In reply to a post by b4dger:

In reply to a post by MHC:

I gave them half an hour of my time...

Very generous of you

Yes it was? I normally charge them for my time in other areas.

Whilst the other guys are providing helpful info, as electrical interference can cause issues, but HIGHLY unlikely to be providing actual audible noise on the line.

Yes, you extension wiring might be causing and issue, the Sky kit will happily survive being disconnected for a while whilst you test.

Is it of any relevance that running a line test clears it for a while? And also, is it normal for a line test (the automated online one) to disconnect your broadband (so you never see the result!)?

Yes, well known for a line test to temporarily clear a minor line fault as you have. Also a line test WILL drop sync on your circuit.

Thanks Zarjaz.

If/when it comes back, I'll disconnect the extension wiring at the NTE5 and see how I fare.

Typically it's been fine all day long today! Can last weeks before it gets upset....

Looks like it's a really minor fault then. Tricky to locate.

Good luck.

To answer your specific question-

"Would noise come back to a master socket from extension wiring?"

Very definitely "Yes!"

So unfortunately, you have to remove all, then add them back one at a time, to see if you can identify the specific item - and as others have indicated, the source could be external to your phone wiring, both inside and outside your home, eg the plasma TV mentioned, etc etc etc ...

we've started getting intermittent crackling on the phone line,

eg the plasma TV mentioned,

Plasma TV's DO NOT cause audible noise on the line.

For once you have failed to champion the use of the quiet line test, whereas in this case it might prove useful.

Because the MAIN reason for my post was to answer the OP's question about how Noise etc gets propagated, which had been left unanswered:-

Tue 04-Nov-14 11:14:27

"Would noise come back to a master socket from extension wiring?"

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I did not "champion" or directly mention the Quiet Line Test, as the OP appears to be very aware of it, reading his postings; and I thus thought it implicit in the rest of my response:-

Tue 04-Nov-14 08:11:48

"I recorded a noisy quiet line test in a bid to avoid the charge...! "

You may consider going through your own responses in this thread, to see if you mention "QUIET line test" directly and unambiguously anywhere!

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I feel that the posting of comments such as yours, detracts from the best use of the site - certainly my intentions are to offer guidance to those who come on to request advice, assistance etc; and consciously strive to be constructive in my own responses.

Edited by deleted (Thu 06-Nov-14 07:42:57)

So the latest is that the line went "dead" today. I was at work, but regularly use my home PC to test "off-net" issues. The BB connection dropped, and I tried dialling home, but it just rang and rang (my answer phone didn't pick up). So, I assume dead.

I reported the fault to BT, and it was identified as a fault near the premise automatically, and the cogs started turning at BT.

A couple of hours later and it came back, according to BT, without their intervention.

Does this give any further clues on the issue? Are they likely to be linked?

Very interestingly there was a "working on behalf of openreach" van parked by my pole when I drove to work this morning....suspicious!

I had a similar problem quite a few years ago, when I was with Nildram on ADSL. The syc rate dropped right down, then took ages to recover. Sometimes got knocked back before it had fully recovered. Aften I ended up on dial-up rates of 50k or so. After 2 or 3 engineer visits the guy couldn't find a wiring fault. Even swapped me to another pair at the pole opposite. He departed saying he would have a look in the exchange. After an hour or two he phoned me back to say he wasn't too happy with the DSLAM and had swapped me to another (port?). He was a bit non-committal but it fixed the problem. I got billed by BT and it took a few indignant phone calls before they credited it back 'as a gesture of goodwill'. They never acknowledged that I should not have been billed when the fault was in a BT system.

Sorry to dig up my old thread, but the fault has been back, multiple times. They claimed they fixed it at the exchange last time, but it's back.

Any tips on getting BT to actually fix the fault?

The Indian chap I called today could hear the noise clearly, and was very helpful. I have an engineer scheduled for Tuesday, but sod's law says it'll be quiet when he/she comes!

I have a video of the noise when plugged into the test socket, with my BT phone!