People complaining about a terrible noise on my phone when they call me or I call them.

[#1]

As this thread is slowly turning from farce to tragedy, perhaps a recap of the salient points would be in order.

First, it should be noted that the noise is not the usual scratchy or crackling variety, but "a really loud noise" which makes conversation impossible - the other person can't even hear Katie. And yet, she can hear the other person perfectly well, with no noise at all.

This on its own would suggest that it's not a line or customer equipment fault. Confirmation of that comes when Katie explains that callers can hear the noise before the call is answered. At that stage, nothing about Katie's line or phone can possibly have any affect on what the caller is hearing.

As plain as the proverbial pikestaff, then, there is a problem in the digital network, where transmission is clear in one direction and extremely noisy in the other.

After six weeks, what progress has been made?  None at all, it would seem.

Plusnet want Katie to faff around with the test socket, which will achieve absolutely nothing. She has also gone to the expense of buying two new corded phones - totally unnecessarily.

Unless some progress is made PDQ, in Katie's position I would be seriously considering raising an official complaint under Plusnet's Complaints Code of Practice. Or casting around for an ISP that has a clue about telephony.

On reflection - probably both.

[#2]

Honestly, I'm unsure as to what you're asking of us. The option we have to progress a fault where a line identifies no fault, is to book an engineer appointment to investigate further.

I don't believe by raising a complaint online will change that I'm afraid.

[#3]

As I posted earlier, I think PN has a limited number of tools it can use regarding openreach faults.

Katie, I feel for you, we put up with the intermittent annoyance for nearly a year, and after every few occurances I re-checked the wiring, phones, cables, resistances (I have some experience of electrics/electronics/computers, engineering and fault-finding) without ever being able to find any internal faults.

Eventually, (my wife's) patience ran out and we booked an engineer, who found no fault. When the charge was levied, MY patience ran out, and I decided to sort it once and for all.

Hence the evidence collecting.

To be fair to PN customer services, Anoush (and others) did what they could, but I think their hands are pretty much tied by Openreach. Unless you get an engineer who will take the trouble and responsibility for your problem in the face of 'no faults found' on their proscribed battery of tests, you're likely to be charged, and still have the fault.

As 198Khz says, all the evidence points to an exchange/network fault, it doesn't matter if PN believes you or not, if OR don't find the fault on visiting - tough luck.

Alastair

[#4]

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@Gandalf wrote:

Honestly, I'm unsure as to what you're asking of us. The option we have to progress a fault where a line identifies no fault, is to book an engineer appointment to investigate further.

I don't believe by raising a complaint online will change that I'm afraid.

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I'm asking that someone, somewhere, in Plusnet, does whatever it takes to clear the fault for the customer, who is paying line rental to you. I have amply demonstrated that the fault is in the digital network - nothing else explains the symptoms as reported. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call BT TSO and give them the details. Or, since BTOR is your sole supplier, ask them to make the call. Five minutes at the outside - job done.

But no, it seems that you're hidebound into having only one option - to book an engineer appointment. Most likely s/he'll be tasked with "noisy line". S/he will test the line, and find no fault. Openreach will charge Plusnet, and Plusnet will charge the customer. Oh, and of course, the fault will still exist.

Still, never mind, everyone's happy, as all the boxes have been ticked, and all due process followed. Except the customer, who is still paying rental for an inferior service. Even Kafka couldn't make this up!

If you really are, despite the futility, going to follow this pointless process, there's surely no reason to delay any more. Obviously the customer experienced the fault with her original phone, and in Message 27 of this thread she reported that it happened with a new corded phone while plugged into the test socket.

The reason I mentioned raising a complaint is that reading through this thread, it seems to me that the customer has been badly let down, for six weeks, and that it's the most likely way that the problem can be escalated to someone in Plusnet who is senior enough to go beyond the "book an engineer appointment" mantra.

[#5]

@198kHz I doubt PN have a direct interface with TSO, and their supplier is BTW, not Openreach, otherwise I agree in your logic. It is likely to be a faulty port somewhere in the Switch, and the OP seems to be unlucky or other users on the same exchange have not reported a fault, as it should have been spotted by TSO by now.

PN's only option is to get an engineer involved, and if they get a decent one they will let TSO know and get the problems sorted - alas if they don't get a decent one, the likelihood will be that no fault is found and the OP could face a £65 charge.

Perhaps one of the helpful and more knowledgeable staff could intervene @Chris @HarryB  

[#6]

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All you have to do is pick up the phone and call BT TSO and give them the details. Or, since BTOR is your sole supplier, ask them to make the call. Five minutes at the outside - job done.

