House Phone Issues

[Mr Speirs]

If anyone can help me I'd be grateful.

In my new gaff we have a phone line connected. When I pick up the phone I get a dial tone however I cannot dial out. Anything I press won't stop the dial tone and just continues with the dial tone until I get the lady saying please hang up.

I can recieve calls and talk but cannot dial out.

I have tried Disconnecting everything and another phone but still the same.
Rang BT they said the line is fine so Im inclined to think it's in my house that there is an issue.

I'm thinking of rewiring the main socket but can't really find any info about how they are supposed to be wired. And the colour coding seems to different to 'standard' BT colours.

My place is a bit weird. Where the phone line enters the house there is a proper old rectangle box which connects 2 lines from the cable into the internal cable then that goes to the master phone socket which isn't the standard BT one that has a 'test' socket.

Is it worth checking if the previous tennants had a bar on outgoing phone calls? Obv would only apply if you had taken over the same number.

[Spiderman]

I think you should watch out for black helicopters circling overhead and be prepared to have your door kicked in by M15 or 6, i always forget who does kind of thing.

They're coming to get you, run!

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

My place is a bit weird. Where the phone line enters the house there is a proper old rectangle box which connects 2 lines from the cable into the internal cable then that goes to the master phone socket which isn't the standard BT one that has a 'test' socket.

You have got old wiring. Get BT to come out and fit a proper master socket, especially if you going to get ADSL broadband on it, I think this is free as it is maintenance of old equipment - but I may be wrong. Get a faceplate with a built in filter (either BT's own or from ADSLNation) so all telephone equipment is isolated from your ADSL signal at source.

None of this should effect your ability to dial out, so check if outgoing calls are barred for the line - especially if you inherited the number from previous tenents.

[Mr Speirs]

I carried my previous number to my new address so it shouldn't have an outgoing calls bar on it should it?

After a bit more digging I have found that the rectangle box is there just to convert outside cable (which have dangerous things in) to internal cables (which doesn't) it then goes down to the old BT master box which I didn't realise was the master box. I opened that up to have a look the other day but I reckon theres summat wrong in there so am going to get BT out to it.

[TSM]

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

I carried my previous number to my new address so it shouldn't have an outgoing calls bar on it should it?

After a bit more digging I have found that the rectangle box is there just to convert outside cable (which have dangerous things in) to internal cables (which doesn't) it then goes down to the old BT master box which I didn't realise was the master box. I opened that up to have a look the other day but I reckon theres summat wrong in there so am going to get BT out to it.

No it does not, its just a junction box between the wires from outside to inside, dont worry about it and also BT dont just change them if its all working fine.

To rule out all problems with the wiring, take the first part of the BT Master Socket faceplate off, inside there should be one jack point, plug phone into there. As long as you get a dial tone there then its not the wiring in your house.

There are only 2 wires from the street to the socket, the main point of a BT Master Socket is..
1) to make it a demarcation point from BT to inside your house
2) test point to rule out internal wiring problems
3) has cap inside to then convert the ringing high voltage thats on the two wires to a 3rd wire called the "bell" wire.

The 3rd wire is hardly used anymore by modern phones as they dont need a "bell" wire to ring.

Now, assuming you have done all the above, is it possable that your phone is at fault?

Now check every possable thing before you get BT in as you will be charged if its your equipment fault.

Even if the line had a bar set on it then you would still be able to dial but get a error tone straight away, also a quick number to test that should still work is 17070

Originally Posted by TSM

No it does not, its just a junction box between the wires from outside to inside, dont worry about it and also BT dont just change them if its all working fine.

To rule out all problems with the wiring, take the first part of the BT Master Socket faceplate off, inside there should be one jack point, plug phone into there. As long as you get a dial tone there then its not the wiring in your house.

There are only 2 wires from the street to the socket, the main point of a BT Master Socket is..
1) to make it a demarcation point from BT to inside your house
2) test point to rule out internal wiring problems
3) has cap inside to then convert the ringing high voltage thats on the two wires to a 3rd wire called the "bell" wire.

The 3rd wire is hardly used anymore by modern phones as they dont need a "bell" wire to ring.

Now, assuming you have done all the above, is it possable that your phone is at fault?

Now check every possable thing before you get BT in as you will be charged if its your equipment fault.

Even if the line had a bar set on it then you would still be able to dial but get a error tone straight away, also a quick number to test that should still work is 17070

superb post..

had to do similar at my mums to check it wasnt the phone or line..

as they charge YOU £99 if it is an internal fault and not something they can fix from the box in the street or remotely..

This should be fairly easy to test. I doubt it is a problem with your wiring as you get a tone, but we can test this anyway. I'm not an expert, nor do I work for BT. Don't blame me if your girlfriend leaves you and the cat takings up smoking after doing the following.

At this point, you are only interested in the master socket and not an extension. This is the closest place to the BT network you can (legally) test your connection.

First test your phone, either by taking it somewhere else with a phone line, or borrowing a known good one from a friend/family.

Second thing unplug all telephone equipment from other extensions if you have them. You don't know what the previous owners have bodged into the houses telephone wiring. Once you have unplugged all other equiptment test the line. Not working, carry on then.

Now, if you have a new style BT master socket:


Unscrew the bottom half and remove the faceplate and GENTLY unplug it. Its ok to leave the wires hanging out. Don't completly remove it, otherwise you will need to get a punchdown tool to put it back. Don't worry about being electrocuted, you shouldn't be, unless you do something stupid like bite into the wires.



Now you have a socket on the wall that was under the faceplate. Plug your known working phone into this and test.

If it works, then its either a problem with the face plate or a problem with the extension wiring (but I wouldn't have thought that would affect the master unless its seriously screwed up).

If it doesn't work, then it is BT's problem, as you can do no more call them and tell them you have tested from the master socket.

If you have an older master socket then technically it's property of BT and illigal to remove and replace (the same as removing the rear of the new one). So you can either call them and get them to replace it with a new one and fix the fault, or buy a new master socket and replace it and test it again (at your own risk).

The steps above are easy enough for anyone to do with very little risk to screwing anything else up, unless an extension cable falls out, but you can poke that back in and off you go.

If you remove the main plate from the wall, if you don't know what your doing or have a reference then all you have is a bunch of wires and some holes, then you will have to call BT.

Dan

[Mr Speirs]

Originally Posted by TSM

To rule out all problems with the wiring, take the first part of the BT Master Socket faceplate off, inside there should be one jack point, plug phone into there. As long as you get a dial tone there then its not the wiring in your house.

I have the old style master socket without the test socket so cannot check that.

Now, assuming you have done all the above, is it possable that your phone is at fault?

I am sure my phone is fine, the previous owner had the same issues so in total 3 different phones have been used on the line.

Now check every possable thing before you get BT in as you will be charged if its your equipment fault.

After having a look last night I have a sneaking suspision the previous owner has had the master socket off and had a 'play' as one of the push down connectors has a crack in it and is slightly bent. All the connections to the board look okay but it would lead me to think it need replacing and maybe the cause. Would BT charge me if they discovered the master socket was at fault but accused me of tampering with it?

Even if the line had a bar set on it then you would still be able to dial but get a error tone straight away, also a quick number to test that should still work is 17070

Will try that 17070 thingy. If it doesn't work and doesn't register the number and carries on with the dialling tone what does that mean?

Cheers

[Mr Speirs]

Cheers Sudoxe. I have the old style socket from 1983 (apparently) so don't have a test socket.