Ok so who is a telecomms wizard?

Michaelk20

Michaelk20

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My parent have recently moved into a new build house and have been having intermittent problems with the phones since. They can't receive phone calls but can make them, they have tried different phones throughout the house but the only way they can make incoming and outgoing calls is through the master socket under the stairs - this tells me its a wiring issue somewhere in the house.

It is a private infrastructure, so the provider is a company called see the light. The fibre comes into the house and terminates into the fibre box thingy and then thats all they are bothered about, everything their end is supposedly working.

The electricians have been round several times and have tested every telephone socket in the house and there has been no faults or anything so they are racking their brains as to whats happened.

At the minute they are in the middle as as far as the provider is concerned everything their end is fine, and the same with the electricians/builders.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
get a set of 3 or 4 dect phones and place them around the house with the main unit plugged into the master socket
as its a new build its down to the sparks to sort it out as they did the internal wiring
 
Do your parents use Broadband, if so is everything filtered?
Do they have an alarm system that is monitored via the telephone line, if so does the alarm have a dedicated inline filter?
I assume that the electricians have tested for shorts as well as continuity?
As above though, new house it's the house-builders responsibility.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Has anyone actually tried old fashioned diagnostics, like disconnecting each hub or spur line individually in an attempt to narrow the problematic wiring down to one spot.
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Yes, we done this at the beginning and found out that if a master telephone is plugged into anything but the master socket then we have the problems.

terryuk said:
get a set of 3 or 4 dect phones and place them around the house with the main unit plugged into the master socket
as its a new build its down to the sparks to sort it out as they did the internal wiring
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This is being done as a temporary measure, still want it sorted though as its a new house with dysfunctional wiring :|

gramps said:
Do your parents use Broadband, if so is everything filtered?
Do they have an alarm system that is monitored via the telephone line, if so does the alarm have a dedicated inline filter?
I assume that the electricians have tested for shorts as well as continuity?
As above though, new house it's the house-builders responsibility.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the fibre is the only incoming data/telephone service into the house. The fibre connects into a hub box and then this plugs into the houses wiring to make the system 'live'.

I assume they tested for shorts as well as continuity because when they tested it they said that literally nothing was wrong with it. The sparky changed all the faceplates for new ones and he checked the channels etc in which they were wired.

The bottom line is that it is the builders responsibility, we know this, however with them saying they have checked it and nothing is wrong on their part they are pointing the finger at the provider and vice versa

Cheers
 
Michaelk20 said:
Yes, we done this at the beginning and found out that if a master telephone is plugged into anything but the master socket then we have the problems.
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Assuming you mean, as Adam suggested, that spurs were physically disconnected from the master then reconnected one at a time and all had same problem, then surely the fault must lie almost immediately at the master socket [aslo assuming as Gramps said, if broadband is in use, everything is filtered]? Has that been replaced in its entirety as part of the issue to see if that solves the problem?
 
Yv said:
Assuming you mean, as Adam suggested, that spurs were physically disconnected from the master then reconnected one at a time and all had same problem, then surely the fault must lie almost immediately at the master socket [aslo assuming as Gramps said, if broadband is in use, everything is filtered]? Has that been replaced in its entirety as part of the issue to see if that solves the problem?
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Pass, I'm not quite sure on what tests they done, They have been out several times and nothing has changed. The service provider came out and checked the master and everything was fine. I agree it has to be the internal wiring somewhere along the line but they are having none of it!

strumstrum said:
Was the electrician appointed by you or the builder?
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The builder
 
Just a thought but if the cabling doesn't work despite testing ok for continuity, could the problem be interference? Has the internal cabling been routed past/near electrical wiring or some other source of electrical interference? Is the data cabling shielded?

Obviously the visiting engineers are in the best position to assess what's going on but it might be worth mentioning it.
 
ZoneV said:
Just a thought but if the cabling doesn't work despite testing ok for continuity, could the problem be interference? Has the internal cabling been routed past/near electrical wiring or some other source of electrical interference? Is the data cabling shielded?