It doesn't really work like that I'm afraid. We aren't able to contact Openreach CMC to initially raise faults. In fact, in most cases they won't assist us unless a fault is raised first. We contact them for fault updates etc.

But no, it seems that you're hidebound into having only one option - to book an engineer appointment. Most likely s/he'll be tasked with "noisy line". S/he will test the line, and find no fault. Openreach will charge Plusnet, and Plusnet will charge the customer. Oh, and of course, the fault will still exist.

An engineer visit doesn't necessarily mean that the engineer will investigate just internal equipment, sign it off as no fault found and a charge applied. They should investigate the fault, which means externally too.

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Still, never mind, everyone's happy, as all the boxes have been ticked, and all due process followed.

I'm not afraid to go outside of normal process, I've done it before and I'll be happy to do it again. However, in the instance of raising a phone fault to Openreach, the only option we're given if no issues are identified, is to book an engineer visit.

Appreciate the frustration caused by this, but unfortunately it's something we're unable to bend.

@Mustrum wrote:

I doubt PN have a direct interface with TSO, and their supplier is BTW, not Openreach

 For the phone side of things, we report faults directly to Openreach. BTW are our broadband supplier.

If you really are, despite the futility, going to follow this pointless process, there's surely no reason to delay any more. Obviously the customer experienced the fault with her original phone, and in Message 27 of this thread she reported that it happened with a new corded phone while plugged into the test socket.

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If @Katie222 would like to proceed with an engineer visit, they just have to let us know by replying to the open ticket on their account.

[#7]

Result-  have now been able to reply to my ticket asking for an engineer visit. I have made numerous calls from my mobile to my house phone today until I got the noisy line and made a video of me dialling and answering to hear just noise on the mobile and no possible conversation. I waited a while and after lunch I went up to the office, plugged in the new corded phone to the test socket and kept ringing from my mobile - took ages and a few goes but I eventually got the wierd ring tone. I now also have a video of me ringing the home number, the mobile hearing the wierd ring tone and a load of noise from my mobile when I answered and spoke into the home phone which was in the test socket. No noise in the home phone - just in the mobile.

Thank you everyone for your patience and support. I now need to convince the engineer when he arrives to do his/her tests.

Katie

[#8]

Well done! I just hope the engineer you get will take the responsibility to fully investigate and fix. Don't delete the recordings until you're sure it's fixed. If (as it seems) you have one with noise on the ringtone, that's pretty conclusive proof it's the network/switching.

The only possible downside is the engineer could claim the problem was in the mobile network rather than the BT circuitry, impress upon him/her that it happens 'landline to landline'.

It took me about 7 attempts to get a good video, but was worth the effort, as 14 days on (touching wood), no further instances.

Explain to the engineer the whole sorry tale, and with luck you'll get it sorted.

Good luck - Alastair

[#9]

Hi Katie,

I've updated your ticket.

Let us know on here once you reply and we'll get the engineer booked in for you.

[#10]

Hi Gandalf - I have replied to the message. Thank You.

Katie

[#11]

Thanks Katie,

The engineer's booked in for you now - Thursday AM.

[#12]

Thank you Gandalf. Fingers crossed that they will ID the fault and be able to get it fixed.

Katie

[#13]

@Gandalf   Thanks for the clarification.  

I still can't quite believe that an ISP who are aware of a network fault, which is no doubt affecting a number of phone users who are with various providers, is required by regulation to keep it a secret.

Rather than add any more to this long thread, I have opened a topic in Feedback.

[#14]

OR guy rang at 8.50 to say he was on the way & arrived around 9am - I explained what had been happening and showed him the videos of the noise when I rang the house from my mobile and again when I rang the corded phone in the test socket. He did his tests, confirmed that there was no problem with our equipment/line and that he would get it fixed at the exchange. He want away saying he'd be about 30 mins then would ring to check the line. He rang back and said that the line was clear and that he'd call back for a signature, which he did. I asked what I should do if the problem wasn't solved and he said to get in touch with the provider again and they would probably check the line from cabinet to exchange (I think that is what he said). He said that all the info was logged and if he or another person had to return, they have all got access to the info. He said that intermittent noise is very hard to sort out. He asked me if my line was working when he left - yes and then asked me to grade the service I had got today which was very good. He had listened to me, accepted what I said, did the line tests to check our line then went to fix it.

Katie

[#15]

Thanks for the detailed post Katie, fingers crossed that the issue is now resolved and doesn't reappear. I'll pass the fault ticket back to you, it'll stay open for 14 days before automatically closing off to allow you to monitor the line.