BT line question

[Hornet]

My BT line keeps going wrong.

I have had it 7 years. It went wrong after a year when it went dead. Engineer came out and said you have THREE PAIRS of wiring in there and the one being used is dead, no idea why. So he changed it and all fine.

A year later went all crackling and couldn't hear calls. So out they came again and changed it to third pair.

6 months later dead again. They changed it back to the crackling line that was now fine!!! This worked OK for 2 years and is now crackling again!!!

I have plugged phone into master socket tester and it crackles.

Do any phone experts know if I have new wire installed from outside to the master socket by BT it will 100% cure the problem.

OR could the internal wiring to the three extensions in the house be causing these issues?

BT said that if the master socket crackles it is 100% the wire from the outside to the master socket, but I have this fear that I will have the new wire ran and it will be something in my internal wiring that causes the crackling?

THANKS FOR ANY HELP

[cybernetic_tiger]

If you are plugging directly into the master socket with a phone known to be good then its more than likely a BT issue.

Could be that they need to repull some copper from the DP to you or it could be dodgy E/D side jumpering at the DP.

[Hornet]

Sorry what is DP and E/D?

The engineers have all said it is likely the wiring inside the house to the master socket. Three pairs if all bad only choice is to have new wire ran to master socket.

What I'd like to know is is the accurate. I presume the internal wiring to three extensions is not to blame if the master socket test is still doing the crackling?

THANKS again

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

It sounds like that to me cyber

[Paul K]

DP = Distribution pole aka telephone pole, drop line is the bit that goes from the pole to the house. The other bit just highlights that the issue could be the jumpering that takes the line back towards your exchange (I think, memory isn't what it used to be lol)

[RDDearing]

If you have a master socket with a small removeable plate where the phone plugs in, undo the two screws and remove the plate. You should then have the small plate you removed with a cable coming off of that which goes to the extensions and be left with the master socket still on the wall. Behind the plate you remove should be another phone socket (used to connect the plate to the socket). If you now plug a phone into this then that will test the master socket without the extensions connected.

Attached is a pic of what I'm struggling to describe!

[x-openreach]

Hornet

It sounds like you have faulty wiring on the outside of your home which shoud have been replaced on the first engineer visit. Is your phone line fed overhead from a telegraph pole or underground into the house?

If the engineer said there are 3 pairs of wires it sounds like internal cable has been used outside (commonplace in the old days!) and over time it has degraded by the weather, hence the crackling.

If this is the case i doubt its a E/D side fault feeding the DP. It could be the dropwire (overhead cable if you have one) but they dont contain 3 pairs of wires.

Like RDDearing said, test a working phone in the master socket to isolate all the internal wiring, then report to BT telling them you have a fault.

Either way its their job to get it fixed, just make sure you test in the master socket first otherwise its a big charge!!

[Hornet]

On investigating my phone wire outside back in May'08 one of the pairs of wire coming from the house was hanging by a thread. All I did was cut this and reconnect it into the plastic holder that contains one wire from underground and one from my house. Since then for 19 months no problems, perfect phone line.

Last week the crackling line returned, again undid box outside and the wire from house (now getting shorter from above repair) has again split and is hanging by a thread. So cut and reconnect and now fine again crackle free.

Are these wires going brittle over time and just coming apart? Seems to me eventuallty I will lose the house wiring completely?

In an effort to save this latest wire I have covered it in vaseline and put sealant round the external box. But now water was getting in before as far as I could see the wire must just go brittle in the cold, the wires coming from underground (BTs) are all fine and do not snap if bent the ones from the house if you so much as bend them they snap.

I know not meant to touch BT wiring, but when they came a couple of years ago engineer just reconnect wire with break in it and line started to crackle again!

I hope the vaseline is the answer to brittle wire! Any other solutions?

Thanks

[m419]

What a poor service! Sounds like patching up is not the answer, they need to re-wire everything, straight from the property to the cabinet in the street, that will solve the problem,but its costly, tough! thats what you and 15 million other BT line users pay line rental for.

I would take it to high level complaints,then if unsucessful contact Ofcom for advice on 020-7981-3040

You can email your complaint to BT by clicking this link:

http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_afdpage.php?p_afd_id=12333&p_sid=TvEMb7Tj&p_last_afd=8705&cat_lvl1=2702&cat_lvl2=2704&cat_lvl3=2716&p_cv=3.2716&p_cats=2702,2704,2716&p_param=p_afd_subject=I%20have%20a%20general%20com plaint&p_afd_inc_router=ResidentialServices&p_afd_kana_target=&p_afd_form_id=&p_afd_customer_classification=complaint&p_afd_customer_category=complaint&p_afd_cat_lvl1=&p_afd_cat_lvl2=&p_afd_cat_lvl3=&p_source=helpandsupport