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Phone goes riiiiiiiiiiiiing
biggus_richus
Posts: 26 Forumite
in Phones & TV
Moved house last year and the land line wiring seems slightly odd. The phone line comes into some sort of junction box (with the old BT logo on it). From this comes the wire to the master socket and a wire to an upstairs extension.
Earlier this year, I got an electrician to remove the old extension and put a new one elsewhere upstairs. This comes off of the junction box as before, but ever since incoming calls are signaled by a continuous ring tone, rather than the traditional 'ring-ring'. They also knock out my broadband connection for the duration of the call.
Said electrician has tried and failed to fix it two or three times. BT have said that there is nothing wrong with the line. I've removed the front of the master socket and plugged a phone into the internal socket and the problem still occurs.
I can only conclude that this is a problem with the new extension socket or the junction box. BT have said that they can send an engineer out but I may be liable to pay for repair work (although when I tried to convey the wiring setup the operator just didn't understand). I understand that if the problem is on my side of the master socket then I am liable, but the junction box is on their side, as is the extension socket (possibly wrongly?).
Not really sure what to do here - can anyone advise?
Earlier this year, I got an electrician to remove the old extension and put a new one elsewhere upstairs. This comes off of the junction box as before, but ever since incoming calls are signaled by a continuous ring tone, rather than the traditional 'ring-ring'. They also knock out my broadband connection for the duration of the call.
Said electrician has tried and failed to fix it two or three times. BT have said that there is nothing wrong with the line. I've removed the front of the master socket and plugged a phone into the internal socket and the problem still occurs.
I can only conclude that this is a problem with the new extension socket or the junction box. BT have said that they can send an engineer out but I may be liable to pay for repair work (although when I tried to convey the wiring setup the operator just didn't understand). I understand that if the problem is on my side of the master socket then I am liable, but the junction box is on their side, as is the extension socket (possibly wrongly?).
Not really sure what to do here - can anyone advise?
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Comments
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Well the line tests ok in terms of recieving & making calls then BT are not obliged to do any further work. From what it sounds like is that the electricians work that was carried out might have had some detrimental effect on the ringing of the phone. BT are right in saying that if any work is carried out then you'll be liable for a charge!0
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DO NOT GET BT TO LOOK AT IT.
Unless you have won the lottery.
You sure it's not a faulty phone? Go out and buy a cheap one to test it against.
If you have removed the front cover and pluged into the internal socket all extensions should be disconnected. Are they ?
If it was me I would remove any extension wires and test if it then works OK.
Then I would get new cat5 cable and rewire it. After all it is only two wires than can go either way around, but keep them the same way through the whole circuit.About_£ wrote: »BT have said that they can send an engineer out but I may be liable to pay for repair work0 -
DO NOT GET BT TO LOOK AT IT.
Unless you have won the lottery.
You sure it's not a faulty phone? Go out and buy a cheap one to test it against.
If you have removed the front cover and pluged into the internal socket all extensions should be disconnected. Are they ?
If it was me I would remove any extension wires and test if it then works OK.
Then I would get new cat5 cable and rewire it. After all it is only two wires than can go either way around, but keep them the same way through the whole circuit.
by what the poster is saying the extension has been tee'd in before the master socket ...the electrician should never have touched it. if this is the case the tests from the master socket become irrelevant.
if it became faulty immediately after the electrician did his work the problem is obviously his work.
to be sure of rectifying you need to take new wiring out of bt box and make sure that just 2 wires coming in are connected to 2 wires coming out towards the master socket.
you need to run a new cable from the master socket to where the cable provided by the electrician starts (the disconnected end by the bt box ) join new cable to electricians cable and note on paper what colour is connected to what colour on both cables (hopefully same colour codes but if not make sure you definitely make note of it )....
at both ends master socket (remove front plate to expose IDC terminations) and extension socket (IDC terminations ...rarely they can be small screw type connections ) connect the same wire both ends to terminations numbered 2, 3 and 5.
of course if it's not too much of a job you could just renew cable all the way from the master socket to the extension ....but you still need to disconnect the electricians cable from the incoming bt line.
your wiring at the moment is termed 'star wiring' and causes various problems.
nb check that the extension hasn't got a capacitor in it and the electrician has just used 2 wires.0 -
just to add where you join the cable you'll need an additional junction box0
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I know, that is why I was asking if the extensions work with the cover removed.
Who knows what the electrician did.0 -
I would like to remind people (end users and electricians) that you must NOT touch Openreach (BT) line plant - this includes the back part of your master socket. Any faults caused WILL be charged.0
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It has, and this is where the original extension was wired in. The master socket lies on an internal wall in the kitchen, one cavity wall and two internal walls from the junction box. Which seems slightly mad to me. I have no idea why it's not located on an external wall somewhere, but there you go.hammy_the_hammer wrote: »by what the poster is saying the extension has been tee'd in before the master socket ...the electrician should never have touched it. if this is the case the tests from the master socket become irrelevant.hammy_the_hammer wrote: »nb check that the extension hasn't got a capacitor in it and the electrician has just used 2 wires.
It's going to be difficult to put in a new cable run from the master to the extension for the reason given above - the current run from junction box to extension is external.
Now you mention it, I think the extension does have a capacitor in it; I will check that and the wiring tonight.0 -
I would like to remind people (end users and electricians) that you must NOT touch Openreach (BT) line plant - this includes the back part of your master socket. Any faults caused WILL be charged.
That is true but more and more people will be DIYing before they call out BT to make sure it is a BT problem and not the customers devices/wiring.
Who is going to risk a £200 bill?0 -
Copied from this site http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Telecoms/Telephone%20Wiring.htm
Fault Finding
No ringing -
Terminal 3 disconnected
Phone ringing continuously.-
Terminals 2 and 5 swapped (2 at one socket connected to 5 on another and vice versa)
Very poor speech quality, possibly poor bell. -
Terminal 3 and 2 or 3 and 5 transposed
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]Ringing but no speech (or very poor speech) and can't dial out. - [/FONT]
Wire between terminals 2 or 5 broken.
May be worth reversing the connections to see if it cures the fault.0 -
Copied from this site http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Telecoms/Telephone%20Wiring.htm
Fault Finding
No ringing -
Terminal 3 disconnected
Phone ringing continuously.-
Terminals 2 and 5 swapped (2 at one socket connected to 5 on another and vice versa)
Very poor speech quality, possibly poor bell. -
Terminal 3 and 2 or 3 and 5 transposed
[FONT=Times New Roman,Times,Times NewRoman]Ringing but no speech (or very poor speech) and can't dial out. - [/FONT]
Wire between terminals 2 or 5 broken.
May be worth reversing the connections to see if it cures the fault.
reversing 2 and 5 means the phone rings continually regardless of an incoming call HTH0
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