My phone line suffers from intermitant hissing and crackling, sometimes making a phone conversation impossible.
I have phoned BT who did a line test and found no problem, and have got me to unscrew the master socket and plug phone directly into that, but I still get the problem.
So they have arranged for an engineer to come out this weekend, but kinda said in passing that they have a £160 call-out fee if it turns out to be my fault.

Is it likely i've missed something? Tbh I don't know if my adsl filters are as they should be, as they are not plugged into the sockets, but plugged into the end of an extension cable which is fed from the master socket (which is in the loft), as there are no sockets near the PC.
Having said that, when i unplugged everything, filters and all, and just plugged phone into the dismantaled master socket, i still get the interference.

Any ideas?

If you plugged a 'known good' corded telephone into that 'hidden' socket and the problem remained, the fault is not within your property (that socket is connected to the outside world only and not to anything within your property).

I think the only possible issue is the 'known good' phone you used.

Did you try a quiet line test (dial 17070 and select option 1)?

have just done quiet line test. Not sure what it is tho lol.
No crackling atm. Of course, am worried that engineer will turn up and i wont be able to recreate the problem!

Have tried 2 different phones with same problem.

I have had this problem a few times with British Telecom. Everytime I phoned up,they made it out to be my problem and that it was my equipment.

It turned out on one occassion that I needed a new phone line.

The other time it turned out to be a fault on the exchange.

Don't let BT pass the buck onto you when it is obviously a fault with them again.

I had the same problem, Also affected my broadband connection at times and others it was fine

Got an engineer call out free of charge but it also wasnt my problem, He went up the telephone pole and did something, Came back and it was fine,

Is your phone line fed from overhead via a telegraph pole?

You say the noise is intermitant when you plug directly into the back socket of the master socket, which means the problem is a line fault and you should not be billed as that is Openreach property, but.....If an engineer comes out and cannot hear any noise then you will be billed for a visit which is £99.

Does the noise get bad when it rains? As this will probably mean its the overhead cable that needs replacing.

Does
the wire look ropey and old?

It's option 2, option1 is for ringback.

even now, on visits where the line "tests" o.k but no fault found, especially on intermittant faults we check the condition of the external wiring etc. unfortunately it depends on wether he gets a lazy engineer . we should renew all old cabling nd bring it up to quality standards.

I've got a similar problem, everything was fine then last Friday evening, the line went dead, it was repaired on Wednesday, but now the intermittent crackling is back,

I can also now hear, what sounds like the old "dialing pips" sound in the background of calls every now and then, as if i can hear my neighbors making/dialing a call in the background ?

Openreachpeep can you tell me anything i can do to explain this to the engineer when he calls as obviously it only makes this sound now and again.

I know its hard to find a problem when it doesn't manifest itself all the time, but this is the fourth time in as many weeks.

At what point would BT consider replacing the line ? or is that unlikely to ever happen ?

Many thanks.

your fault sound's like you have a split pair, usually found on the e-side(cab to exchange) this can be tested for by the engineer using his hawk and remote unit. very tricky to locate so what usually happens is they change the pair from the cab to the ex, first time round, and if the problem persists they then change it from the cab to the d.p.

I've still got this problem (reported in some of my other posts) and despite a BT engineer coming round and testing my line at the cabinet - he found no fault. I invited him in to listen to the interference and he agreed there was unacceptable noise. He then said he was only a lineman and hadn't a clue about broadband (my noise is worse when the router is on). As far as I know he didn't look inside the telegraph pole box and didn't test at the exchange. I mentioned to him about HR dis (as advised by Openreachpeep) and he said there wasn't any??

He then spoke with some BB engineer at the exchange, came back to me and said I have to keep my router away from other electrical equipment! Then to try it at a friends house! There is only the router plugged into the socket in a corner of our lounge and nothing else, so how can it be electrical interference? Besides it worked fine at the last address sharing a socket feeding the telly.

Anyway I got in touch with the previous owner of the house - we moved in end of June - and she said when she had BB installed in December last year she noticed the crackling and hissing started. I've re-terminated all my extensions, disconnected the ring wire on all my extensions, and on one occasion could not carry on a phone conversation even with the router off.

My dsl connection speed is all over the place and my IP profile is crap most of the time, occasionally I see 4000kbps connection speed and best ip profile has been 2500kbps. Soon after that test it had plumetted to 1750kbps connection speed and 135kbs IP profile.

I've emailed BT broadband customer services today and yet again had to re-iterate all the tests I had done already, the engineer coming round, the previous owners experience the fact my router stats are perfect (it worked fine at our last address). And guess what - they said my line is fine with a 1750kbps connection speed, so it must be an internal fault. Ggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Now I've threatened them with emailing the chief exec - no reply from them as yet.

i can only apologise for your visit by the engineer. sadly i think i work in the only team, where we skip all the processes in place and do what we can for the EU. do you live in the manchester area? cos i pushed out a briefing that was agreed by our regional manager for any linesman who comes across your type of fault to get b/band co-op, to stop repeat reports. (i'd recommended that they made it national, but no reply on that) i won't lie to you, but you were fed by the classic "can't be arsed, get the job off the system" line. i have to admit, done it myself(especially on the really pain in the arse jobs, and when we were working to a bonus scheme) told a customer the fault was with her flux capacitor in the exchange. hook line and sinker. bless. the only thing you can do is push for your ISP to send out a b/band engineer. i'll try and get that briefing out nationally too.

