Faulty BT Line

[KEEP SAFE]

We have had 6 BT engineers out to try and clear fault on our landline.
Every time they clear fault but it comes back again.
Line goes dead so we can't call out but if someone rings in
the fault usually clears.
They have tried everything apart from renewing cables.
Any ideas?

 

[SUNRAY]

We have had 6 BT engineers out to try and clear fault on our landline.
Every time they clear fault but it comes back again.
Line goes dead so we can't call out but if someone rings in
the fault usually clears.
They have tried everything apart from renewing cables.
Any ideas?

IME it could be a faulty cable joint, the ringing voltage/current can temporarily breakdown the high resistance.

 

[Diver Fred]

We have had 6 BT engineers out to try and clear fault on our landline.
Every time they clear fault but it comes back again.
Line goes dead so we can't call out but if someone rings in
the fault usually clears.
They have tried everything apart from renewing cables.
Any ideas?

Not BT technicians any more, it's Openreach; what's worse is that most have no experience.
your problem is most likely a 'Wet' joint in a cable. Caused by? Leaking seal, or an overhead passing through trees or abrasion on the side of your house. They can be very difficult to find and sort out.

You could do a bit of self investigation and see if the overhead has trees pressing on it. Otherwise if it's UG cable your best hope is that others have the same problem and the Openreach person can tie several faults together.

 

[ericmark]

Open Reach can only be instructed by the provider, be it BT or any other firm. BT split years ago into BT and Open Reach. In the main little you can do, we found Sky at least sent there own guy first, so Open Reach seemed to take his word for it when he said there was a fault.

 

[KEEP SAFE]

We have told BT if they don't rectify fault we'll be changing provider,but the thing is if it's
a cable fault we'll still have the same trouble unless we go fibre optic like Virgin.
Can we demand that BT re-cable?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Can we demand that BT re-cable?

Nope, you can only keep pestering until they find and sort the fault. Are you subscribed to BT?

 

[KEEP SAFE]

Yes subscribed to BT.
We are fed up to the back teeth with them.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes subscribed to BT.
We are fed up to the back teeth with them.

See if you can speak to a human and invite them to escalate your complaint up the ladder - polite, but firm.

Are there any sick, elderly, infirm family members in the house? If so explain you need a properly working phone as a matter of priority.

 

[securespark]

I suppose it does depend on who you get turning up to your door.

I have had repeated issues with phone and internet failing, due to water.

The first time it was damp in the joint box on the side of the house.

The second and third time, it was the concrete pavement box which was completely full of rainwater.

The eng went back to the exchange and checked all the street boxes in-between to check for shoite joints.
He found one at the bottom of our road, as well as the one right outside and the joint box on the house.

The guy said he had swapped the line to spare conductors every time and told me if it happened again, they would have to re-lay the cable from the pavement box to the joint box.

So obviously it depends which eng you get as to what is done. I think I was lucky to get a very thorough and conscientious eng.

Keep complaining politely but very firmly and push for an effective repair ASAP.

 

[Bosswhite]

Sky and BT are now part of the same organisation , Open Reach are responible for cableing , any faults are referred to Open Reach whoever the provider is , BT customers have priority over other providers with Open Reach . So if one is not with BT one has to wait in line .
Trying to contact Open Reach is mission impossible.

 

[securespark]

Getting in touch is not tricky, but you do have to wait if you're not a BT customer.

Just ring your phone provider and report the fault.

 

[jg321]

Sky and BT are now part of the same organisation

This is just not true. Which “organisation” do you think Sky and BT both belong to?

BT customers have priority over other providers with Open Reach .

This would have serious regulatory implications for Openreach if true. Do you have any evidence of this being the case? If so, it should be taken to Ofcom.

Trying to contact Open Reach is mission impossible.

As an end user your contract is with your ISP, and they (or their supplier) buy the service from Openreach. If the ISP was doing their job correctly end users would have no need to contact Openreach, as they would do this effectively in the first place.

 

[JBR]

Not BT technicians any more, it's Openreach; what's worse is that most have no experience.

I can well believe that.
We recently tried to take up an internet supply with an independent supplier but, being with Virgin, we don't have a telephone cable connection. Consequently, the supplier arranged for an Openreach 'expert' to come and install a cable.
So far, so good, but the engineer first suggested that the cable be run from an existing pole conveniently at the bottom of our drive to the middle of our house. Unfortunately, as we have a bungalow elevated well above the adjacent road, the cable would pass across our front garden at a height of about seven or eight feet, well within human reach. So that idea was ditched.
My suggestion was to run it to the apex of the highest part of the house, but the engineer assured me that the cable would then have to run down the house wall, through the wall and attached to the main junction box just above floor level in that bedroom. Unfortunately, we'd need this to be at the middle of the house where we want our router to be.
No, not possible. The router would have to be near the main box. Can we just extend the cable from the main junction box across a couple of rooms to where we want the router to be? No, because the signal would then be too weak!
Now, I'm no expert, but if the cable is coming from a pole about 50 feet away, and to that from a cabinet well up the street, would another 20 feet or so make the signal so much weaker?
We cancelled and will have to think again.

 

[SUNRAY]

I can well believe that.
We recently tried to take up an internet supply with an independent supplier but, being with Virgin, we don't have a telephone cable connection. Consequently, the supplier arranged for an Openreach 'expert' to come and install a cable.
So far, so good, but the engineer first suggested that the cable be run from an existing pole conveniently at the bottom of our drive to the middle of our house. Unfortunately, as we have a bungalow elevated well above the adjacent road, the cable would pass across our front garden at a height of about seven or eight feet, well within human reach. So that idea was ditched.
My suggestion was to run it to the apex of the highest part of the house, but the engineer assured me that the cable would then have to run down the house wall, through the wall and attached to the main junction box just above floor level in that bedroom. Unfortunately, we'd need this to be at the middle of the house where we want our router to be.
No, not possible. The router would have to be near the main box. Can we just extend the cable from the main junction box across a couple of rooms to where we want the router to be? No, because the signal would then be too weak!
Now, I'm no expert, but if the cable is coming from a pole about 50 feet away, and to that from a cabinet well up the street, would another 20 feet or so make the signal so much weaker?
We cancelled and will have to think again.

Our main socket is in the front bedroom with a filtered front plate,I ran a cable from there to the opposite corner of the house downstairs via the loft, it's about 20 m of cat5 cable.

 

[JBR]

Our main socket is in the front bedroom with a filtered front plate,I ran a cable from there to the opposite corner of the house downstairs via the loft, it's about 20 m of cat5 cable.

Thanks. That sounds encouraging. However, I'm not sure what effect the 'filtered front plate' would have on the signal, once you've gone beyond it. Perhaps that's what the engineer was referring to.