Ticking Phone

[#1]

I have a normal dialtone and can dial out but when the connection is made there is a rhythmic and continuous ticking (~2Hz) which blanks the received audio and makes it unintelligible.

This occurs with two separate corded phones, one of which is an ancient pulse dial, and at the NTE5 test socket.

I first noticed the issue on the 25th of January 2024.

Broadband is normal (adsl2+ not FTTC), although it has been disconnecting overnight, often, in recent months.
I do not have a mobile phone so cannot send a text message.

I have been to https://faults.plus.net, but I just get:

https://www.plus.net/my-account/tools/phone-troubleshooter/results
Your phone line check is now complete
Here are the results
We haven't found any problems with your phone line.
What happens next?

If you're still experiencing issues, make sure your telephone and equipment are connected properly, and you've followed the instructions on our phone troubleshooting guide.

If this doesn't solve your problem, Contact us.

Calling 0800 432 0200 just gets me the ticking noise.

[#2]

Have you tried the 'quiet line test' ? Dial 17070 and follow the prompts . The line should be completely quiet, if it isnt then call and report a phone fault.

[#3]

Yes, that was one of the first things I did, but I could not remember all the options and the ticking meant I could not understand them.

As I said, I do not have a mobile phone and I cannot use this land line so I cannot call anyone.

I can email and post here, but that is it.

[#4]

Try https://faults.plus.net and login 

[#5]

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@aldabra1 wrote: snipped

I have a normal dialtone and can dial out but when the connection is made there is a rhythmic and continuous ticking (~2Hz) which blanks the received audio and makes it unintelligible.

This occurs with two separate corded phones, one of which is an ancient pulse dial, and at the NTE5 test socket.

I first noticed the issue on the 25th of January 2024.

---

Does either phone have a little slider switch to move it from Pulse to Tone?

Pulse dialing sends electrical pulses down the telephone line

Tone dialing is where the 'beep boop' sound changes on each number press.

I have no clue but maybe as part of Openreach's decision to cease normal landline phones over the copper lines by December 2025, a change on or around the 25 January has made the 'click' dialing to become non operative?

@MisterW is a man person whom has much greater knowledge as me, although I see you already tried that link that was just recently posted, though granted you may not have been signed in prior to trying that link.

[#6]

I hoped it was clear that only one of the phones was a pulse dial, the other was indeed a tone dial. Both behaved the same.

I was logged in when I tried https://faults.plus.net

[#7]

Thanks for clarifying.

Do you happen to have another microfilter?

if that's a yes or no, could you possibly - with care as not to pull any extension wiring out - gently remove the lower part of the master socket face plate and plug the phone only into the test port using either a new or old microfilter.

Any better, the same, or worse?

(obviously this will cause the router to lose it's connection)

If it's better could you then - whilst leaving the phone and filter in the test point - plug the router back into the filter and report back?

[#8]

I plugged the tone dial phone directly into the NTE5 test socket, ie directly onto the twisted pair entering the house.

My NTE5 has a filter face plate feeding the telephone wiring which is necessarily disconnected when connecting a phone directly to the test socket.

[#9]

Ah, my bad for two reasons, 1) I missed that you'd already used the test point and 2) I assumed you'd got a standard NTE5.

My only reason for suggesting testing from the test point was due to fixing an issue the same/similar as yours - BB fine but phone line with a rhythmic clicking/ticking. In that case it transpired that wind driven rain had penetrated the outer course of bricks, seeped through the blown cavity wall insulation, was drawn through the inner wall and caused the NTE5 to become wet.

I moved Openreach moved it to an internal wall and it fixed itself and AFAIK it remains that way.

As you can't call and have no mobile*, the only other thing I can say and hope, is that a member of staff sees your post(s) and makes contact with you via this media. Others may offer further suggestions.

*I fear ISPs are putting too much reliance on their customers having access to a mobile signal or indeed a mobile phone imho.

[#10 · Accepted solution]

Hi @aldabra1 

I'm struggling to find your account with the details on your forum profile.

Can you drop me a PM with your username or landline number?

[#11]

@aldabra1 do you live in a rural area? I once had interference caused by an electric fence - they tick every few seconds, and are electrically quite noisy and can affect nearby phone lines.

[#12]

I do live in a rural area and there are electric fences for sheep and horses but, at ~2Hz, the tick is too fast and, any way, the issue is not on my premises so only Openreach can resolve it.
From previous experience, the issue will be in the cabinet, or possibly the exchange.

[#13]

Yes you are right 2Hz is much too fast - in my head I treated it as ~2 seconds (which is still a little quick for most energisers). However, the problem I had was a couple of hundred yards away, but the earthing rod had been placed a few yards from where the cables ran underground.

[#14]

@aldabra1 

Just to clarify -

Is the person you called able to hear the ticking?

Can you hear the ticking over the dial tone, is it there if you pause during dialling, is it there when listening to the ring tone, or is it only apparent when the call is answered?

Does it happen on incoming calls?

[#15]

At 1340 on Wednesday 31 January the issue seams to have been resolved.
I tried 17070 and the ringback and quietline tests were successful. I also called 0800 432 0200 and that seemed to be normal as was 1471.
Thank you for your help.