Housephone Help

[Prudie]

Any ideas on this fault - 2 cordless house phones and one old fashioned handset. All can make calls and give last number on 1471 but none ring on an incoming call but you can speak normally if you know someone has called (eg if I ring from my mobile and pick up). Is this a dreaded call to BT line fault?

[sunny-dave]

Try unplugging everything except the old corded phone and ring in again - sounds like one of the dect phone bases has gone wonky.

(for techies - I think something is causing the REN to be too high).

[sunny-dave]

I mean unplugging from the phone socket.

[Prudie]

Cheers Dave but no joy. removed everything, including the Sky splitter and put handset direct to socket. Receives the call but no ring.

[Gizmonster]

I had a problem similar to this a while ago.
Make sure you unplug everything and plug your corded phone into the socket where the BT line comes into the house. If the problem is solved, then you've got a fault on your internal wiring, leading to other sockets in your house. This was our problem, so now we've got a twin set of cordless phones and a corded phone, both plugged into the main socket.
If the problem isn't solved, then it looks like an external line problem ..... the dreaded BT phone call looms :(

[sunny-dave]

You may be able to get a 'reset' done on your line by going through the online BT fault checking/reporting system - I'm with talktalk and so can't actually access the relevant bit of the BT site to confirm this.

Always worth trying the online reporting before the pain of making a call ...

[Buenchico]

I had exactly the same problem a few weeks ago.

The BT engineer, whom I called in, quickly decided that it was likely to be a fault at the exchange. He went to the exchange down the road, quickly fixed the fault and returned to my house after about a quarter of an hour to check that everything was OK (which it was).

So I'm STRONGLY of the opinion that you'll need to contact BT. However please don't bother trying to phone them. The system only allows you to initiate an automated line check, with a promise that you'll be phoned back with the result or (if that's not possible) you can call again and select the 'update' option. The problem is that, when you call back, there's no 'update' option and you simply get invited to start the line test again!

The only way to actually report the fault is to go here:
http://www.bt.com/fault
Click on 'Check my line now' (because, once again, that's the only initial option).
Then, when the line is reported to be OK (as it almost certainly will be), follow the procedure for calling out an engineer.

Chris

[Prudie]

Thanks Chris, I can't begin to tell you how fuming and frustrated I am. I've tried the online help and as you say a line check came back OK. The option was to call an engineer but that seemed a bit drastic. I tried to call but their automated responses made my blood boil. I'll calm down and have another go. If the corded handset into the wall won't ring the fault is not with the phones.