How do you actually get any service from BT Faults?

I have trouble 2/3 of the time dialling out.

I hear the dialtone, press a button, hear the tone, but the dialtone is still there.

I have to hang up and try 2 or 3 times.

Yet, every time I call BT 151, the machine finds "no fault". If I press 0 a hundred times, I eventually get to a human operator (in an India call centre) who is no help at all.

What should I do? GO and bang on the door of the exchange?

Thanks

I'd start with another telephone instrument.

I've tried three already, each from different manufacturers.

I done this myself, tried a BT Verve 450, BT Home Hub phone and a cheap corded Binatone phone. No difference in either of the phones and engineer came out, tried the Binatone and BT Verve 450 but still blamed the phone even though each one sounded the same. Nobody gets three phones that don't work properly sorry.

Sometimes the dialtone stays until you have dialled the full number.

Have you got a phone that can dial 'loop disconnect' (i.e. the old, non-DTMF, method).

I think it's something to do with the broadband filter.

If I plug a corded, non-powered phone into the test socket, I don't seem to get any problems.

But if I use any Broadband Filter ( I have four different models ), the problem occurs.

Note: This is an intermittent problem which happens around 2/3 of the time if the phone has been idle for a while. Once I've got DTMF working, then the phone seems to work fine for many calls, until it's again been idle for a while.

Well I am afraid that the fault is down to you, the filters are not BTs problem

They are BT-supplied filters.

And, the line has worked fine for over four years now, so something at BT's end must have changed...

Low line level, different DTMF handlers at the exchange, etc.

I don't think so.

It does around 50% of the time I dial out!

Do you hear the tones being sent?

If you set a phone to LD does the dial tone go?

Try from the master socket with everything else disconnected.

Yup, no LD just tone, and it is the master socket only. Hardly use it though so doesn't make much difference.

My problem seems (cross fingers) to have cleared up. I complained about six times to BT, and they always claimed it was my own kit, NOT theirs, and wanted to charge me £115 to investigate.

After trying many different ADSL filters, I finally just gave up a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I couldn't call out, I'd just repeatedly hang up and try again (fuming), until it worked.

Now, for the past week, using EXACTLY the same filter I always did, it has started working properly. Someone at BT must have fixed something, somewhere...

BT support sucks the hairy wazoo.