This topic

Trees and phone lines

mrtenpercent — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 10:53:39 GMT

The trees opposite my house were planted by the council some years ago, and to begin with they trimmed regularly. This has not been carried out for some years now and the trees are now considerably bigger and have started growing through the telephone lines. we have started to experience dropouts in signal which may be a result but they are definitely going to be a problem in the future. Who is responsible in this situation? The council or BT?

My view is it is the council but thet are unlikely to do anything because they are useless in most things, do BT have any clout in this situation?

Re: Trees and phone lines

imjolly — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:05:38 GMT

the council are responsible for cutting back the trees. the phone line are property of openreach no BT retail so it woyl be either council or openreach if you think safety problem. however if you have connection problems then you report problem to your ISP BT

Re: Trees and phone lines

mrtenpercent — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:53:50 GMT

That's pretty much what I thought, thanks for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, having planted the trees in the first place, the council now don't seem to want the responsibility.

Re: Trees and phone lines

chrisjp — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:34:48 GMT

Although trees growing around telephone lines may ultimately cause these lines to break, this would be a prolonged failure while the line was reconnected by Openreach.
I don't think trees can cause random dropouts in your signal and this is likely to be from some other cause. As has been said, if you're experiencing dropouts than you need to raise this as a fault with BT, your ISP.

Re: Trees and phone lines

36ULW — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:55:55 GMT

If the tree branch/trunk has worn through the sheeting then it’ll cause no end of issues, HR, Earth, None Metallic Loop, DIS. All of which will cause BB Drop Outs.

I used to work a rural patch as a CST doing SFI’s so dealt with this on a weekly basis.

Good Luck getting Council to do anything other than issue a Parker Ticket.

I’d report a fault, Openreach can cut and draw the cable and providing the Engineers clued up and gives a **** he or she will put Tree Guards on the new cable.

Re: Trees and phone lines

mrtenpercent — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 17:37:12 GMT

Thanks, no signs of breaking yet, but with winter coming it becomes a risk I guess..

Re: Trees and phone lines

mrtenpercent — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 17:38:57 GMT

Its been happening for some time now so possible that there is some damage.
Good to know about tree guards, I will follow your advice, thank you.

Re: Trees and phone lines

pddco — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:06:19 GMT

Have you got a landline? If yes, have you got Digital Voice ( Phone’s plugged into the hub)? If not and it’s the original analogue phone line, then you should be able to dial 17070 and select “Quiet Line Test” - think it’s option 2. And have a listen. Should be nice and quiet. If it’s not and sounds a bit crackly or buzzing, then you need to get it fixed. Best to try it after it’s rained a bit as it may make it worse. You could also try the ‘Ring Back Test’ as some line faults can cause “Ring Tone Trip”. Where, as soon as the exchange tries to ring your phone, it detects ( due to a faulty line condition) that your phone has answered the call. So your phone doesn’t ring.