Noisy line

[darthpaul6]

Hi all, I'm trying to help out someone with a noisy line. It's crackly as hell and makes speaking on the phone and using the internet impossible. Back in March I swapped out the NTE5 faceplate on the off-chance the fault was there. Everything was fine for six months. Now the problem's returned. I figured another faceplate had failed but looking around, it seems this is rare. I bought another anyway, but the problem seems even worse with the new one. This is not an extension; it's the main entry point for the BT wiring. There are no further extensions. I've tried using the test socket and all works perfectly. So if the problem doesn't lie with the NTE5 faceplates (and two faulty seems unlikely), does that leave the incoming wiring (White/blue, Orange/White, White/Blue) as the issue? Where does that wiring originate and does it constitute the owner's property (and thus her problem) or OpenReach's? Thanks in advance.

[iniltous]

If the line isn't noisy with the phone plugged into the test socket , then there cannot be anything wrong with the line, by plugging into the test socket you effectively connect straight to the cable pair to the exchange, the detachable consumer panel is just a male/female plug &socket arrangement that allows easy disconnection of extension wiring /sockets....if there are no extensions, there should be no wiring connected to the detachable consumer panel....presumably you could leave the equipment in the test socket. If the noise only appears when you reassemble the socket ( plug in the consumer panel ) it would suggest the panel is defective, if it's an ordinary panel there are no active components ( so nothing to go wrong) if it's an interstitial panel then the filter broadband filter components are built into the panel.

[XRaySpeX]

Which NTE5 faceplate is it? Is it the simple NTE5A with just the single phone socket at the front & they need to use a dangly filter to connect the router?

If it is a more complicated 1 it might be safer to go back to the simple 1.

[darthpaul6]

Hi both, Thanks for replying. Yes, it's a NTE5A that you have to plug a filter into. I assume the other is what iniltous calls an interstitial panel? My understanding was that if all works on the test panel the problem has to be with the consumer panel; but the supplier of the last two replacements takes issue with this, suggesting damp has caused corrosion in the wires. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if this is feasible, but that doesn't explain why it worked for six months and then failed again. Surely corrosion is corrosion? As for the presence of extension wires, I've been wondering about that myself as I poke around what it should look like. I know there are no other phones in the house (I can't say for sure there are no other extension boxes), so why does it have the extension wiring? Here's a (quite blurry) photo of the set up with the consumer panel off https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7ufORcK1QTIZ3cwVHpHVk5VZE9DcE96M2hsd3hqQ3ZJYk9n/view?usp=sharing Sorry for the poor quality, and thanks again for your help.

[XRaySpeX]

There must be an extension socket somewhere in the house as you have wires coming out the back of the faceplate. You need to track it down. It could well be causing the issue that the QLT is noisy with the faceplate on but quiet when connected straight to internal test socket.

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@darthpaul6 wrote:
does that leave the incoming wiring (White/blue, Orange/White, White/Blue) as the issue? Where does that wiring originate and does it constitute the owner's property (and thus her problem)

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Yes, that is the issue! Where indeed? It is owner's property & problem as it is outside BT's test socket.

[darthpaul6]

Thanks, XRaySpeX. I only have intermittent access to the property so it may take a while to track this down, but I'll give it a go. Not an engineer (can you guess?) so will tread carefully and report back anon!

[iniltous]

There is a cable visible to an extension socket, even if you don't know the location of the socket itself..a fault could exist on the extension wiring ( the wiring to the socket is more likely to develop a fault than the extension socket itself, ) or if someone removed a socket and didn't take care to isolate the individual wires from each other, the wires could be in contact with each other. If you don't need any extensions, you could just remove the wiring from the detachable panel, then when you reassemble the socket you will get the same performance from the panel as the test socket.

[darthpaul6]

Thanks iniltous; I was wondering if that's feasible. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

[DavidM]

Hi @darthpaul6,

Did you manage to get this sorted? Can you let us know how you're getting on?

Cheers

David

[darthpaul6]

Not yet, DavidM. I only have intermittent access to the property so it may be a few weeks before I can take a look again. Will keep you posted when I do.