Trees fouling BT line

[#1]

I have followed the telephone line from my block of flats to the BT green box. It appears to go underground to the first pole and then between poles to the end of the road then underground to the nearby green box. The overground wires pass through several trees and in places the branches are touching the wires and even pulling them several feet from their original straight line between posts. Could this be causing the crackling on the line I am experiencing? If so, whose responsibility would it be to trim the branches? The trees are on the property of a private residence, a nursing home and in the grounds of an electrical substation.
The crackling I am experiencing on the voice line is also affecting my broadband connection - frequent intermittent disconnections. A BT engineer recently checked the wiring within my block of flats and fitted a NTE5 socket to replace the old LJU but this hasn't fixed the problem as I still get regular crackling on the line and regular broadband disconnections.
[Moderator's note by Thomas (Be3G): thread moved as requested.]

[#2]

It is very likely that the trees are the cause of crackling on the line (and an awful broadband service). It is up to your voice service provider (BT?) to eliminate the crackling during phone calls by taking action as they determine is appropriate. Pointing out the trees to the engineer is fine.
Assuming BT do provide your voice services ringing their faults line when the crackling noise is apparent is the best approach, ignore any automated line test offered, report the problem to a person and ask them if they can hear the noise and to record this. Do not mention its effect on broadband or even that you have broadband, since that can lead to being told its not their problem and you need to contact your ISP.

[#3]

There is also a possibility that the wires are picking up electrical interference as they are overhead/nearby/passing a sub-station....

[#4]

As I understand it, my provider is Plusnet (I pay my line rental and call charges to them as I am using Plusnet Home Phone). There is a ticket open on this problem open at the moment - 32060215 - with no response from the CS team since the BT engineer's visit last Thursday. Can someone from Plusnet pick this up please?

[#5]

you can add your findings to your ticket

[#6]

Already have, pierre_pierre. My original post is a synopsis of the ticket so far. I appreciate that not many Plusnet CS staff will be working on a Sunday but would like to get some feedback on what would be reasonable to expect from Plusnet and BT when it comes to the trees fouling the telephone line.
dick:quote

[#7]

Three BT engineer visits down and I'm still no nearer to having this resolved...
The first engineer agreed there was noise on the line, fitted a new NTE5 and found a wiring fault in the old GPO distribution box.
The second engineer agreed there was noise on the line, checked the line was clear from the green box to the exchange but didn't look at the GPO distribution box or the external wiring as it was dark outside.
The third engineer agreed there was noise on the line, repaired some bad corrosion in the GPO distribution box but did not look at the external wiring.
Despite these repairs there is still noise on the line and I suspect it is down to the wiring between the GPO distribution box and the green box. If the connections in the GPO box (inside the flats) were corroded, I con only imagine how bad they are in the boxes on the telegraph poles. This is probably compounded by the wires passing through trees as it goes down the road.
Please can someone at Plusnet pick this fault up again and push BT to investigate the external wiring?

[#8]

What I have put below is generic in relation to the cable through the trees, and does not account specifically for the work noted in your last message.
We can investigate external cabling faults in this way and report them as external BT network damage.
The one problem we have here is that there is a large assumption there is damage to the network. Admittedly, this type of problem and a cause such as this is common place, but the fault report type is designed for cases were there is clear damage.
Were we are reporting it as suspected damage, the report will be subject to the standard checks and caveats, such as charge risks if proven internally.

[#9]

Quote from: P

What I have put below is generic in relation to the cable through the trees, and does not account specifically for the work noted in your last message. We can investigate external cabling faults in this way and report them as external BT network damage. Where we are reporting it as suspected damage, the report will be subject to the standard checks and caveats, such as charge risks if proven internally.

Erm....?  the last bit looks a bit suspect ... "such as charge risks if proven internally."    as I think the trees are not an internal item.....i.e inside the customers property.... 

[#10]

Well, I've not identified any obvious damage to the wires - would have to wait until the weekend when I could look at them using binoculars during daylight as it is dark when I get home. Additionally, I can't examine the connections in the boxes at the top of the telegraph poles or the wires that are in the underground ducts. So, this leaves me in the position of having three BT engineers say that there is noise on the line and that the cause is on their equipment i,e. upstream of the NTE5, several attempted fixes but still having noise on the line. There is no way I would pay any charges for this being proven an internal problem as three BT engineers have said otherwise so far.
Has a BT engineer been booked to look into this or do I need to escalate the problem somehow?

[#11]

Hi there,
I've got one of our faults guys looking at this for you now.

[#12]

Thanks Mand,
The intermittent nature of this problem makes it particularly frustrating - just when you think it's fixed the crackling starts again!

[#13]

Just received a call from a BT engineer - he had been booked for an AM visit despite my having specified a PM visit. As he couldn't change the time of his visit the job was dropped. I've requested the earliest available afternoon (PM) appointment on my ticket but I'm worried this won't get picked up in time or the engineer will end up arriving after dark again...
Mand - please can you look at this for me?

[#14]

One of our faults guys will be picking this up shortly for you.

[#15]

Thanks Chris. Please make sure they take note of my alternative mobile number - my usual mobile's battery is about to die.