Well, that went well

BT's appointed contractors (Carillion telent) have been replacing the ancient and bulging-at-the seams PCP that my mother's phone line connects to.

There's now a nice shiny new PCP which could potentially host a G.Fast pod. Enough of that though because my mother now has BT's latest technology. Her phone is connected to two phone lines simultaneously

This is clearly an experimental roll-out and not everything's working yet. Internet stability has improved enormously as the speed never varies but the hoped-for doubling of speed hasn't happened. It's now zero up and down all the time.

Making outbound calls is 'interesting' as a single call made from the phone goes out on both lines at the same time (each with a different caller id). Every time she calls my mobile, I can hear my voicemail kicking in because the second line can't get through to me and leaves a message.

Calling 17070 is most entertaining. Two automated voices start in synchrony but get out of step with each other as the two numbers are different.

This has been going on for three days now. The men in the hole (rewiring the PCP) can't do anything (and deny all knowledge) - even though they may well be part of the problem. Apparently we might get an update from BT some time on Monday.

Ooooh, 'double dial tone'. There's full metallic contact somewhere (though I know you knew this)

Doubtless the work of the contractors. Plonkers.

Does she get charged 2 line rental payments?

I'm hoping that the two charges will cancel each other out, just as the broadband has

Will the person the other number belongs to have the same problem, or no line? Or "It depends"?

I suspect they have the same problem but have no idea. All I know about the other number is that it's a little further away from the FTTC cabinet - according to the speed estimates provided by Openreach. A web search shows no results for the number.

The third option Bob.

I thought it might be .

Well, her phone works. Broadband (ADSL) hasn't changed. I wonder if the jumpers at the exchange have been disconnected. Unfortunately. I'm not going to be able to get back to have a look until the middle of next week.

Have you checked the DSL checker for her line, may tell you if the jumpers have been left in.