BT line fault

[AleisterCrowley]

My mum ( stuck at home) is having trouble with her phone line
She called me the other day and it was crackly and noisy. She was on a cordless handset but her friend has removed the ADSL splitter etc and plugged an old fixed phone into the master socket and the noise is still there, which suggests a BT line fault
She gets her internet /calls through, erm..talktalk possibly, one of them anyway.
How does she get it fixed? Go to the ISP, or BT? I tried the BT website but to do a test you need a BT ID and password, and the landline number wasn't recognised by the 'known faults' checker, although it's the one we've had for 30+ years..
cheers
AC in isolation

[SteelCamel]

She needs to contact whoever she pays for the line rental - this might or might not be the same company as provides the broadband, and either of them may or may not be BT. The lines are maintained by Openreach, but you can't go to them directly, you need to contact the service provider.

[AleisterCrowley]

OK as she only pays TalkTalk/Plusnet/whatever straight to them ? thanks

[ReformedCharacter]

There's the line test facility which I've just tried:

17070

Details here:

https://support.zen.co.uk/kb/Knowledgeb ... -Line-Test

Yes, it's a Zen site but should work regardless.

RC

[orchard101]

I had the same problem. I am with Talktalk. I 'spoke' to them on line and on telephone. The next day an openreach engineer called, new box, new front plate and a trip up the pole for them. I had no interaction with openreach at all apart from the visit. All problems solved,

[XFool]

My mum ( stuck at home) is having trouble with her phone line
She called me the other day and it was crackly and noisy. She was on a cordless handset but her friend has removed the ADSL splitter etc and plugged an old fixed phone into the master socket and the noise is still there, which suggests a BT line fault

You say "plugged into the master socket", but do you mean plugged into the Test Socket at the master socket or just into the normal phone socket?

Again, is it an Openworld 5C socket (the new type) where the bottom consumer plate can be removed by hand without tools? IME these can be problematical, depending on the environment (so can the old ones), and do cause crackling. May need repeated unplugging/plugging even possible cleaning of contacts.

If you indeed mean the Test Socket then you need to contact your landline phone service supplier, whoever they are. You need to test via the Test Socket or, if the fault is on your side, you will be charged.

[AleisterCrowley]

Just the normal one, I have used the test socket when I had Sky b/band issues at my old place - don't forget my mum is 130 miles away and 'in isolation' being 78 (late middle age as she refers to it)

Found out she is with "Now TV", just for ADSL b/band

[stewamax]

There's the line test facility which I've just tried:17070. Yes, it's a Zen site but should work regardless.

Indeed. 17070 is an Openreach and not BT Retail test. If your line is crackly when everything apart from a standard phone handset is unplugged, it is Openreach's problem to fix. Ideally, plug the phone handset into the socket within the house's main socket (aka the 'NTE5') because this automatically disconnects everything else (phone extensions and so on) but using the external socket in the NTE5 is next best

But the fault has to be reported via whoever you pay the phone bill to.
However, ..... report it as a voice and not broadband problem; best not to mention broadband to them at all!