Endless crackles on the telephone line after rain

[brickpots]

Every time it rains we get loud crackles on our land line to the point that the phone is un-useable. Discussion with my neighbours confirms they get the same problem. We have all reported this fault to BT numerous times but they have failed to sort the problem out. The last Openreach engineer I spoke to said that the whole copper infrastructure around us was in a terrible state and in need of a complete overhaul. This undoubtable is the cause of the problem. I reported the fault (yet again) to BT after our last rainy day. They ran their tests and said that there was no detectable fault and that it must be in side my own property.  We have fibre visibly installed up the telegraph poles but BT will not tell us when we will be connected to this.  Anyone out there got any suggestions as to how we can get BT to sort our phones out. We still pay all the line rentals but have a system that fails every time it rains. We have no mobile phone signal where we live so rely totally on our land lines. If we need the emergency services we would not be able to get hold of them if it has rained recently !!!! Thank you

[NeilO]

Hi @brickpots I'm very sorry about the reoccurring noisy line fault you're experiencing when it rains. We'll be happy to raise this with Openreach and I'll send you a private message so you can get in touch with the moderation team. 

Thanks 
Neil

[gspearson]

Do you have broadband?  That's usually the first thing to go when you have a noisy line.

[brickpots]

Nope - funnily enough the broadband works fine even when the crackles on the land line are so load that you can't use the phone at all. 

[gspearson]

@brickpots your wrote "Nope" - does that mean you do or do not have BT broadband?  Oddly you can receive broadband even if one wire is disconnected, albeit at a slow speed, whereas the phone needs both conductors.  Is your broadband at its normal speed (try fast.com)?

[brickpots]

We do have broadband and the speed is not affected when the phone line gets the crackles. The problem is the copper infrastructure which is ancient and in need of major overhaul according to the last Openreach engineer who I spoke to. Thankfully, one of the moderators on this forum has taken up the case and will be getting it sorted for us. We had another problem several months ago getting a new telephone line put in. BT/Openreach were a real pain and this dragged on for months but the moderators got it sorted for us so I am confident they will get this sorted as well.

[spec_d]

We also had the exact symptoms wihtout BB being affected for 10+ years without the fault being found even after switching to FTTC. It was cured when we switched to digital phone line on FTTH but still using the same phones.
The copper lines were 20 Y.O.

[PaddyB]

Hi @brickpots,

I wanted to drop you a quick post to update you on the fault.

Our supplier Openreach has identified a fault on the line they're actively working on it at the moment. They expect the fault to be cleared by Monday and I'll give you a call as soon as I have an update.

Thanks,

Paddy

[brickpots]

Great thanks.

I spoke to one of the Openreach engineers on Wednesday who had come round to look at the problem. He again confirmed the terrible state of the copper wire system that we all have to put up with and was scratching his head trying to think what could be done to fix the problem. He also spotted the fibre which is installed on the poles but to which we are not connected and was really puzzled as to why we had not been connected. He was really helpful and looked into it as far as he was able. He got back to me and confirmed that it had been installed in April 2020 and said that usually the fibre is fully commissioned within a year of it's installation. He was unable to say why we had not been connected though. Are you able to chase this for us at all? The solution to the problem is so obviously to connect us to the fibre!!

Many thanks

Aidan.