Unable to report phone line down

[#1]

Phone is stiil working this afternoon and I have been very impressed by Madeline @Mads  from Plusnet who rang me earlier (phone working perfectly) to discuss my problem. She was brilliant! and proves that in fact Plusnet are listening despite how it sometimes seems.

She has taken charge of my situation and appreciates the problem of it being intermittent, sorted out my Tickets and bounced the "fixed" fault back to openreach for further investigation.

@Townman  Thanks for your post, I was a Service Engineer myself and fully appreciate how difficult an intermittent fault can be. Nonetheless, if my phone is unreliable, it is of no use and in this day and age with 5G on it's way and 4G already suppling fast data speeds, it is becoming feasible to do away with wires & cables altogether, fibre-optic or otherwise. 4G router a SIM and a mobile phone is all that is required.

[#2]

For the record, phone was working all day yesterday, but when I went to bed it was off again.

@Mads  please note that this morning my phone, once again has no dial tone, right now my telephone line is dead, internet is still fine. I have not done the troubleshooter so it has not been reset and I did not get an SMS. It is not fixed.

[#3]

My telephone has remained out of action all morning and presumably all last night. I have been looking at 5G/4G home broadband packages. It would appear that for a similar price I am paying for my plusnet contract, it is now possible to get an unlimited data router plus an unlimited calls SIM for my mobile phone. This would remove the green cabinet, telegraph pole and wires from the connection to my home. I am now trying to find out a downside to this arrangement.

[#4]

Getting worse, phone dead this morning as it was when I went to bed. I can only assume it has been off all night. It was not working yesterday morning or evening, the only time I had a dial tone was yesterday afternoon. There has been no contact from BT, openreach or plusnet by SMS, mobile phone, email, this forum or any other means. As I post this my telephone is still out of action.

[#5]

@Mads  the telephone rang just now, I noticed that the caller display just said "incoming call" i.e. no number (but not "withheld"). When I answered, it went dead. The phone rang again a few minutes later (no caller display) and I spoke with a friend, phone working. When I finished the call, there is now a dial tone. 

[#6]

Morning @gregshaw, 

Thanks for letting me know the above info, I've provided an update over your fault support ticket - please respond directly through the member centre to that ticket with the info requested. 

Thanks. 

[#7]

Thank you @Mads 

Since I received that phone call two hours earlier, my phone and caller display has started working fine. I can see the scenario now, when the openreach Engineer calls at my home, he will test the line, find no fault, close the call, send me a bill and then the phone will go dead again.

[#8]

At the moment the fault is been investigated externally with our suppliers, of course if an internal appointment is needed I'll be back in touch and we can discuss it further then. 

Thanks. 

[#9]

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@gregshaw wrote:

TI can see the scenario now, when the openreach Engineer calls at my home, he will test the line, find no fault, close the call, send me a bill and then the phone will go dead again.

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That sounds somewhere between pessimistic and conspiracy theory!! 🤔

If such were to happen, one would need to conclude that you have a very bad line with multiple intermittent faults.  Unfortunately there is a risk that an engineer might locate a fault, fix it but look no further for further potential intermittent faults.  That is a line might test out to be within tolerances but not perfect.  We have seen a few such cases around here, requiring multiple BTOR visits until an engineer does the job properly.

During the earlier part of this year there was a case on the business board where multiple BTOR engineers (or their sub-contractors) visited claiming that there was no fault to be found.  Subsequently another engineer put some effort in and on proper inspection checked the drop wire at the pole which "just came away in their hand".  Though that got fixed, it did not resolve the issues.  Eventually yet another engineer attended who checked every joint on the circuit ... and eventually found a corroded junction box under the eves of the building.  Since then the user has seen excellent service.

Given that you are testing from the test socket behind the face plate, it is highly unlikely that you are going to be charged for an engineering visit.  If you were and the fault was found to be still present, then you would have good grounds for claiming a refund.  As things stand, there should already be more than enough grounds for a compensation claim against BT Openreach for their failure to rectify the issue within 72 hours.

[#10]

@Mads  Thanks for letting me know, I've been out Mountain Biking today. It was OK when I left and OK when I came home. Just popped downstairs to test it as I am typing this..........yup - It's dead again! Let's hope they find something.

@Townman  Thanks again for your interest and insight, you have reinforced by pessimistic (realistic) view! Phone line is currenly down so I rang myself (from a mobile) nothing happened until I lifted and replaced the handset and then it started to ring! Now the line is working again. Seems like the "surge" of electricity "burns" through a dodgy connection as you described earler.

[#11]

Much as I suspected, there are iffy joints in your circuit.

@Mads 

Is there any clarity on the location of the fault?  Has a d-side pair swap been requested, or in the absence of a spare good d-side pair has a request been made to remake all of the crimp joints?  Is there aluminium in this circuit?  (Copper - Aluminium joints are particularly bad).

[#12]

Telephone rang early this morning and has been working fine all day, things were looking up. Just tried it now, dead again! Nothing has changed I have had no contact from anybody concerning the issue, other than you can read above. 

Please will you fix my phone!

At least I know how to get it going now, I telephone myself using a mobile, this time I had to do it twice. There is a ring sound in the mobile phone but nothing happens on the house phone. If you lift the handset and replace (whilst telephone is "ringing"), the dial tone comes back and the phone starts to work again.

So I look forward to another weekend with a faulty phone line. Thank goodness we have a mobile and internet. They are shutting down the copper wires in a couple of years, now I look forward to it!

[#13]

Had a response from plusnet, complaining that I am mucking their system up which logs a new fault every time I click on the home phone troubleshooter wizard ("oops! something went wrong please call our contact centre"). In the meantime, my fault remains after three weeks of being told that it would be fixed within 72 hours. Phone went dead last night and remains dead today, perhaps it will be easier to fix if it stays broken. My previous method of getting it going, no longer works. All I know is that people are telephoning me and they hear ringing but I hear nothing.

[#14]

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@gregshaw wrote:

 All I know is that people are telephoning me and they hear ringing but I hear nothing.

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That's what one would expect if there's a lack of continuity 'twixt you and the exchange.

As you suggest, it'll be easier to find and fix if it remains permanent. Good luck.  🤞🏻

[#15]

Thanks @198kHz  for your message, we have been away over the weekend.

Before we left on Saturday the phone started working again when it rang, however when we got back late Sunday night it was dead. This morning my home telephone remains out of action. When it is not working, I can use the troubleshooter wizard online, which logs an "external fault" with a code number. Plusnet/openreach don't like this, but I don't like my phone not working. I feel it proves there is an ongoing problem and if they don't like it, get it fixed! I know it is difficult, but I tend to think it is the wiring between green box, telegraph pole and my home ( which has been the culprit on two previous occasions). So it would be nice to see an openreach van and an engineer physically appear by the green box to physically test it.