Phone line noisy, internet drops out...

Is there a BT contact phone number to query a noisy phone line? I can barely get internet for more than a minute at a time with the crackling on the line. I've changed filters, plugged a corded phone line directly into the inside of the phone socket and all to no avail. The neighbour says she has had similar issues for a while and the engineer that visited her says the phone 'box' up the street cannot support any more lines - if that has any bearing on the issue I don't know. Cheers, in advance!

If you have noise on the line with your ADSL kit disconnected you have a voice fault. Try the quiet line test (17070 option 2) with your ADSL kit disconnected. If you hear noise report it to whoever you pay line rental to as a voice fault (don't mention broadband as it's irrelevant to noise on the line).

Make a call to 150 and report a voice line fault. Don't mention broadband at all otherwise you will end up just chasing your own tail.

I assume you are aware how to use the BT Line Test Facilities? Call 17070, select option 2 and listen. It should be absolutely quiet. Anything other than quietness and it is an indication of a POTS line fault that must be corrected by your telephony provider.

In reply to a post by burakkucat:

Make a call to 150 and report a voice line fault.

You mean 151!

It's just as well one of us is awake!

Thanks to all the replies, I rang 151 and an engineer is coming around on Monday at the threat of a £130 charge if it's not their equipment.

Make certain that you have removed the bottom half of the NTE5 Faceplate and have only a single wired Handset plugged ito the "Test" Socket.

If the noise is audible on that Handset, they have no case for charging you for the visit.

Hi macduffintosh72

If you send me over your details via http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950 i will gladly run some tests on your line and see if I can locate the fault.

Regards David

Hi David, I've done just that, although I have previously rang 151 and the BT person on the other end of the line said the line was OK.

This whole noise problem seems to stem from the time BT engineers came to our neighbour to install a second phone line. When I reported this originally an engineer came around a day or so later and said he couldn't fix it (mentioned something about needing to go underground) and that another engineer would be around that afternoon to fix it. I made arrangements to be in for the engineer that afternoon, I left work early but the engineer never turned up.

As it happens, the engineer who had been earlier had somehow disconnected my neighbour completely and our phone line was still no better. The neighbour was not pleased, her son was flying in from America early the next morning as her other son was getting married on Saturday and was expecting an email with flight details etc.

I rang 151 and a lady from BT told me that the next day the issue with the neighbours and my phone line would be fixed but didn't specify a time. Yesterday (20th July) indeed an engineer did come out and reconnected my neighbours phone line but as we weren't in and were not forewarned of the time of his visit and if it was his intention, he was unable to fix our problem.

I've just this evening re-tested the phone line with a corded phone plugged directly into the socket and I did the quiet line test and it crackled quite noticeably.

Tomorrow morning as soon as possible I'm going to ring 151 to see what can be done about it.

Regards, Mark.