Corded landline phone problem

retireetobe · 5 July 2018 at 12:30PM

Hello, I'm totally non-techy so wonder if anyone can help?

My elderly, partially-sighted mum lives in a flat with the main landline socket entering into her bedroom and another wired-in phone socket in her lounge - it's been like this since the property was built in 1997. She currently uses a Logic twin cordless phone set, which means the one in the lounge isn't actually plugged into a phone socket, it's just in a standard electrical plug.

Her failing eyesight means she can't use these anymore, so we bought her two separate corded Doro PhoneEasy 311C's with massive buttons which she can see. The one in her bedroom (via the master socket) works perfectly, but when we plug the other one into her lounge socket the line is hissy and crackly and totally unusable. We've tried swapping them both over in case one is faulty, but with the same poor result. Her phone provider (TalkTalk) have tested the line and said there is no problem and we should get our own electrician out.

I'm happy to pay for an electrician BUT I'm not convinced there's anything wrong with the secondary socket, because when I plug her old main phone from the twin set into that socket it works fine.

My question is:

Should two individual Doro phones work properly in different rooms on the same line, or should I have bought some sort of twin set (I don't think so, because I can't find any for sale!)?
Are these Doros old technology in some way so not compatible with the wiring set up?
Is there any other reason why they just don't work?!

Thanks in anticipation of any help.

AndyPK · 5 July 2018 at 12:35PM

try plugging the old phone into the bedroom.
or nothing plugged into the bedroom

and see what happens downstairs with the big button phone

mnbvcxz · 5 July 2018 at 4:12PM

Do you have a spare internet micro filter you could try and see if it cut down on the crackling? You never know.

Presumably its possible the cordless phones just have better noise suppression/filtering to hide static sounds on a poor extension line?

retireetobe · 7 July 2018 at 7:52PM

AndyPK wrote: »

try plugging the old phone into the bedroom.
or nothing plugged into the bedroom
and see what happens downstairs with the big button phone

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been over to my mum's today and tried that, but sadly it made no difference. The lounge phone sounded good briefly (it did before too), but then the hissing started and it was unusable.

mnbvcxz wrote: »

Do you have a spare internet micro filter you could try and see if it cut down on the crackling? You never know.
Presumably its possible the cordless phones just have better noise suppression/filtering to hide static sounds on a poor extension line?

Our first thought was to buy a new micro filter but it made no difference

Maybe the Doro phones are just poor quality. If so, that's a shame because they are targeted at people with physical difficulties. Or maybe TalkTalk are right and we need an electrician - we will try that next because she NEEDS phones that she can use.

[Deleted User] · 8 July 2018 at 7:42AM

retireetobe wrote: »

The one in her bedroom (via the master socket) works perfectly, but when we plug the other one into her lounge socket the line is hissy and crackly and totally unusable. We've tried swapping them both over in case one is faulty, but with the same poor result.

Just to be clear, when you swapped them over (no chance you could have put them back in the same order?) was it the lounge phone that's still crackly?

Secondly, microfilters are only needed when you've got an internet signal coming through the same line as your landline phone. If she doesn't use the internet remove them all.

How is the lounge socket connected to the master socket? There's some likely scenarios here: https://www.diydata.com/projects/telephone_socket/telephone_sockets.php

mnbvcxz · 12 July 2018 at 3:56PM

I guess you need to find the simplest, preferably bt, corded telephone you can. Hopefully already around the house? And then plug it in for testing to see if its the phones or the line. I think dialling 17070 gets you a quite line test.

I suppose its just possible its something to do with the doro's amplification feature boosting the static? Surprised they can do it without batteries or something really.

Anyway if it is the extension as Colin implied its not actually any harder to re attach a telephone cable to a socket than say wiring a plug. Plenty on youtube. You just push the wires into the right slot with a cheap idc pushing tool. If it is just a loose wire you can re push it in or just replace the whole socket for £3 from screwfix, there are generally plenty of spare wires in the cable to swap over if needed. If it really is the whole cable it obviously gets a bit messier but probably just needs fiddling and reattaching the ends quickly possibly to a fresh socket.

anniecave · 13 July 2018 at 10:15PM

Have you already tried any (old) different phone in the lounge socket? Try a corded phone and also a cordless phone. Have you checked there aren't any other devices around that might be interfering (long shot)?
I recall having one phone which had been perfectly fine in a previous house, but in my new house, the line quality was always just bad. A different phone was fine though.
If you can get another phone working OK in that location, then have a look for possible big button options - try buying from a physical location which gives you an option to return if it's not suitable.

Corded landline phone problem

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