cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

sianbarrett
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎08-12-2015

Re: Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

Quote from: pwatson
I'm assuming that you are on the 01728 exchange?
It looks to me that the calls could well be the fault on your line causing this - Intermittent breaks and makes being interpreted as pulse dialling.  Most of the numbers dialled consist on 1, 2 and 3 with the odd sprinkling of higher numbers.  You can ignore the 01728 as that doesn't need to be dialled.  The calls to 123 are caused by this as well so you can rule out 'engineer action'

Hi there, thank for your message. I included the links relating to the improper tested methods because that's the answer that Which?, the Telegraph and the vast majority of anecdotal advisors suggest, but at the end of the day, if the problem is "on my line" and not "in my house", then the specific nature of the problem is Plusnet's concern, not mine.
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
Thanks: 1,588
Fixes: 565
Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

dick:green Topics merged and duplicate post removed.
Windows 10 Firefox 109.0 (64-bit)
To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead - Thomas Paine
sianbarrett
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎08-12-2015

Re: Mystery 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local calls

Quote from: pvmb
Do you recognise the 01728... numbers?

Hello,
No, as I said, there are a very small number of people in Suffolk whose landline phone number I know, and non of them appear in the list.
198kHz
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 5,750
Thanks: 2,807
Fixes: 41
Registered: ‎30-07-2008

Re: Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

Some years ago I had a similar case, where phantom calls were being made to 123, and various local numbers with 'low' digits.
After much head scratching and swapping of equipment, it turned out to be a BT Caller Display 50.
Murphy was an optimist
Zen SOGEA 40/10 + Digital Voice   FRITZ!Box 7530
BT technician (Retired)
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 23,490
Thanks: 9,880
Fixes: 165
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Missing post regarding mystery calls to the speaking clock

Abuse of 123 by errant network engineers is legion on PlusNet forums...
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,103434.0.html
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,112950.0.html
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=145172.msg1281024
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,137143.0.html/
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=139878.msg1236124
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=118069.0
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=146587.msg1290870
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=117551.16
And elsewhere...
http://conversation.which.co.uk/technology/timeline-123-speaking-clock-call-charges-phone-bill/
https://community.bt.com/t5/Phones/Mysterious-timeline-123-calls/td-p/748768
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bt-engineers-ring-speaking-clock-5748745
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/11/phantom-calls-to-the-123-speaking-clock-on-bt-openreach...
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/03/mysterious-case-bts-borrowed-copper-broadband-lines.htm...
https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100117105510AACQnWN
It seems that engineers have the bad habit of using 123 to test subscriber's lines in spite of repeatedly being instructed to not to.  BTOR / BTw generate the basic charging information for calls and pass that data to Communication Providers.  They in turn bill customers for the reported calls.  A CP does not make up the bills themselves - they simply apply their margin to the BT reported data.  These phantom 123 calls are the consequence of mal-practice by BTOR engineers or their sub contractors.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

HPsauce
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 7,138
Thanks: 238
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎02-02-2008

Re: Missing post regarding mystery calls to the speaking clock

This really DOESN'T look like 123 abuse - see my (and others) post above.
It looks like something generating random numbers, some of which are valid.
Pulses on the line or faulty equipment would seem likely.
jafreer
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 858
Thanks: 41
Registered: ‎13-10-2012

Re: Missing post regarding mystery calls to the speaking clock

Quote from: HPsauce
Pulses on the line or faulty equipment would seem likely.

Just on that note, many years ago I had a phone that developed a fault where it would randomly go on and off hook. Even though it was a DTMF (tone) phone, these pulses are essentially dialing the same way as the old rotary phones. One day the police appeared thumping at the door saying a 999 call had been made from this location. I assured them it hadn't, and they assured me it had. Anyway, much investigation later that's when I realised the phone had developed this fault.
The phone had actually dialed 112 which is an alternative emergency number. The emergency services, at that time at least, could not distinguish whether 999 or 112 had been dialed. When the call is made, the line is held open, and of course all they heard was silence and assumed the worse.
If you have faulty equipment of that nature, lower digit numbers are far more likely to be called randomly, with 123 being a good candidate.
I am not saying all the issues reported are due to faulty equipment, but it is definitely a distinct possibility.
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 29,701
Thanks: 6,588
Fixes: 1,485
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

.
Customer / Moderator
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 29,701
Thanks: 6,588
Fixes: 1,485
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

mod:note
some posts moved in from feedback thread.
Customer / Moderator
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
sjwk
Hooked
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎15-12-2015

Re: Missing post regarding mystery calls to the speaking clock

Quote from: jafreer
Quote from: HPsauce
Pulses on the line or faulty equipment would seem likely.

Just on that note, many years ago I had a phone that developed a fault where it would randomly go on and off hook. Even though it was a DTMF (tone) phone, these pulses are essentially dialing the same way as the old rotary phones. One day the police appeared thumping at the door saying a 999 call had been made from this location. I assured them it hadn't, and they assured me it had. Anyway, much investigation later that's when I realised the phone had developed this fault.

Pulses on the line most likely as has been noted, especially given you'd reported crackles.  Quite possibly water getting into either the junction box where the cable attaches to the house, or in the cabinet on the street at a guess given the weather lately?
Best way to test if it's a faulty line or faulty phone though is disconnect the phone and see if it continues trying to make calls even with no phone connected.  If it does, proves its a line fault outside your equipment.
sianbarrett
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Registered: ‎08-12-2015

Re: Mystery calls to 123 ("speaking clock" or "timeline") and unknown local numbers

Both of the handsets have been in a drawer, unplugged from the phone line and the mains, with no batteries in since before Christmas, during which time four more calls of less than a minute - two to 123 - have been made.