Phone line crackling...

bloodline76 · 27 Dec 2010 at 20:29

I contacted BT and they said that the line was fine when checked. They say I can have an engineer out but if the fault is within the house or no fault then I will be charged £127

What can I do to check it or is there something I can try to fix it myself?

I lost the internet initially but I have got that back with a wired phone. But it is half the speed. Was 8mb now it's only 3mb. Would that be caused by a bad line?

I have plugged the line directly into the mastersocket internal line but am still getting crackling.

I disconnected the adsl filter and plugged the phone in directly but still get the crackling so I don't think it's the internet.

Any suggestions before I have to call out the engineer and get ripped off by their charge?

Thanks

Caged · 27 Dec 2010 at 20:31

Try a known-good landline phone in the test socket on the master after removing the faceplate. If you still have poor voice quality then log the fault.

bloodline76 · 27 Dec 2010 at 21:10

Caged said:
Try a known-good landline phone in the test socket on the master after removing the faceplate. If you still have poor voice quality then log the fault.

Yeah I have removed the faceplate and plugged directly into the test socket. Unsure about the phone as I had to borrow a really old wired phone from the inlaws.

So if it doesnt work(Or crackling on line)on the test socket then it shouldnt be charged?

Caged · 27 Dec 2010 at 23:51

If it's a voice fault that's still there when going into the test socket then it won't be a chargeable call, no. But make sure you try a phone that you know works on it first.

bloodline76 · 28 Dec 2010 at 08:04

Caged said:
If it's a voice fault that's still there when going into the test socket then it won't be a chargeable call, no. But make sure you try a phone that you know works on it first.

Ok thanks! I hope they don't try and charge me anyway. When I spoke to the helpline they said that the line is fine and that it must be an issue with my end(which I will be charged for) so how can I make sure that they don't charge me for something that I shouldn't.

I said about the test socket and they still said that because it is within my property then I will get charged. Is that right?

My internet speed has dropped to: 1,031 / 2,383 from about 1,350 / 7,800

Are there any other things I can try. I did the quiet test 17070 and this still comes up with crackling on the line plugged directly into the test socket without the adsl plugged in.

wonderlust · 28 Dec 2010 at 09:49

I had the same thing, then the phone stopped working altogether.

But my ADSL was still working but my Noise Margin was between 6db and -2db and from 15Mb to 2Mb.

Engineer cam round and found a broken cable 50m from my master socket. (We are overhead cabled)

Now it's fixed my BB has gone from sync'd at 15Mb to 18.75Mb

gillywibble · 28 Dec 2010 at 10:18

Quiet Line Test - dial 17070 option 2.

There shouldn't be any noise on the line when you listen.

bloodline76 · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:01

gillywibble said:
Quiet Line Test - dial 17070 option 2.

There shouldn't be any noise on the line when you listen.

And if there is noise? Would that suggest it is an outside issue? What can I say to the engineer if he comes around and tries to convince me it is something different? I really could do without being charged £127 for something straight after christmas.

gillywibble · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:04

bloodline76 said:
And if there is noise? Would that suggest it is an outside issue? What can I say to the engineer if he comes around and tries to convince me it is something different? I really could do without being charged £127 for something straight after christmas.

If there's noise, there's a line fault and you won't be charged anything.

bloodline76 · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:08

gillywibble said:
If there's noise, there's a line fault and you won't be charged anything.

Would that show up on their line test though? Because they say the line is fine.

gillywibble · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:09

bloodline76 said:
Would that show up on their line test though? Because they say the line is fine.

Have you dialled the number?

Coolasmoo · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:13

Whatever you do when reporting the fault, do NOT mention anything about broadband issues.

If its a fault at the test socket its their issue, but only mention voice issues on your line

Ste59w · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:18

Had a similar problem myself a few years back.

Internet would slow down to a crawl or would stop working all together. Everytime i lifted the handset there would be a weird crackling on the line. I went through numerous BT line tests which came back as no problem. Sat on hold for many hours trying to resolve the issue.

Finallly a BT engineer came round and re-did our whole phone line to the exchange box as it was obviously broken.

For a temporary fix, getting someone to call my house number got rid of the crackling for a few hours and the internet worked fine.

This went on for weeks and weeks so keep on at them

Yas786 · 28 Dec 2010 at 11:53

Yes i had this problem too a few yrs ago but luckily for me when i was on the phone to the person who was logging the fault, they even said they could it hear it and that it was pretty bad...so bad that i also lost my internet connection as well.

In the end they replaced the line that comes from the pole outside my house to the master socket or whatever they did and that fixed it but i still get the odd crackle but it isnt as bad as it was a few yrs ago and touch wood my connection has been solid...one thing i have noticed is that is the weather is really bad ie rain etc....the line tends to crackle a bit but nowhere as bad as it was originally.

I wasnt charged or anything.

bloodline76 · 28 Dec 2010 at 13:04

I hope that is the case for me too. The helpdesk had to call my mobile because the line was so bad. When I plugged it into the master test socket it was better but you can still hear it.

pictus · 28 Dec 2010 at 14:21

Ste59w said:
For a temporary fix, getting someone to call my house number got rid of the crackling for a few hours

When this happened to one of our lines, the BT engineer helpfully phoned us to say he was five minutes away - which got rid of the crackling he was coming to fix!

Luckily he still managed to find the fault anyway.

bloodline76 · 29 Dec 2010 at 09:36

Just an update. Had to bite the bullet and request an engineer come out. The later that day they called up and said that their is an external fault and that I shouldn't need to stay in. I guess someone else in the neighbourhood is having issues as well. Well at least that saves me £127.

Thanks for all your advice anyway.

Happy New Year to you all!