Problems with your line?

 The company providing your line rental maintains your phone line. If your line rental is with BT or another service provider, you will have to contact  them for any faults relating to the following:

• No Dial Tone.
• Telephone not Ringing.
• Crackly or Quiet incoming calls.

 Please Try This First

You will need to check your main BT phone socket to ensure it is in working order. This should be the socket that the incoming line from your service provider goes to. i.e. The company to whom you pay line rental.   The following checks will help you do this:

1. Unplug all devices from your main BT phone socket, including any broadband micro filters.
2. If your main BT point looks like the one
3.  below, you can follow the illustrated instructions.

Remove the bottom part of the box by removing the two screws. Gently ease away the bottom part of the box; please be careful.
Once removed, you will see a test point in the bottom right hand corner. Try connecting a corded phone into this point. [Make sure you use a known good phone, preferably one that you have  tested on a friends or neighbours telephone line!]

If you are now able to make a call, then the fault is with the extension wiring or a piece of your telephone equipment that's connected to an extension. You can try and locate the fault yourself or you can call us to arrange a visit by an engineer. 

If there is still a problem with your test socket, then the fault is probably  external  to your property, ie telephone exchange, or  wiring from  the exchange to your property.

If your phone does not have a test socket and looks like the picture below, then you may need to call an engineer as this socket does not have

a detachable extensions section, which makes it difficult to isolate the extension wiring from the incoming signal. 

I am having difficulty with my phone service. Could this be because of the specific phone equipment I am using?

In some cases, it may be your telephone equipment itself that is causing the problem. Try connecting one corded telephone handset directly into your main BT point as illustrated above, without using any adapters or extension cables. If the problem is no longer evident, the fault may lie with either the phone handset you are using or the wiring to the socket where you experienced the problem.

When I pick up my phone I do not hear a dial tone.

If your telephone line rental is with BT or another service provider you will need to contact them and report a fault. .

When I make a call using my house phone the quality is poor and there is crackling on the line.

Is the problem happening on all phones connected to this line? There may be a problem with the particular handset you are using. If you hear calls clearer on one handset than on another, it's more likely that there's a problem with your handset, rather than with your phone line.
Is the problem only occurring when you call a particular number? If so, it's likely that the fault is with that number, not yours.
Are you a broadband customer? Then you must make sure you are using a micro filter for every piece of equipment connected to your phone line. This includes phones, faxes, Sky TV boxes etc. Micro filters allow you to use broadband and make calls on the same line, and can be purchased from most computer sales outlets. if you are still experiencing problems having tried these and all the suggested advice and checks at the top of this page, please contact the company that provides your line rental. 

When I try to make a call I hear a recorded message.

If you hear a recorded message, the message itself should explain what the problem is. Some messages will be about the number or network you're calling,

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