Crackling phone - please help!

Emma37

For the last few months it's been almost impossible for me to have a conversation on my landline phone because of constant loud crackling. The person I'm speaking to always says it's fine on their end. It's a Panasonic cordless digital phone and I thought possibly the problem was due to it being dropped.

I tried to buy a new phone, but the assistant said the crackling will be due to some kind of interference, possibly by neighbours but it could be anything. He said getting a new phone won't make any difference and I'd continue to have the same problem.

I'd be very grateful for any advice or insight into this. Thanks.

normanmark

Try buying a cheap phone, that will determine if its the handset or landline. One of the cheap ones from argos will do fine.

Once you've done that post back the results. If its the line then you'll need to contact your provider for them to run some tests on it

alanq

Try your phone plugged in at someone else's home or someone else's phone plugged in at your home. This should reveal if the problem is your phone or your socket. Failing that, buy a new phone from a store with a no quibble refund policy.

Jennifer_Jane

Emma37 - just to say thanks for posting this. I have exactly the same problem (mind you it was a cheap phone, but still cost £££'s), and have been wondering about what to do! So can't help you, but just wanted to thank you for posting the problem (and will keep an eye on what happens next).

Thanks also to normanmark and alanq for the replies.

Jen
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Emma37

What puzzles me is that there's supposed to be no interference with digital phones. Thanks very much for your suggestions, will have to think about what to do.

espresso

Emma37 wrote: »

What puzzles me is that there's supposed to be no interference with digital phones. Thanks very much for your suggestions, will have to think about what to do.

Not necessarily if there is another cordless phone nearby, on the same channel. Can you change the channel on yours?

Buy or borrow a standard phone to diagnose further.

Emma37

Espresso, that's interesting. I don't know anything about channels when it comes to phones. I obviously didn't read the booklet well enough that came with the phone. Could you enlighten me on this?

espresso

Emma37 wrote: »

Espresso, that's interesting. I don't know anything about channels when it comes to phones. I obviously didn't read the booklet well enough that came with the phone. Could you enlighten me on this?

Not familiar with your Panasonic model but they usually have a switch to select the channel to be used e.g. to avoid the same channel as your neighbour.

Heinz

That isn't the case with DECT phones (I think it's because they use TDMA or FDMA - Time Division Multiple Access or Frequency Division Multiple Access - technology).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECT

Emma37 wrote: »

I tried to buy a new phone, but the assistant said the crackling will be due to some kind of interference, possibly by neighbours but it could be anything. He said getting a new phone won't make any difference and I'd continue to have the same problem.

How can the assistant know it isn't a fault on your line?

I'd buy a £2.89 phone from Argos and try that (always handy to have a corded phone as a spare anyway).

BexTech

Emma37 wrote: »

What puzzles me is that there's supposed to be no interference with digital phones. Thanks very much for your suggestions, will have to think about what to do.

You don't yet know if it is the phone though.

It quite likely it's the line.

When I had a crackling BT line, it was due to water in the underground ducts (our BT lines are underground) had to have a new cable put in from the junction in the street to the cabinet, that was after swapping over the pairs to the exchange. Fixed the problem.

Yours could be an issue with the line card at the exchange.

Though worth getting a corded phone first to check, plus you should always have a corded phone connected somewhere at home, just in case the electricity fails and you need to use the phone, no good when you only have a DECT cordless - no power - no phone. Plus you can pick up a cheap corded phone for £2.

If you have extensions in the home, try disconnected them, if modern master phone socket, then it's just a case of taking off the front cover, you can then use the test socket.

Your phone line provider BT, Cable etc will ask you to try the test socket / disconnect extensions, try a known OK phone, if they send someone out and it is a fault with your phone or extension wiring then they'll charge you for that.

Farway

Buy, borrow or steal a corded phone.

Plug it into the master socket [not an extension socket]

dial 17070 [bt line], and select "quite test" from menu options

The line should be quite, no noise or crackles.

If noisy you will need to disconnect all other phones, extensions, modems etc from the line. Try again with only the master socket connected to corded phone

If still noisy phone BT or your line rental provider as your incoming line has a fault, do check first that no one has spilt tea etc into the connection box or it may cost you dearly