct.

macman

Report it to Sky as a line fault, they will contact OR.
Make it clear that you have already done the check from the test socket and ignore the mantra that it will cost you £130 if the fault should turn out to be on your equipment. They always read you that bit to cover themselves.

davethetaller

macman wrote: »

Report it to Sky as a line fault, they will contact OR.
Make it clear that you have already done the check from the test socket and ignore the mantra that it will cost you £130 if the fault should turn out to be on your equipment. They always read you that bit to cover themselves.

Hi all,

SOLVED!

Just an update which may help someone in the future.

The "engaged tone" that I am getting on my phone line, is to indicate to me that I have a recorded message on the 1571 answerphone service !

If I ignore the tone, and dial out as normal, everything connects as normal.

I think that the thing that confused me more than anything, was that with everything disconnected, and just connecting my phone to the test socket inside the master socket, I still could not get the dial tone.

I have cleared all the messages now and have the dial tone.

I perhaps should have said in my original post, that this is all a new package, and I am unfamiliar with the set up.

Thanks to all for your help. :T

iniltous

What you thought of as engaged tone is modulated dialtone (sort of 2 tone dialtone) and as you say signifies a message left on your 1571 type answer service, it does sound similar to engaged tone though, good job you never reported it to Sky and them raising it with BT/OR to visit as it could have resulted in a visit charge ...my earlier point is that you always contact your line rental provider for phone faults, its them that contact OR, you cannot contact OR yourself, and if you called BT Retail they would have no record of you coz you are not one of their customers

macman

I recall this issue a few years back with someone on dial up internet who told me they could not get online. On investigation there was an intermittent dial tone due to a message via 1571 voicemail. Until the message was cleared the modem could not dial out, as no steady dial tone was detected.