My landline isn't working - HELP !!!?

Question

There has been a fault with the phonelines locally. Today BT fixed my neighbour's phone but when I got home from work, I found that mine wasnt working. Strange thing is, my broadband is working. Last month I got broadband from Tiscali and part of the deal was I now pay them for my phone bills and no longer get any bill from BT. Will BT now refuse to fix the fault with the line?

Answer 1

Even though your line is now rented from Tiscali, the network cables are still the BT ones.

Call Tiscali and tell them about the next door neighbour engineer visit and THEY WILL call BT and ask them to fix it.

As you stand now, You are not the BT customer, Tiscali is, so let Tiscali chase them up for you.

Answer 2

If your broadband is working I'd suggest your plant not your line is at fault. Try a known working telephone in the socket and see if that helps.

Answer 3

The symptoms you describe suggest a short on the line.  

Go to your master jack, the one to which the outside telephone line runs.  On a modern installation it will be an NTE5, on which the lower section which has the socket you connect to is on a removable panel.   Undo the two small screws and pull that plate straight out.  That will disconnect all your extension wiring in the rest of the house.  

Behind the plate you will see another telephone jack.  Take one of your known good phones and plug it straight into that socket.   If you still get no dialtone and calling your number from your cellphone still gives you a busy signal, then the fault is outside and the responsibility of the phone company.  

All the outside lines are still maintained by BT, in the guise of the new OpenReach division, but OpenReach simply works on the lines as requested by the various companies involved.  As you are now paying Tiscali for your service, it is Tiscali to whom you should report the fault.  They will then contact OpenReach to have the fault investigated and corrected.

Answer 4

If you still pay line rental to BT then they will be responsible for fixing it.  If not then Tiscali will be.

Best of luck getting BT to fix it........I had problems for years and they were very reluctant to send out an engineer.