No dial tone but engineer says all is good.

[Deborah123]

How can the bt engineer get a dial tone on his gizmo when my four handsets, tested individually don't?   Two analogues and they still ring in sometimes but don't connect. Incoming calls get an engaged signal. Broadband still working.

This is as rural as it gets,  No mobile signa!. The junction box connects to the master socket by a 10 foot external cable on a fieldstone wall in full sun, must be 40 years old. It's come loose from it's clips and waves about a bit. But bt engineer says cables don't degrade.

Engineer asks if I've paid my bill. Yes.  And if I've turned DND on. No.

So  what now? Do I buy new handsets?  Will they work? What I really want is one of those bt engineer's gizmos.

[imjolly]

have you tried taking master socket faceplate off and connecting with a filter to the test socket which you can now see and try phone to see if that works

[Deborah123]

Thank you. Yes I've done that but not with a filter. It's a 5C MK4 does it need one?

[imjolly]

you will need a filter to connect to test socket

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Deborah123 

That master socket is known to give problems, and maybe the cause of the disconnection.

As mentioned https://community.bt.com/t5/Landline/2019-Master-Socket-kit-loose/m-p/1985566#M6775

[Deborah123]

Thank you.  The master socket was supplied and installed by Openreach to replace original when I didn't have a dial tone which I still don't have.

[imjolly]

I'm sorry but have you tried connecting to master socket with filter to see if phone works?  if not and prefer not to then you need to phone CS 03301234150 and report fault

[rbz5416]

Where was the engineer getting a dial tone? Unless it was at your master socket it's of limited value.

[Deborah123]

This is a very limited setup, there's the junction box, the master socket and the ten feet of cable between the two. With a BT modern in one port and a BT analogue phone in the other. Nothing else. So he must have been using the master socket? But he wasn't using a phone he was using some sort of BT gadget and I just wonder if it somehow bluetoothed into the junction box bypassing the cable that I don't trust at all. But I know nothing. Except that I don't have any sort of phone service and this is likely to cost me a fortune.  Many thanks for your time.

[imjolly]

I think you need to phone CS 03301234150 and report phone fault not broadband as you are not trying test socket