Aaarrgh! Have I cut my 'phone line?

Manxman_in_exile

Hi all - Mr Stupid here...  

I've got a BT landline and Broadband package.  

My Broadband and all internet access is working 100% OK, but my landline is dead.  No dial tone, can't ring out and people can't ring in.  Only became aware of problem 30 minutes ago.

Problem is I was removing some ivy from the outside of my house earlier this afternoon, and I'm wondering if I might have cut through the 'phone line coming into the house?  (I nearly cut the line from the TV aerial so I'm wondering if I've cut the 'phone line!  I can't physically check at the moment... )

But if my Broadband is working OK, how could I have cut the incoming wire?  Isn't there only one incoming line carrying both 'phone and Broadband?  (You'll have to excuse me if that's an incredibly stupid belief - I don't know any better!).

I can investigate further tomorrow, but at the moment I don't understand why - if I have cut the wire - I still have Broadband?

Thanks

PS - I'm definitely got a wifi connection to my BT hub.  I was just going to test it by disconnecting and then connecting again - but then I thought that might not be a good idea if the landline has gone down - I might not be able to reconnect.  What do you think?

Neil_Jones

If you'd cut through the phone line you would have no internet or phone or anything.  So if you have internet and broadband the fault may have been there for longer than you thought. especially if you hardly use the phone.

Report no dial tone as a fault to your ISP.  They don't need to know you've been hacking away at the ivy around where the line comes in...

iniltous

It is the case that broadband will work over 1 leg of a copper pair ( so the other leg disconnected )  that is if the disconnection of the leg is quite close to the customer ( rather than at the exchange for example ) , POTS telephony though needs both legs connected to work, regardless of where the disconnection is.
Usually this scenario ( dis 1 leg )  does affect the ‘speed’, of the broadband service reducing it somewhat, but it seems anecdotally that some only notice the lack of a phone service without ever suspecting the broadband of underperforming as well.
If you have indeed nicked the cable then it’s probable that any repair will be a chargeable repair.

Manxman_in_exile

That's what I thought.  If I'd cut the line everything would be dead - no Broadband or anything.

I've checked My BT online and there's a few things I can check from there.  I'm too busy at the moment and will follow up with BT tomorrow.

We got a couple of incoming calls earlier this week, so it may be just a coincidence it happened after my "gardening".  As you say - BT don't need to know about that - yet!

Thanks

Manxman_in_exile

Ah!  So I might just have nicked or cut part way through the wire.

OK.  Will have to see tomorrow.  (If it's chargeable - fair enough.  My own clumsiness to blame.

Thanks

J_B

Do you have BT internet that promises to give a signal and sometimes uses 4g if the phone line is down? (Just a thought)

Log in to BT and go here https://www.bt.com/help/report-and-track-your-bt-problem

It's always been a quick and simple job whenever we've had a line fault.

neilmcl

Manxman_in_exile said:

That's what I thought.  If I'd cut the line everything would be dead - no Broadband or anything.

I've checked My BT online and there's a few things I can check from there.  I'm too busy at the moment and will follow up with BT tomorrow.

We got a couple of incoming calls earlier this week, so it may be just a coincidence it happened after my "gardening".  As you say - BT don't need to know about that - yet!

Thanks

What type of broadband service do you have and from whom? If you have ultrafast full fibre for example then it's feasible that you can cut the copper line into your master socket whilst leaving the fibre connection to the ONT alone and therefore would still get broadband access.

Roland_Sausage

Manxman_in_exile said:

Ah!  So I might just have nicked or cut part way through the wire.

OK.  Will have to see tomorrow.  (If it's chargeable - fair enough.  My own clumsiness to blame.

Thanks

Yes, you’ve possibly nicked the cable. There’s more than one wire in the cable, usually 2 or 4 and it’s possible you’ve nicked one wire.

You need 2 wires for phone to work (it’s an electrical circuit) and ideally need 2 for broadband, but as mentioned it can work albeit at a reduced speed over 1 good wire.

brewerdave

It MAY be coincidence - we had a phone fault some years ago; the Openreach guy replaced the wire from the UG connection to the master socket because the plastic wire had hardened ,causing a break somewhere inside. It was the original cable ~ 30 years old.

Manxman_in_exile

Thanks all.  I'm pretty certain I must have nicked the wire.  I had a quick look yesterday but it was dark when I got the chance to do so and I couldn't tell if it was just nicked or not.  We've got thunder here today so I'm not investigating further!

Have reported to BT and they have confirmed an "external fault".  Broadband appears totally unaffected (or if it is we haven't noticed).

pbartlett

when they come out to.investigate i would tell them what happened - will make it so.much easier if they know where to look for the line fault. I am sure they have seen it all before - multiple times ! 🙂