Phone not Ringing for Incoming Calls.

[Jaybs]

Yesterday I started with my home phone not ringing for incoming calls, this has never happened before! I spoke to someone Saturday evening and he checked everything for me at the Liverpool Centre, I told him I can call out okay, in the end he said there was no fault, it seems as if it must be the cordless phone I am using, I ordered a new phone and I have set it up, I can ring out fine with the new cordless phone, but still when people are ringing me it does not ring out. He advised me I would have to pay if a BT engineer was sent out and that is why I purchased a new phone.

Being isolated and on my own with health problems, relatives and friends are worried about me when they do not get an answer, and none live close to me, I have read it could be at the exchange?

The earliest someone can come out is Wednesday? I can't see it can be the connection here inside?

[DavidM]

Hi Jaybs and welcome.

I'm sorry you're having problems with your line. Did you book the engineer for the Wednesday slot?

Cheers

David

[Jaybs]

The colleague at BT said last night that was the earliest, and he would keep it unless I cancelled, he felt the new phone would be the answer. I received a few calls yesterday morning before friends in the afternoon said it was just ringing out? I see a lot of people over the years get this problem?

Thanks for your response David,

[Keith_Beddoe]

Its most likely to be a faulty line card in the exchange, as that type of fault is very common, and can be fixed by moving the line over to another equipment number in the exchange.

[Keith_Beddoe]

People calling would still hear ringing tone, but the exchange equipment would not be sending any ringing current out to line.

[Jaybs]

That is what a lot of people seem to think, and that is why I am unsure why send out an engineer? especially if it means someone coming into the apartment, when no one has now come in for over three weeks.

[imjolly]

Openreach will not enter your apartment so hopefully as @Keith_Beddoe @said it can be fixed at the exchange

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/03/covid-19-openreach-stop-uk-broadband-isp-and-phone-wor...

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@Jaybs wrote:

That is what a lot of people seem to think, and that is why I am unsure why send out an engineer? especially if it means someone coming into the apartment, when no one has now come in for over three weeks.

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All they need to do initially, is to visit the exchange and check with a phone on the main frame (MDF) to see if there is any ringing current being sent out.

If not, they can call a special number (it may have even been automated by now) , and request a new equipment number allocation. They would then re-jumper your line to the new piece of equipment, during which time, your phone number would be moved to the new allocation.

That can be done without a visit to the house.

Meanwhile its always a good idea to try a different phone, if you have one.

[Jaybs]

Thanks!  I did buy a new phone this morning, which someone collected for me and left close to my door.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@Jaybs wrote:

Thanks!  I did buy a new phone this morning, which someone collected for me and left close to my door.

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Then I would say that its an exchange fault. The exchange equipment is very old (1980s), and line card failures always used to be very common, so I cannot imagine that situation has changed.

The line cards themselves are not normally changed until all the ports have failed, so its easier to simply move the line over to a spare port on a working card.

The Openreach exchange technicians are very used to the process and under normal circumstances, can take less than 15 minutes, depending on how long it takes to get a new allocation.