ADSL drops when phone rings

Hello, I have a strange problem that seems to be getting gradually worse.. My broadband disconnects when my phone rings? It doesn't happen every time, but it does seem to be happening a lot more often. One day last week I got booted off 5-6 times in one day, then went 3 days with no cut outs. It's very strange.

Before getting BT involved I want to make sure I've done everything I can my side of things.

I'm not sure if my nte5 socket is my actual master socket. I believe my line was relocated to the rear of the house at some point, and looks like I have an external grey box up near my bathroom window. The overhead telephone cable goes into that box, and then I have 2 wires coming down the outside wall and into a room that was previously used as an office, with about 5 sockets in it. Is that grey box an external NTE? With it being up near the roof I cant get at it to investigate.

If the problem is in that box will I get charged for it?

I've disconnected all the old unused sockets/extensions coming in via one of those cables, and actually installed a vdsl faceplate as well onto the only working socket. (I'm due to be able to get fibre towards the end of the year, so I want to make sure all my equipment is working fine, and eliminate any possible setbacks)

Any suggestions?

Photographs of the external box and those inside the house would be a good starting point.

For those in the house, the front and the internal wiring would be useful.

You're quite right, should of thought of that beforehand...

Here is the external box: http://i.imgur.com/Pzzxk0r.jpg

I don't have a picture of all the original sockets (I removed all the inactive ones except one which leads out the front of the house?) but heres how it looks now: http://i.imgur.com/zoari1n.jpg
There were originally 5 sockets in a row, and only the second one worked. When I opened them up, none of them were actually connected anymore, as seen in the image below, so I removed the rest and cleaned up the wiring to that one.

The one on the right leads outside the front of the house, but is also not connected inside: http://i.imgur.com/WRhRlPd.jpg

Heres my new socket/faceplate I installed:
http://i.imgur.com/zoari1n.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KNmsWTw.jpg

Thanks again.

The 'grey box' is a BT66, an external junction box, if there is a fault in there, then that's down to the service provider to get repaired free of charge.

Its not entirely clear from the other photo's linked whats doing what.

As for the original problem, ADSL dropping on phone ringing, the first thing I'd suspect is the filter in use at your property, have you tried changing that ?

Yes, I've tried two microfilter dongles, and now just changed over to an actual vdsl plate to cut out the extension cords I was originally using to reach the router. Trying to eliminate as much internal wiring from the socket as possible to figure this out.

I've just stumbled across a couple of posts on the BT forums via google that explain similar symptoms, and the general diagnosis seems to be a high resistance fault?

and the general diagnosis seems to be a high resistance fault?

Hmm, maybe, but I'm not so sure. Dropping sync on incoming/outgoing calls is symptomatic of an HR *sometimes* Dropping sync when the phone rings is a different kettle of fish. It *can* be a fault with the exchange equipment sometimes, but I'd still like a clear description of how it all gets from A to B in your property ....

I've tried two microfilter dongles, and now just changed over to an actual vdsl plate to cut out the extension cords I was originally using to reach the router. Trying to eliminate as much internal wiring from the socket as possible to figure this out.

All sounds a bit Heath Robinson to me .....

I appreciate the replies, not sure what other information I can provide you with though. As said, cable comes in from what I now know to be a junction box, and goes into the socket I left attached to the wall. No other extension sockets are in my property, so that's it for wiring.

I'm assuming that's my master socket, correct? (So I shouldn't really of poked around and updated the box from an old screw style terminal connection to an idc style box)

I know it's kind of difficult to explain, but if you had seen the state of the other boxes/wiring before I removed them you would of been amazed, and probably 5x more confused as to what was going on..

So I shouldn't really of poked around and updated the box from an old screw style terminal connection to an idc style box

Yep.

If the wiring is as described by you is correct, then it should be straight forward, report the issue to your ISP

I had this very problem but was never fixed, have it to this day. gave up after 4 engineer visits and just decided to unplug my home phone as it was cutting my net of and causing my speed to drop. happening for around 4 years now so let us know if you find a solution .

So your problem only happens when the phone is connected? This would indicate the phone is at fault, or the filter. Have you replaced the phone?

Well, this was happening long before I decided to do any investigating, hence the reason I've been trying to clear it all up before getting BT involved.

Just a bit confused with me replacing everything I can possibly replace to eliminate the the problem, and still having the problem.. it's not something my end causing this surely. That's why I figured it would be a BT callout.

