No landline connection but can get broadband, this happened after an engineer had been out to see my last week

Question

Since the 25th January my broadband connection kept dropping out intermittently and then disappeared altogether. It seems there was a fault on my line and so an engineer came out to fix it. Now I have a connection to my broadband but no landline connection. I have phoned the Post office who I have my landline with and all they do is a line test, say it's o.k. and that's it nobody is bothered. I've even bought new phones but still no connection, it's obvious that it's something the engineer did last week but also I haven't a clue how to sort it out. As I have a disabled son the inconvenience is terrible as we're missing appointments etc. I have got my mobile but of course not everyone has that number. Would it be worth my while paying for a telecommunications person to visit my property? There seems to be quite a lot advertising in the yellow pages.

Answer 1

If your broadband is working then the phone line is also working because they work on the same line. This means that your phone is not connected and this could be simply because the wiring was disturbed. Check the phone cable where it plugs into the wall socket and make sure its connected, if it is hard wired then check if the wires have come loose. If you cannot fix it BT will fix this for you but you will probably have to pay for the visit.

Answer 2

Hi,

If you unplug every thing except a basic phone and plug this into the MAIN socket on in the house, this should work, if it does not work then the problem is with the line. Unfortunately calling BT as others have advised will not help much as you line is now with the post office so you will need to call them not BT.

If however 1 phone works when plugged into the main box then it could be a problem with the extension wiring, if this is the case grab a copy of your free-ad paper and call some one private as they will be cheaper.

Hope this helps you?

Answer 3

Well, if you're broadband is working you clearly do have a working line, so BT's quite correct.  One way to test is to unplug everything, and I mean everything, from the BT socket and plug in a known good phone.  If that is okay, your problem is with your setup within the house.  Maybe duff doubler, filters in the wrong sockets, duff filters, extension leads - can't tell without looking at it.

You know that BT will charge you if you call them out and it's not their problem, so if you're not sure, and it appears you're not, it may well be cheaper (and faster) to call a private phone engineer - they're usually ex-BT anyway.

Answer 4

BT maintain your telephone line. Phone 151 (or 0800 800 151 from a non BT landline) and explain your situation. I really wouldn't phone a telecommunication person. They can only check the equipment as far as your main telephone box. They can't repair it if it's a fault with the overhead cables etc.

What to do is unplug everything in your house. Then connect ONLY a telephone to the main socket. If it works then there is no fault as far as your main socket, if not then the fault is likely to be somewhere between (or at) the BT exchange or Accounts in the Post Office not maintaining your account properly (the Post Office lease the line from BT)

BT should be your first port of call. They can do a line check for you. That's an automated check by sending signals to and from your phone line.

Good Luck !!