I live in the North-East of Scotland.
It was a Saturday morning he came round and no doubt keen to get the job off the system and free up the rest of his day as you say. So far there's no indication I am being charged for that wasted "visit" either, which is good.

I have experienced the hissing and noise on the phone line - in fact it is so bad at times I cannot hear someone talking at the other end of the line. I have found the problem is when the BB HomeHub is plugged into the ADSL filter - remove the Hub and there is no noise on the line. I first assumed this was an issue with the filter, but upon replacing the filter with another (different manufacturer and all) the hissing and noise continued. I can see another call to BT management coming on.

Dave

if you still experiance the same problem when plugged into the test socket, then report it as a fault through your b/band supplier. that way you will get a b/band skilled engineer to fix it. the fault you have is a Hr dis and is fairly easy to find and repair. unfrtunately, our line test system can't detect them, so you have to push on at your isp to send out an engineer on a LLU SFI visit.

Ok, thanks for the information. Initially I thought it was just cheap filters from BT but my speedtouch filters are no better.

Can I ask what some of the acronyms mean:

- hr dis ?
- LLU SFI ?

Dave

HR Dis - High Resistance Disconnection

LLU SFI - Local Loop Unbundling Special Faults Investigation

An open circuit then?!


Otherwise known as troubleshooting!

Thanks for the demystification.

Dave

I have had a similar problem with crackling, dropped calls and broadband router dropping the connection.

The first engineer visit the remedy was to have a poke around with the connection in the box on the outside of the house and change the wiring pair both at this box and in a hole in the road.

4 months later the crackling returned.

The second engineer visit the remedy was to have a poke around with the connection in the box on the outside of the house and put some protective plastic up my wall.

4 months later the crackling returned.

This was last week.

If i wiggle the phone plug in the master socket, the crackling gets better, albeit only for a day or so.

For this reason I'm guessing the problem lies between the grey box outside and the back of the master socket.

BUT

because the engineer wiggles from the outside and all seems ok till after he's left ... he never looks at the master socket .

Its beginning to get frustrating now

My 79 year old parents reported just such a fault on their line and an engineer was sent out - with no mention of charges - he spent about 15 minutes at the house blamed an existing extension and told them to remove it.

They have now been sent a bill for £211 which they have paid.

Needless to say the fault has not been rectified and I have now checked with another phone at the master socket and the problem is clearly outside the house - BT are complete rip off merchants.

I have now complained but expect nothing more than to be fobbed off. Really am very angry.

Hello yorkie100,

I am sorry the fault on your parents line is still not fixed, if you can reply to the PM that I am about to send you Ill get this looked into for you.

Cheers,

Stephanie
BT Support

Don't know if this thread is still active. I have been having same problems as described above. Crackling on line so bad sometimes that I have to use my mobile instead. Also affects my broadband. Noticed that when having trouble with broadband it seems to work if phone is in use. So what I do sometimes is ring 17070 select 2 and leave it lying on my desk. My broadband works but obviously my phone can't be used. I'm assuming 17070 is free to call.
Problem started last year around time of digital switchover. Don't know if that is connected to problem. Then just before Christmas crackling went and broadband worked perfectly. Then about a week ago it all started again. Rang BT 3 times when having problem first time, but they couldn't hear anything. Have tried different phone direct etc etc. I will be ringing BT again, but before I do I would like to know if any of the people with problems above have had them sorted out. Also can someone tell me if I changed provider would I have same problem as its the same phone line? I suppose ideally I should change to cable. Hope someone can help.
Cheers

Noisy lines are often intermittent faults and so you just need to stay on BT's case. (Assuming that your voice service is with BT.)

If you move provider the fault will move with you.

Thanks B2. Yes, all with BT. As you say, just keep on their case.

I had this problem and it was solved by a call to Sky TV's customer support.

My line would be hissing and crackling sometimes to the point where I couldn't hear anything. It was also affecting my broadband. I run an extension lead into my front room from the box in the hall. I told him that in the past I had solved the problem for a shory time when I replaced the extension lead but it came back.

He told me to unplug the line in the hall and then unscrew the box in the hall and have a look. Is there any blue on the metal strips? If you have that is corosion caused by damp/condensation. Often you can see the blue on the metal part of the extension lead you just removed from the box.
He said even if there is't any blue use a toothbrush to scrup the plug you insert into the phone socket to clean it up.
Anyone who has an energy key will know how dirty those connectors get as they are a pain to recharge at the shop sometimes.
If there is blue or if using the toothbrush does work the box in the hall needs replacing.

He said BT would charge over £200 to come out and try and fix it. He could get Sky to come out and it would be £170. He suggested looking in my local phone book. There are always retired or former BT employees that will do the job and charge you a lot less.

I thought if I'm going to do that and they replace the box I may as well just get a box myself. Even if I pay someone to fit it I won't get ripped off on the cost of the box. I couldn't find the type I needed in B&Q so looked on Ebay. I got the box for £4.99 including delivery and just replaced it myself. it's literally a slide in with no wiring required. BINGO!

A perfectly clear line. No hissing, crackling, getting cut off or anything. It's been like that for about 18 months.
The box was £5 the extension lead I got in a pound shop for £1. Problem solved for £6 savng me tons of money.

I Keep the original on the floor next to the socket box so if I do ever need to call out BT in the future I can put the original one back on. It has BT on it so they would notice that it wasn't the original I was using.

If you can get a replacement box on Ebay for a fiver it's worth getting one and trying it. If it works you save yourself a heap load of money, if it doesn't you lost a fiver. Not the end of the world.