Phone faults at weekends?

icarusi

Currently with Post Office phones now with no dial tone (checked with plug-in phone) but Plusnet broadbad ok, so assuming a fault at the exchange. Has a happened a few times, always at weekends and no weekend cover from PO.

BT has an online checker but don't know how good it is. IIRC they've a 24 phone line too. Any others, or are they like PO, scrimping on that aspect?

JJ_Egan

Could be a fault at the socket .

mwarby

Are your broadband speeds normal, or have they dropped. If they are normal sounds like and exchange fault is plausible. If the speeds have dropped then you probably have a bad joint\disconnect affecting only 1 of the wires in your pair, this faulty could be anywhere

Have you considered using plusnet for lime rental, makes the broadband much cheaper

icarusi

mwarby wrote: »

Have you considered using plusnet for lime rental, makes the broadband much cheaper

Only if they have contactable landline phone fixing at weekends. Maybe VOIP is the better bet. This is the third time this has happened, admittedly not frequently, but always the same, broadband ok landline phone dead, always at the weekend when it's nearly impossible to get contact. I suspect it's someone messing with the system at the exchange and not checking all landlines are ok on the kit they're messing with, probably to add more broadband capacity as landlines are only for old fogies like me.

JJ_Egan

Landlines are for the transmission of Data .No landline no broadband through your master socket .

Fixing basically they are all fixed by Open Reach and all providers use the same queue .

[Deleted User]

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Landlines are for the transmission of Data .No landline no broadband through your master socket .

Fixing basically they are all fixed by Open Reach and all providers use the same queue .

Exception is Cable providers like Virgin who run their own network. Cable provision doesn't require a landline in conjunction with broadband either

JJ_Egan

No it just requires a data line/ cable.

icarusi

Seems like the contact number is 0345 600 3210, then 2 for faults, then 1 for no dial tone, but it's the same number for all PO stuff. Says 8am-8pm, Mon-Sat 9am-6pm Sunday and *free* to call from an active PO phone line. Not much use if your phone line's down. So far it's just chucking me off after pressing the last 1 digit, so now burning through mobile credit, as is usual for this crap! At least it's not keeping me line hanging (so far!).

When I eventually get the phone line back I'll ring that line and try and get some proper answers. Tried ringing in to my number from the mobile and no ring, no contact, no nothing!

icarusi

It gets worse! After 15 minutes phone hanging a 'test' from PO points to a fault my side of the main socket!

Currently getting these results from BT speedtest 'advanced'.

Download speedachieved during the test was - 2.28 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 1.2 Mbps-4 Mbps.
IP Profile for your line is - 3.02 Mbps

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 0.64Mbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 0.83 Mbps

No dial tone. Plugged a POTS type phone directly alone into the master socket, still no dial tone. Rang my number from a mobile and no ring tone or anything at all. Just checked the voltage on the line and it's 0v. AFAICS it should be 48-50v or 3-9v depending if the phone is on hook or off. The provider's 'test'!! is indicating the problem is 'in my house'. I'm 99.99% sure the problem's at the exchange, like the two previous times this has happened, yet I'm facing having to wait around for half a day for a phone call giving me an hour's notice of a home visit, and £140 bill if it was in my house.

What a complete waste of time! AFAICS if I'm getting ok broadband the line's ok back to the exchange and if there's no voltage across the lines with nothing, or a POTS phone connected there's a fault where the voltage is inserted, I assume at the exchange or any repeater closer to me, but not 'in my house'.

Will phone them again tomorrow and get them to 'retest'! Maybe their crappy system only allows for the options of 'it's your problem' or 'if you insist we'll get an engineer but it may cost you £140, it *will* cost you 1/2 a day hanging about' despite my broadband being fine. It could also be BT sending crappy info back to PO to prospectively drum up more engineering work.

iniltous

If you checked at the master socket test port and it's NDT (no dial tone) and you checked with a known working phone, then the chances are you won't be charged for the repair, but if the tester indicates a disconnection near to, or at your property, then warning you of the potential for charges is appropriate...the fact your broadband continues to work, probably means you are 'dis 1 leg', close to your home, this would provide the symptoms you are getting.
You may not be happy that you have to wait in, but what if, even if the fault is outside, access is required to repair the line , houses fed by overhead with faulty dropwires are best repaired with a continuous wire from pole to back of master socket, not pieced together a bit of old dropwire to a bit of new (although it's acceptable if no access available)
It's possible that the PO rep has mis-interpreted the test result, but it's more like that the tester indication (and it's only an indication, not a guarantee where the fault is) is at or near to your house, and that requires you to accept the possibility of charges and to be available for access.
It is possible that a fault could be OR's side of the master socket, but still be a chargeable repair, for example , someone with a tree in the garden,and the branches have damaged the cable from the telegraph pole to the house, again they won't get an appointment unless they agree to potential charges, otherwise OR come out, repair, charge the CP, and the CP gets told 'I wasn't told about possible charges or to wait in for the engineer, that's why they don't even contact OR in cases like that,
ultimately its up to you if you wait in, but if you don't, you may get a card saying we called, you were not in, and your line still doesn't work until you re-appoint

icarusi

And the fault is.....................at the *exchange* just as I suspected. So the engineer found there was a short, a least as far as the phone is concerned, from where the wire enters my house, and he then proceeded to check it back down the line and found it was at a position before the broadband kit in the exchange. So *that* was why my broadband was unaffected. I'll see if it improves in the future by whatever he replaced.

Apparently BT don't have a test which would show this upfront. The test the phone provider does wouldn't ID it either, but the test should be done with all kit disconnected from the master socket, which was never asked, and may explain why they said it was a fault my side of the master socket.

All in all pretty poor, especially from BT who apparently don't have a check (or suitable kit installed) at the exchange to detect basic faults on phone lines in the exchange.

PO phones support have so little capacity they effectively can only be contacted in the evening and don't give (or don't know?) the correct instructions prior to a line test.

Plusnet look like they may be a better bet, as they do have a genuine 0800 number for support, so you won't be burning mobile credit however long it takes to contact them. PO's number is only 'free' from a PO phoneline, so not much use in a dead line fault.

If I get FTTC broadband the new kit will be in the cabinet closest to my house but the phone line kit will remain the same. There's nothing else other than at the exchange providing voltage on the phone line.