Weird land line problem.

[IanWH]

We have a really weird fault. We have had three visits from Openreach engineers who in spite of several “fixes” have been unable to identify the problem.
Our cordless phone will not work in our house although it works fine in both our neighbours houses. It has been identified as having a ring trip fault.

The engineers have tested the line to the master socket and say all is fine. There are no wired extensions.

The odd thing is, a cheap corded phone works fine.

The engineers have just put it down to “something between our house and the exchange doesn’t like our BT 8600 system”

Having worked as an engineer myself I am as bewildered as the Openreach engineers.

Any ideas?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@IanWH 

Who provides your phone service?

[IanWH]

BT. The system worked fine until 2nd January when the fault became evident.

[Devon_Dave]

I have come across this before and it was cured by reversing the pair of wires that come into your main socket. 

Maybe worth trying if you feel confident enough. 

[IanWH]

Hi Dave, thanks for your prompt reply. I have tried this with no effect. I am quite happy to “fiddle about” having been a comms engineer in the past (although RS232 was the standard then) but still have some of the theory and tools.

[iniltous · Accepted solution]

If the Openreach engineers have given the cable pair a clean bill of health ( no partial short, battery, earth type issues ) have they moved you onto a different line circuit in the exchange .

Your ‘line’ will probably be connected to a System X ( H/W Conc ) or System Y LIC, line circuit and these are getting pretty long in the tooth, there are some age related common issues ( like BNR , bell not ringing ) where the System  Y line circuit doesn’t send ringing current to the called line , but the caller hears ‘ringtone’, the fix requires the line to be re-jumpered onto a different line circuit and the number re-provisioned onto that new line circuit in software .

I’m not sure  ringtrip is as common as BNR, but your issue  could be a combination of your individual line characteristics, a borderline faulty line circuit and your cordless phone in combination produce the fault , swapping the phone to a simple corded one, changes the line characteristics, possibly only a small difference but enough for the line circuit to operate satisfactorily.

If you still have the fault open, next time and OR engineer visits suggest they swap you onto a different line circuit in the exchange

[IanWH]

Many thanks Iniltous, this makes more sense. I will contact BT with your suggestions and hope I find someone willing to accept and indeed act on your recommendations.

I will of course let you know how I get on. Hopefully I will find now a softer wall to bang my head on.

[IanWH]

Hi Iniltous,
A quick follow up: reported the fault to BT once again and asked if the engineer could phone me before he attended our home. Engineer duly phoned and I was able to inform him of your suggestions.

Instead of coming to us he went to the exchange and would you believe it after 7 weeks and three engineer visits the fault was finally fixed within an hour.

so THANK YOU for all your help.