How much static is acceptable?

[#1]

Hi,
I live in the sticks and have always suffered with a poor telephone line and slow (intermittent at times) broadband. I had an engineer out when we moved here over a year ago and it took him two visits to get the line working. To try and see if I could improve the situation I purchased a basic corded handset and plugged it into the master test socket (the one underneath the facia plate) and performed a silent line test (17 070 option 2). There was clearly a background hiss and the odd crackle on the line.  I repeated the test 3 times across 4 days with no change in the results. I don't notice the hiss much during conversations, but the line is very quiet, meaning I tend to make all my calls on speaker phone.
So, I contacted plusnet support and they pointed me to the self service line check and it returned with no faults found. It is worth me pursuing this further to try and achieve a silent line or do I just have to live with the low level of hissing and the odd click in the background?
Appreciate your thoughts,
Jonny

[#2]

Hi Jonny,
Line tests from our side also don't show any issues.
With that in mind if the noise is an issue for you then I'd try a different handset as the next step.
If that makes no difference we can report a fault for you which would need to involve an engineer visit.

[#3]

Hi Adam, afraid I have tried a few handsets. I'll log a call via the portal. Thanks, Jonny

[#4]

No worries,
I hope tomorrow's engineer visit gets this resolved for you.