Hi,

I'm having a great deal of frustation with my phone line at home and I was wondering if anybody here could offer any pointers.

Rather than trying to describe my setup, I've drawn a diagram:

http://jonathanbull.co.uk/phone.jpg

It's a pretty standard setup, I've got one phone downstairs and an extension going upstairs with a router and a cordless phone system coming off of it. All filtered correctly!

Here's the problem... the router upstairs receives a phone signal and the internet works fine, however the cordless phone (also upstairs) has no dial tone, all I can hear is best desribed as an 'empty crackle'. I thought the cordless phone may be at fault so I also tried a tested landline phone and a fax machine instead - same problem! I then thought the extension lead may be the issue so I tried 2 others... exactly the same issue; internet but no phone signal. The weird thing is; I found that removing the phone downstairs suddenly 'fixes' the dial tone upstairs... it seems that plugging any phone whatsoever downstairs knocks the phone line off upstairs.

It's difficult to get across the problem so I hope I've described it adequately. I've swopped all the filters, the splitters, the extension, and tried different phones and always the same issue. It may sound crazy, but it almost seems as though there isn't enough power to power them all... is this even possible?!

Any help is greatly appreciated - it's driving me mad!

Was your set up working then stopped or has it never worked correctly ?,
All your equipment should have a REN (ring equivilent number) and there is a limit to the aggregate REN of 4 but going past 4 would usually affect the ringing of the telephones not dialtone.
Your setup even if working wouldnt give the best broadband speed, it would be better (if practical) to remove the splitter,plug filter 1 into the master socket and plug the router and your cordless phone ( i'll assume a DECT
cordless) into filter 1 and pair another DECT phone to the base unit of the existing cordless phone, this will
do away with the extn lead, the splitter and 1 filter,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately I do need the extension going upstairs, the room is in fact a study and I have quite a bulky fax machine that needs to be up there! Although it isn't plugged in at the moment.

In answer to your first question, yes, it was originally all working fine... for about 10 years in fact! This is what makes it all the more frustrating! Are there any tests I can perform or am I gonna need to bite the bullet and get someone in?

What happens if you plug the corded phone into filter 2
(upstairs) and the cordless phone into filter 1 (downstairs)
does the no dialtone stay upstairs or follow the cordless
phone to downstairs ?

A test to try.

Take the cordless phone down to the phone socket. First off plug it directly into the phone socket all by itself and make sure it gets dial tone and can make and receive calls. That eliminates the cordless phone.

Now plug the splitter into the phone socket and try the cordless phone by itself in both outlets of the splitter. That will confirm if the phone works with the splitter and if the splitter is OK. Now have the cordless phone plugged into one outlet of the splitter and then plug the corded phone into the other outlet. Still down at the main socket so no extension involved at this stage. And don't bother for now with ADSL filters.

Do the two phones work together OK? If so then look to the extension cable as the possible culprit.

It is entirely possible the extension cable could be faulty but only making itself noticed when more than one phone is plugged in. Unusual but then I've seen some odd stuff happen with miswired or faulty phone installations.

Follow the cable from downstairs to upstairs and look for signs of damage. The main places to check are bends or anywhere the cable could flex and come under stress. Also check how it crosses where people walk, eg doorways. The worst thing you can do is run the cable under carpet where it could get walked over. That will eventually lead to cable damage.

Thanks again for all your help so far...

If I plug 2 phones into the main socket (fixed and cordless) and the extension cable (which has the router plugged into it) then all is well. It seems that the extension cable will not tolerate any phones.

The thing is, I have now tried 3 extension cables, 1 of which was fresh out of the packet. Could it just be a strange coincidence? If so, I'll buy another tomorrow and give it a go.

Have you tried swapping the filters around or tried other filters?

Perhaps, but you already know that it supports phones when there isn't one plugged in downstairs, and you also say you have had a working arrangement for about ten years. Presumably that was a working arrangement without ADSL

What happens if you just have one phone downstairs and one upstairs, without any ADSL filters or router plugged in? What about if you install the ADSL filters but still don't plug in the router? It might be that something about the router/filters is actually the cause of the problems.

Have you tried plugging a splitter on the telephone side of the ADSL filter downstairs and then trying the two phones in that? (i.e. putting another splitter between 'Filter 1' and 'Landline Phone' on your diagram). If that works you could then run a second extension cable upstairs just for your phone (without a filter on the end of it as the extension would already be filtered). It would solve the problem without actually diagnosing it.
Last edited by grunson : 21-04-2009 at 01:18

Thats almost exactly the setup I've got, except I have the router and a corded phone downstairs.... and a cordless phone upstairs.

I found out that using a proper adsl filtered faceplate made things a whole lot easier. http://www.adslnation.com/products/xte2005.php

You have 2 sets of connections. one for filtered (phone only) and one for un-filtered (phone and broadband)

It's a lot better having proper extension sockets, rather than having those cheap-o plastic splitters and filteres all over the place!

Dont know if you have managed to fix this fault. This sounds like however a faulty filter swap them around. They are always failing i find