Query has m y router/land line been hacked

[AlanC4]

From 10 pm Saturday night to 10 am this morning (Sunday) I could not dial out or receive calls.  I reset my broadband router and I was then able to go on line.  I have reported the problem to ?faults, and they have booked an engineer for the 30th December.   The telephone seems to be okay now, but as an 80 year old living alone after my partner passed away in June, and have suffered 6 strokes in the last 2 years is very worrying.  Seems to be no real help from BT in my situation,  I will not cancel the call out, it needs thoroughly checking, my nephew had been trying to contact me, but it kept saying something about call blocked/blocker.  What is going off?  80 years old needs help.

[Crimliar]

This sounds like the type of fault that many broadband providers offering VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) occasionally suffer.  It shouldn't happen, but it does. It's seriously unlikely that this was a hack, and if it were, it would be more likely BT or OpenReach that were being hacked and not your router!

[Leanne_T]

Morning @AlanC4 

I am very sorry this has happened and you were unable to make and receive calls during this time and how worrying this would be for you. 

When the engineer visits they will run checks to make sure everything is working as it should for you and see if they can advise why this happened.

Please let us know how the visit goes with the engineer. 

Take care. 

Leanne. 

[AlanC4]

Thank you for your response, I will let you know. BT are sending a router, but I think it is something else.  I cannot receive or make calls on BT, says line busy., my telephone handset (BT 4600) says please check line cord. It was the telephone did work for a couple of hours last evening and nothing this morning.  I am totally frustrated and worried. I am nearly 80, have suffered 6 strokes in the last two years, lost my partner in June this year, family trying to contact me to check I am well cannot get through, what the hell do I do. My pendant alarm also needs access to PPP if I have a fall or worse, all I can rely on at the moment is my Vodaphone mobile,and the signal on that is sometimes not available or poor.   I REALLY NEED URGEWNT HELP PLEASE.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @AlanC4 

I have sent you a private message on the community to get some details from you. 

Please take a look and get back to me. 

Leanne. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

@AlanC4 

Are you on BT Digital Voice?

If you are, then that is very similar to what used to happen with the old Broadband Talk service, when the virtual path was lost due to a core network interruption anywhere on the routing.

The only way to re-establish the connection was to restart the home hub, to force it to setup a new virtual path, as it did not happen automatically if the routing was lost.

[AlanC4]

No I don't think I am on Digital voice.

Alan

[Keith_Beddoe]

@AlanC4 

So your phone is not plugged into the back of the BT Smart Hub 2?

In that case, its possible that there was a WPI (Working Party Interruption) on the copper route, or in the exchange, causing the loss of line voltage. I think the manual reboot of the home hub had no relevance, and it was just coincidental. 

There were issues with some of the very early home hubs, where a fault could occur on the PSTN side, which caused an internal relay to get stuck, and put a short circuit on the line.

[AlanC4]

Just for information it is a BT wireless Hub, BT Master Socket 5C, Openreach Mk4. (Hope that makes sense).

[Keith_Beddoe]

It was the very early Home Hub 1, 1.5, and 2.0 (not smart hub 2). They were the ones with the relay  that got "stuck".

They were ADSL only, not VDSL.