Bad contact?

[#1]

I went to a house this morning where:
The phone often rings once then stops, or rings continuously.
There is an NT5E master socket but the first extension socket is an LJU Master.
There is audible noise on the line when running a quiet line test
Incoming calls tend to interrupt the broadband.
Very large minute to minute variation in noise on the broadband signal.
Some of these symptoms I recognise as  indicative of a bad contact but I have not come across the phone ringing problem before.  Should I replace the "second" master socket with an LJU secondary?

[#2]

Do you mean rings continuously or continually rings with a ring tone?
The noise and ADSL dropping sounds like an HR fault, if the noise is on the first master test socket report it as a voice fault.
The phone ringing once and then stopping (ring trip) is caused by a low resistance between the line pair being interpreted as a phone going off hook.
Check that the wiring between the two sockets is correct and that 2 and 5 are not crossed over.
If the fault has just started I would suspect a wet corroded joint or joints somewhere.

[#3]

Are the two sockets close to each other? If so, even if not, are you sure the NTE5 is the termination of the incoming line? Which are the other extensions connected to?
I ask because it could be someone has been up to this trick and screwed up.
Otherwise, replacing the LJ 2/1A with an LJ 2/3A sounds like a good thing to do even if it isn't causing this problem.

[#4]

Estragon, the link in your reply set me thinking that I have the opposite situation.  The NT5E Master (which is definitely the point of entry) is about 1m away from the second LJU Master (which serves as the first extension socket).  So if having two master sockets side-by-side does not cause any telephony problems then perhaps I don't need to do anything.
Classically, a ringing telephone goes: Ring Ring Pause Ring Ring Pause etc
Sometimes this happens on these premises but other frequently heard are
RIng Stop
or
Ring....... (a continuous single tone)
The householders tell me the line has always been noisy but the ringing problems are new.
 

[#5]

Do you see all the same symptoms if you use the test socket in the NT5E master?

[#6]

There is still noise on the line.  The odd ringing behaviour went away but as this comes and goes anyway I don't regard that as conclusive.

[#7]

That tends to suggest it's a fault with the line rather than the internal wiring.

[#8]

I'm sure there is a fault on the line of some sort.  I'm not sure if the internal wiring is free from faults of its own. 

[#9]

I'm not sure how you are going to prove that until you can run without errors from the test socket!

[#10]

BTOR scheduled to visit nest Thursday.  I'll then have to return and review what the engineer has accomplished.

[#11]

It will be as well if you establish there is a fault from the test socket, otherwise he might blame the internal wiring and do something with it, not check their wiring properly and, just to add insult to injury, charge you as well as it being a fault on the customers side.

[#12]

Quote from: ReedRichards

There is still noise on the line.

... when a telephone is connected to the Test Socket.  But your warning is well-taken.

[#13]

Hang on a sec :).  Where is that LJ 2/1A connected inside the NTE5? To the faceplate, or at the back behind the test socket?