Unless anyone has any other opinions I guess I go down the route of ISP first, and see what they say.

Thanks for the replies Zarjaz, appreciate it.

yep, only happened while ringing out and incoming calls come in. changed many filters then 1st engineer that came installed a pre filter that goes directly on the main socket and my line comes directly from the pole into my nte5 socket. no extensions, a very simple setup, 2 new phones 1 corded 1 cordless. still disconnected my net and gave up and chose never to use my home phone again. No need for it since we all own mobiles so just didn't bother with it no more. and couldn't take anymore time of work waiting for a engineer fail to show.

If everything has been replaced - wires, filters, phones, everything then the only thing left to try is to swap the two incoming wires around to reverse the polarity.

Wow that's bad. I'm not in a situation where I can do that unfortunately. I will keep digging though, that shouldn't be a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.

I'll certainly give that a try, don't think the engineers did that, i'll have to find those damn phones again

Have I got this right?

The one on our right is an NTE5 (master) with an NTE5A faceplate. Is it connected to the line?

The one on our left is perhaps a new NTE5/5A, to which you have now fitted the VDSL2 filter.

It looks to me as though there were (are?) two drop wires, only one in use.

The right-hand NTE5 has an extension running off it, using blue-white/white-blue wires. So either these are connected in the external junction box to the orange-white/white-orange ones feeding the left-hand socket, or do nothing in the junction box. Does the left-hand socket work when the right-hand faceplate is off, as per the picture?

And nor should you even have to consider being in that situation, i just hope your case is a lot simpler than what my own was or that you get an engineer who can fix the problem. When did this start for you and did anything change within your home that may have caused this? if not i imagine you'll be fine calling your isp up to book an engineer and without charge.

Right one does nothing, I left it on the wall as it goes out to the front of the house and I lost track of the cable behind a wall of Ivy, I didn't want to remove it just in case.

The only working socket is the one on the left, (no extensions are wired to the faceplate, just plugs straight into the base) which has the cables running out the back of the house to the junction box. And yes it carries on working if I pull the faceplate off the right hand one.

Edited by deleted (Mon 28-Sep-15 19:19:40)

I've been having the problem for maybe 6 months now, but it was very intermittent like I said originally, it doesn't happen every time the phone rings so I just put up with it. It was happening maybe 1-2 times a week originally which wasn't really that inconvenient. Then about a month ago it got more frequent, 4-5 times a week it would happen. So it seems to be getting worse.

However after last week, when I got cut off 5-6 times in a single day, I decided to investigate.

Nothing has changed hardware wise in my home. So I'm pretty sure its nothing I've done.

Yes the exact same thing happened to me but it was pretty much the same until i unplugged my phone, i didn't receive or make many calls as my mobile was my main but when i did it disconnected about 70 percent of the time. Your home setup confuses me so i can't say if its a problem within your home but from what you've been saying its most likely an external issue probably like my own is. My own problem started randomly if i remember correctly and i also let it happen for a few months before i tried doing anything about it. perhaps looking at your router stats page and keep refreshing while making a call or get someone to call your landline while refreshing and tell us what you see. My noise margin goes through the roof and internet disconnects, not sure if yours will do the same but if so we might have the same issue.

Connect a corded phone into the working socket and dial 17070 and take option 2 the quiet line test, you shouldn't hear any crackling or hissing or any other sounds or noises, if you do then you need to contact the phone service provider and report it as a voice fault, don't mention the broadband issues.

HR joint on the line !.

I assume you posted that before reading the rest of the thread . In particular, Zarjaz's first two posts.

I had the exact same issue, I live in Warrington and was with ZEN.

I had countless engineer visits and even tried a second line still the same issue.

Only way I solved it was switching from ZEN (BT Openreach) to SKY LLU. Crazily ZEN actually advised me to try this as they said SKY has much better equipment in the exchange than Openreach.

No corded phones lying around I can test out at the moment, but I'll give that a shot when I can get hold of one.

Around £5-£7 from Maplin, Argos, B & Q and many other similar places. Always worth having one sitting in a drawer somewhere in the house.

I had this problem for over a year, dropped out even when no phone attached. After several fruitless visits from BT engineers I changed to a LLU line with Goscomb and cured immediately.
So that proved to me it was BT equipment at the exchange even though they said it was fine.