Landline Issue

[152bobby]

Hi,

I have a BT Duet 210 plugged into the master Openreach BT socket (the one that has two sockets, one at the top half and one in the bottom half), the only socket in my house.  The BT router is plugged into the top socket and the BT Duet phone is plugged into bottom socket. This phone is purely for emergency back up and is never really used.  I got this cheap model because I can turn the ringer off, but it has a flashing light when a call comes through.  I NEVER answer it because it's always scammers.

Anyway, in the last couple of days, we noticed that the light flashes when a call comes in, but when picked up, the phone is completely dead.  No dial tone whatsoever.

Everything that is plugged into the BT router is  working fine, broadband, Sky etc.

I have a brand new boxed BT Duet 210, which I have also tried, so it's not the actual phone.

My set up has not changed and this has happened.

Any ideas please ?

[imjolly]

do you get a dial tone?  have you tried using test socket to see if you have a dial tone?

has the broadband speed reduced as it is possible for broadband to work with 1 of the 2 wires connected but phone will not

test socket shown by black arrow  you need to remove middle section shown by yellow arrow first

have you been moved to Digital voice?

[152bobby]

No dial tone at all, bit something is getting to the phone, because when I ring it, the red light on the phone flashes, but as I said earlier, the phone is otherwise dead.

My broadband speed using the Speedtest app is good as it always has been.

I'll see if I can try the test socket suggestion and see what happens.

However, unless BT can fix this remotely, it will have to be a engineer visit and I can also ask about the Digital Voice thing you mentioned 

.thanks

[Keith_Beddoe]

@152bobby 

Its most likely a faulty exchange line card  port which is not providing any loop voltage but still providing ringing current. The equipment is very old, and the relays go faulty.

It would need someone in the exchange to move your line to a different port or card. Its very straightforward as it a very common problem.

The age and reliability of the exchange equipment is one of the main driving forces for the change to Digital Voice. The main disadvantage is that you lose phone service if there is a power cut, unless you have some form of battery backup.

You do need to check at the test socket, just in case its a fault within your master socket.

[152bobby]

Thanks.  I got BT to run a  check and they found a fault (CE-DIS), whatever that means .

They have a engineer scheduled to come out by no later than 22nd December !! Luckily everything else is working except the actual socket the phone is plugged into and as mentioned, it's a emergency back up, so no real rush.

Thanks for everyone's input.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@152bobby wrote:

Thanks.  I got BT to run a  check and they found a fault (CE-DIS), whatever that means .

They have a engineer scheduled to come out by no later than 22nd December !! Luckily everything else is working except the actual socket the phone is plugged into and as mentioned, it's a emergency back up, so no real rush.

Thanks for everyone's input.

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Possibly (CE-DIS)   Customer Exchange Side Disconnected. 

I think the other type would be (CL-DIS) Customer Line Side Disconnected.

Its a very long time ago since I worked on this stuff.