Phone rings twice and then nothing

[#1]

I tried to ring my landline with my mobile. First time the mobile phone gave two rings(but not the landline phone) and then i got number unobtainable.

2nd time my cordless phone rang twice but the corded phone did nothing and i got unobtainable again.
Third time was the same as the first but fourth time the corded phone rang but not the cordless .
Fifth time corded phone rang , cordless didn't , so l left it running hoping voicemail would kick in. Unfortunately it did not get that far as once i got the unobtainable sound. 
Then i got my wife to ring me, with mixed results .Once she got through but the second time she wants able to leave a message as let it ring.
The fault is intermittent but I do not know whether it is the landline or the corded/ cordless phones themselves.
Any ideas? thanks

[#2]

First thing that came to mind is "ring trip", whereby low insulation or a rectified loop line fault will prematurely "answer" the call.

But, that wouldn't account for the NU tone being received by the caller.

If you have a master socket with removable faceplate, plug a corded phone into the engineering test socket and repeat your tests. If it fails, then you can safely report the problem to whomsoever you pay line rental to, in the knowledge that the problem is outwith your premises.

My money would be on an exchange fault.

[#3 · Accepted solution]

Hi @donmaico6, sorry to hear you're experiencing problems with your phone line.

I've tested the line and a potential external problem is flagging up and it currently suggests that an engineer may not need access to the premises to resolve the issue. As such, I've raised this with our suppliers to investigate further and we'll provide updates via your account regarding the progress of this.

I do apologise for any inconvenience in the meantime. Thanks for your patience.

[#4]

many thanks

[#5]

No problem @donmaico6, let us know if there's anything else we can help with.

[#6]

the problem seems to have been resolved so thank you once again

[#7]

Glad to hear that's been resolved pretty quickly. Thanks for letting us know.

[#8]

@HarryB 

What was the clear, please?

[#9]

I've just checked the fault report (Admittedly I forgot to do this earlier) and it's actually in a state of Past Point of No Return which indicates our suppliers may still be working on it currently. Hopefully they don't undo whatever they've done so far which resulted in a fix, or it may just be that they've finished and we've not received the update with the clear message on it.

Having said this, often the clear just comes through advising they believe they've cleared the issue.

The initial test fail was: Fault located between DP and customer apparatus (no appointment required)

[#10]

I was out this afternoon and when i returned i saw an engineer working up a ladder outside my house .He  was attaching what looked like some sort of  box (I can't remember what he called it) to connect the cable running down from the pole outside and the cable running into my house. Then he ran some tests and all seemed ok at that point but then decided to check my master socket indoors well. He changed that for a more up to date one but suggested they might be flaws with the number of extensions i have several of which never get used.

The outside cable does not connect directly to the master socket instead it goes to a socket near my from door and from there i have 6 extensions from which only 3 are used .He opened that box and said it was right spaghetti junction  tiny cables and suggested that if i have further problems to consider having the wiring redone so that main cable goes straight to the master box and from there run two cables to the extensions i do use. He also suggested I    just have three cordless phones which seemed odd because it has been suggested to me in the past that every house house should have a corded phone in case of fires.

Anyway after he had gone i noticed the phone was dead so I poked around with the cable going into the master box and now it seems to be ok

[#11]

Glad to hear all seems OK again now.

It's always worth keeping a corded phone around for testing purposes, however I've used cordless phones (One upstairs and one downstairs) for quite some time.

If you do start experiencing problems in future and suspect it's due to the internal wiring/extensions, the advice from the engineer sounds good and would be worth exploring as the appointment could become chargeable if an engineer was sent out and found the problem to be the extensions/internal cabling. They may then just disconnect all extensions at this point to resolve the fault, which sounds like it would be less than ideal for you and would leave you in a position where you may need to arrange for the extensions to be re-done/re-wired anyway.

FYI, the clear message that has come back is: Block Terminals, Line jack Unit / Protector.

[#12]

He didn't mention anything about it being chargeable which is something I would have thought he would have done had he thought that would be the case.Anyway it will be whatever it will be, he was a very obliging fellow nonetheless .In hindsight one thing that did bother me slightly is that he was not wearing any clothing I would associate with Open Reach nor did he have card attached to him suggesting he was employed by them. I guess he could be a subcontractor but one cant to be too wary these days given all the stories one reads about security breaches and having changed the master socket without asking me first I lay at night wondering if he might have planted a bug in it. Fertile imagination and all that, my wife just laughed.

Anyway all seems ok at this moment but if I have further problems I will  ask for en estimate re the rewiring he suggested 

Thanks

[#13]

Let us know how things go please

[#14]

so far it is ok thanks

[#15]

He didn't mention anything about it being chargeable

On this occasion it seems that he found enough faults outside to not have cause for believing that your internal wiring was a significant factor.  Updating the NTE (having gained access) was a good to be sure act.

What does concern me is that from the description you have given, the multiple extensions are wired star fashion from the before-the-master-socket junction box.  Star wiring of extensions (used or not) can be very detrimental to go broadband performance.  Further in that configuration, removing the master socket face plate and using the test socket does not achieve its intended aim - isolating the BT line from your internal wiring.

Ideally your internal extensions should be wired as a daisy chain, connected to the back of the master socket face plate.