Landline Fault

[#1]

Re: Questions: #228755933, #229008992, #229151296

Hi. I’m having ongoing issues with my father’s phone line (with Plusnet).

The issue is noise on outbound calls. About 50% of outbound calls are affected. Hanging up and redialling 2, 3 or 4 times usually resolves the issue, until the next call. The noise can only be heard at my father’s end (never by the recipient). Inbound calls are never affected.

Have disconnected the extension wiring and plugged his phone into the test socket, without his router being connected. Fault just the same.

ADSL broadband is fine.

Not having any luck with getting this issue resolved. Openreach engineers have been at his house at least 3 times and acknowledge there is an issue, at their end. Openreach engineers have also phoned him various times from the exchange. However, Plusnet’s suppliers (who I assume must be Openreach) repeatedly notify Plusnet that the issue is resolved and the tickets just get closed.

This has been ongoing since 30th October. The 3 tickets raised (for the one fault) are at the top of this post.

Can anyone from Plusnet help?

Thanks in advance

[#2]

Has he tried a new phone, or the old trick of giving the mic a sharp tap on the table or similar?

[#3]

@Mustrum 

Yes, bought a new phone before reporting the fault. Experienced exactly the same fault with the old phone, that's why we replaced it.

Openreach engineers have all said to us the issue is with their equipment, but Openreach keep advising Plusnet that the fault is resolved.

Openreach also advised Plusnet that the router was faulty, so Plusnet posted another one. Didn't solve the problem either.

[#4]

Noise on lines, especially intermittent noise can be hard to locate and eliminate.  Generally, such noise (if not caused by the handset) arises from poor (damp) joints.  Sometimes the act of using the phone (making or receiving) calls can rectify the issue for a short while.  Thus, BTOR engineers running tests (which they need to do to locate the fault) ... could eliminate the fault.

Usually, the way issues such as this get fixed is by Plusnet requesting a full d-side swap or asking for every joint on the d-side to be remade.

Personally, I would double check the line noise with a different handset.

[#5]

@Townman 

You posted the same time as I made my last post.

Have tried a new handset.

The phone line has been like this every day. The noise doesn't start once a call is under way. It is there from the start of the call, or not at all. Hanging up and redialling causes the fault to appear or disappear. The fault is very repeatable, so have had no problem with demonstrating it to the Openreach engineers.

The engineers never claim to have fixed the fault, they make a point of saying that it's still there and that they need to pass it on elsewhere.

[#6 · Accepted solution]

To summarise the relevant points:

The issue is noise on outbound calls

About 50% of outbound calls are affected

The noise can only be heard at my father’s end (never by the recipient)

Inbound calls are never affected

The noise doesn't start once a call is under way. It is there from the start of the call, or not at all

Hanging up and redialling causes the fault to appear or disappear

The fault is very repeatable

Openreach engineers have been at his house at least 3 times and acknowledge there is an issue, at their end

The engineers never claim to have fixed the fault, they make a point of saying that it's still there and that they need to pass it on elsewhere

Plainly a unidirectional noisy audio fault in the exchange.

[#7]

@198kHz 

The summary is all correct.

I should add that the dialling tone is never affected by noise, it is only when the call connects that you get the noise.

You get the noise when you hear the recipients ringing tone, or when they speak. There is no noise in the gaps of the ringing tone or in the gaps between speech.

Also, I’ve never managed to get the noise when dialling 1471.

@Townman

I don’t know what a “full d-side swap” is, but due to the above, I wouldn’t have thought that there’s a fault in the (very short) line between the exchange and the house.

Thanks everyone for your input.

[#8]

@Schiehallion 

Thanks for the further observations, which confirm the initial diagnosis, and suggest that maybe this is distortion rather than noise?

[#9]

---

@Schiehallion wrote:

I don’t know what a “full d-side swap” is, but due to the above, I wouldn’t have thought that there’s a fault in the (very short) line between the exchange and the house.

Thanks everyone for your input.

---

Your telephone circuit has two parts: home to local green cabinet (d-side) is a collection of numerous pair cables with a lot of joints open to the atmosphere; green cabinet to the exchange (e-side) is a fat cable (often pressurised) with sealed joints.

The vast majority of faults occur in the d-side part of the circuit.  These faults sometimes self-correct (for an interval) by the application of test conditions or the presence of ring current / voltage on the line.  The d-side joints are not always watertight so wetness / dampness can cause corrosion leading to intermittent noise.  If engineers cannot find (all) the culprit(s) then a d-side swap can be requested to eliminate the suspect circuit.

However, from @198kHz 's additional comments it might be an issue in the exchange, rather than the line.

[#10]

@Townman @198kHz 

Thank you for your responses.

Plusnet phoned me today. Onother Openreach appointment has been arranged for Thursday AM.

Plusnet are saying that although the Openreach engineers are telling us there is a fault, Openreach keep telling Plusnet that it is fixed.

When I was driving in my dad's street today, there was a Kelly's man (Openreach contractor) at a BT manhole. Might be a coincidence, but I doubt it.

I will say that all the Plusnet staff have been very good on the phone and I've not had to wait in a queue to speak to anyone.

[#11]

It might be helpful to describe the problem as distortion and ask if it could be an in exchange issue.

[#12]

@Townman 

Thanks for the suggestion. I have added the following to the support ticket.

"I have been posting on the Plusnet forum about this issue here:
https://community.plus.net/t5/Home-Phone/Landline-Fault/td-p/1898367

There is a comment from 2 of the members (one is a Superuser the other is a retired BT Technician) that it sounds like distortion at the exchange.

Perhaps someone could look through the thread on the forum and amend the fault description to Openreach, if felt appropriate."

I'll keep my fingers crossed, as I don't see that sending another engineer to the house is going to achieve anything.

[#13]

I would leave the fault call as it is and have that discussion with the attendant engineer.

[#14]

@Townman

Now that I've added the note to the ticket, I'll leave it as it is.

Am hoping that one of the Plusnet staff can help here. Don't know who to tag to get them involved. Anyone know who to tag?

[#15]

Tagging is not being responded to at the moment. Coverage is under discussion…