Noise on phone line.

[DavidNW]

Hello,

Every time I call someone on my landline, I can hear 'noise', a kind of crackling/hissing on the line. The person I am calling says they can't hear any noise at all. I removed the lower faceplate of the phone socket and plugged the phone directly into the 'test' socket - the phone line is perfectly clear.

Have not been able to contact my service provider about the problem. Was wondering if I could buy a new lower faceplate and hope that solves the problem. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

[DerekS]

GCHQ , say no more .

[SapperGB]

Originally Posted by DavidNW

Hello,

Every time I call someone on my landline, I can hear 'noise', a kind of crackling/hissing on the line. The person I am calling says they can't hear any noise at all. I removed the lower faceplate of the phone socket and plugged the phone directly into the 'test' socket - the phone line is perfectly clear.

Have not been able to contact my service provider about the problem. Was wondering if I could buy a new lower faceplate and hope that solves the problem. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

Before you go spending out, a little more info would help. when you plugged into the test socket, I assume you plugged just your phone in and omitted all other equipment (extensions/sky/broadband etc)? My first port of call would be to check all of your installed microfilters.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by DavidNW

Hello,

Every time I call someone on my landline, I can hear 'noise', a kind of crackling/hissing on the line. The person I am calling says they can't hear any noise at all. I removed the lower faceplate of the phone socket and plugged the phone directly into the 'test' socket - the phone line is perfectly clear.

Have not been able to contact my service provider about the problem. Was wondering if I could buy a new lower faceplate and hope that solves the problem. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

Try unplugging just your broadband and seeing if the noise disappears. Could your broadband filter be faulty, have you a spare you could try?

[DavidNW]

Originally Posted by SapperGB

Before you go spending out, a little more info would help. when you plugged into the test socket, I assume you plugged just your phone in and omitted all other equipment (extensions/sky/broadband etc)? My first port of call would be to check all of your installed microfilters.

Thanks for the replies all. Okay, attached broadband filters and then plugged into the test socket and the phone line is perfectly clear. Refitted lower faceplate then plugged phone line in with filters and the 'noise' is back!

[SapperGB]

ok, so it does seem to be the socket/wiring

do you know what socket you have? a pic would be handy.....

in fact take a look here and see if you can ID it http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by DavidNW

Thanks for the replies all. Okay, attached broadband filters and then plugged into the test socket and the phone line is perfectly clear. Refitted lower faceplate then plugged phone line in with filters and the 'noise' is back!

Did you get the router plugged in too and get it to connrect, with the filter in the back plate? You will only get the noise, which the filter is supposed to filter out, when the router is actually connected to the broadband.

Have you something else on the line, like a fax, fax/modem?

If not you need to check out your internal phone wiring and the extension sockets, disconnecting one at a time - you will need an IDC tool to reconnect them.

[DavidNW]

Originally Posted by SapperGB

ok, so it does seem to be the socket/wiring

do you know what socket you have? a pic would be handy.....

in fact take a look here and see if you can ID it http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

Hello,

My socket is the same as the first picture in the link you kindly provided. Many thanks.

[DavidNW]

Originally Posted by HarryM1BYT

Did you get the router plugged in too and get it to connrect, with the filter in the back plate? You will only get the noise, which the filter is supposed to filter out, when the router is actually connected to the broadband.

Have you something else on the line, like a fax, fax/modem?

If not you need to check out your internal phone wiring and the extension sockets, disconnecting one at a time - you will need an IDC tool to reconnect them.

Yes, router plugged in as well and connecting to the Internet via a filter plugged into test socket. No fax attached.

[SapperGB]

So we have an NTE5 socket.

Can you confirm the following

• you have just the phone and router connected (no sky box, no fax etc). and you have a microfilter in place
• You have No extension cables whatsoever and everything is connected to the master socket faceplate directly.
• you have carried out the BT quiet line test (17070 then option 2) with a standard touch tone phone (not a wireless one) and there is a distinct improvement by using the test socket with the exact same equipment plugged in as you have had on the faceplate.
• you have tried unplugging the router and tried just the phone directly (omitting the microfilter) in the socket with no improvement
• you have connected the router and phone AND the microfilter together in the test socket and it has improved.

If the above is all true then the fault really does lie with your equipment im afraid. its likely that BT would charge for a call out.

What im trying to check is that you have carried out steps to rule out the microfilter as these are more likely to fail.

Its not very often that a standard faceplate would fail - but wires may become loose and/or oxidized. I would make an attempt to rewire the socket first - the tool you would need is a Krone IDC punchdown tool however you may find a suitable alternative at home (ive used a credit card before with success). Try to reconnect at least 10mm up the wire away from the current connection, then trim the loose ends with side snips.

don't connect the orange/white wire - this is the bell wire and is no longer needed on modern exchanges - note that is the ORANGE wire with WHITE markings (not the other way around).

If this fails and you are 100% sure that the faceplate is at fault then a replacement seems to be your only option, I would buy a filtered faceplate, one of the first 3 offerings at the link below will do the job (assuming you are correct in the ID of your master socket - the bottom half being removable) but don't get sucked into buying the BT I-plate, theyre pointless as we are going to remove the bell-wire connection anyway and al lthese do is filter out signals from this. whereas one of the 3 ive pointed to are truly filtered and you will be able to do away with the ADSL microfilter altogether.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/adsl_splitters-faceplates.htm