No dial tone, 'fibre' socket...

Apologies if this is not the right place to post my query...

For the past few days I've had no phone dial tone, with no change in setup or connections that might explain a new fault. I've tried connecting an old phone in the same socket with no improvement.

I've reported this to TalkTalk and, following their own remote line checks, have been told that I'll need to book an engineer appointment. They haven't mentioned the £65 call-out charge that's in the small print on the website.

I have a fibre internet connection (FTTC) which is working as normal, however, according to the TalkTalk site, I no longer have an accessible test socket behind the fibre faceplate - is this correct? It looks like it can be unscrewed to allow me to check my phone in the test socket - mine looks identical to this one: http://www.coton-park-broadband.co.uk/uploads/images...

Thanks in advance, Sarah.

Yes the test socket is behind the lower faceplate. Thee is another one behind that too, see http://coolwebhome.co.uk/faceplate/images/test-socke...

Thanks, Batboy - I'll try it in the morning.

I don't quite agree with BatBoy on this.

True, there is a socket available once you remove the lower faceplate, and that does carry the phone signal. It doesn't carry the broadband signal as that "interstitial" faceplate contains a built-in filter.

As such, it is worth seeing if your phone works in it, but if it doesn't then you need also to gently remove that interstitial faceplate. The true test socket is the one that plugs into and you need to try that.

Has your FTTC speed dropped dramatically by any chance? If it has then that normally means that one wire of the pair in your line has become disconnected.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Has your FTTC speed dropped dramatically by any chance? If it has then that normally means that one wire of the pair in your line has become disconnected.

It hasn't, certainly not dramatically so...

...it is worth seeing if your phone works in it, but if it doesn't then you need also to gently remove that interstitial faceplate. The true test socket is the one that plugs into and you need to try that.

I see what you mean from the picture BatBoy linked to. If the line still isn't working for the socket with the interstitial plate still in place, how awkward is it to remove that too, particularly when I don't want to affect any of the wiring? It's still feasible if I'm gentle enough?

The extension wiring is attached to the lower one that comes off first. The two screws you remove to take that off are long ones going right through to the backplate, holding all three parts together.

The interstitial plate simply unplugs from the test socket. There is a small chance it does have two wires attached at the top left. Careful if there are - they are feeding an unfiltered extension.

Hello,
There could be could few things thing towards this,
1. Fault on line from cabinet's
2. Fault from exchange to cabinet
3.TalkTalk error
4.Fault in exchange
5.No line from exchange to cabinet for telephone (been used for someone else)
(Broadband comes from VDSL/FTTC Cabinet and Telephone service comes from exchange)

Make sure you have good grounds for a fault, had really bad lines here in the past but now on FTTP and TalkTalk saw the disconnects that where happening all the time, sent an engineer on a good day, and no fault found, charged £65 for the privilege, wouldn't even refund me it, so they are never having my custom again.

So I've tested the phone at a neighbour's house - working fine...

I've removed the faceplates, presumably back to the test socket (I'd be grateful for confirmation: http://imgur.com/a/MnyZO), tested two phones and two cables - still nothing.

Does this suggest/confirm that it's nothing inside the house and that I should arrange for an engineer to come?

As a seemingly dubious aside, my dad has now said that a friend tried to call from Australia before he noticed the line wasn't working, leaving only a garbled message that he couldn't 'turn it off'. We don't have his number, presumably a mobile, to check.

It couldn't be something like an uncancelled call that would disable our line for three days, could it?

In reply to a post by Gal12:

It couldn't be something like an uncancelled call that would disable our line for three days, could it?

That is possible - it is a method used by scammers "please call your bank on xxxxxxxx" they do not hang up, you do then make a new call, however the line is not cleared.

After three days though, I would have expected it to clear. Try talking that through with your voice provider. They can force a line clear ...

BT�s network will wait between 2 and 3 minutes before initiating call clearing.