Obviously the visiting engineers are in the best position to assess what's going on but it might be worth mentioning it.
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I guess as its a new build house that they would install the cabling etc the same way for every house? I live just up the road in a flat built by the same people and everything in my place is working 100% as it should be
 
Michaelk20 said:
I guess as its a new build house that they would install the cabling etc the same way for every house? I live just up the road in a flat built by the same people and everything in my place is working 100% as it should be
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In theory, yes. In practice, not always.
 
There should be two wires connected to the master bt socket, at terminals 2 and 5.

All the other sockets are then connected to the master socket using terminals 2, 3, and 5. (sometimes terminals 4 are also connected together, but this is just cosmetic, it serves no purpose).

If terminal 3 is not connected between the sockets, they will not ring.

Have a look at the diagrams here

You could also try connecting a spare remote socket to the master socket using that diagram and plug a phone in to see if it works. With no other sockets connected to the master, if this one works it shows a problem with the inter-socket wiring.

HTH.
 
david357 said:
There should be two wires connected to the master bt socket, at terminals 2 and 5.

All the other sockets are then connected to the master socket using terminals 2, 3, and 5. (sometimes terminals 4 are also connected together, but this is just cosmetic, it serves no purpose).

If terminal 3 is not connected between the sockets, they will not ring.

Have a look at the diagrams here

You could also try connecting a spare remote socket to the master socket using that diagram and plug a phone in to see if it works. With no other sockets connected to the master, if this one works it shows a problem with the inter-socket wiring.

HTH.
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Cheers, will give that a try.

Surely if its a wiring fault it wouldnt do one ring then cut out though? It just wouldnt work all together?
 
As David357 said the most likely reason is that wire no3 is not connected. This is the bell return wire and whilst you can receive calls it wont ring.
The wire must be connected on all sockets it dosen't matter which colour just make sure it's the same in all of them.
P.S. if they have broadband then a filter must be used on each socket
 
No need for a filter on each socket - he says it's fibre optic broadband and, assuming it's FTTC (I've no idea about FTTP), the new-style vDSL faceplate on the master socket will have seperate sockets for voice and data, and a built-in microfiler.
 
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neil_g said:
Is it a normal sparky? Or one that offers data cabling services?

I've found the former know little about data/voice cabling.
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I believe it will just be a normal sparky, thats all they have sent out other than the one time when they sent someone with telecoms experience.

Bondy said:
As David357 said the most likely reason is that wire no3 is not connected. This is the bell return wire and whilst you can receive calls it wont ring.
The wire must be connected on all sockets it dosen't matter which colour just make sure it's the same in all of them.
P.S. if they have broadband then a filter must be used on each socket
Click to expand...

I have a feeling there is only 2 connected, surely the half telecoms guy mentioned above would have noticed and corrected this though?

ZoneV said:
No need for a filter on each socket - he says it's fibre optic broadband and, assuming it's FTTC (I've no idea about FTTP), the new-style vDSL faceplate on the master socket will have seperate sockets for voice and data, and a built-in microfiler.
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Correct, it goes like this - Fibre>modem hub box thing>cable to master socket & one to wireless and optional rack to enable the other data point in the office - that isnt wired.

It's becoming apparent that they have done a rushed and half arsed job!
 
I would definitely go down the route of a spare remote connected to the master socket using terminals 2, 3, and 5, (Same colour wire to each number, of course!!), then try the remote socket.
 
Bondy said:
As David357 said the most likely reason is that wire no3 is not connected. This is the bell return wire and whilst you can receive calls it wont ring.
The wire must be connected on all sockets it dosen't matter which colour just make sure it's the same in all of them.
P.S. if they have broadband then a filter must be used on each socket
Click to expand...

The bell wire is for really old phones and isn't needed these days. In fact it's recommended to disconnect it as it can introduce noise to the circuit.
 
david357 said:
I would definitely go down the route of a spare remote connected to the master socket using terminals 2, 3, and 5, (Same colour wire to each number, of course!!), then try the remote socket.
Click to expand...

Thanks David will try this out. Seems most logical as you said!
 
neil_g said:
The bell wire is for really old phones and isn't needed these days. In fact it's recommended to disconnect it as it can introduce noise to the circuit.
Click to expand...

You might be right, It was over 20 years ago that I worked for BT:)
 
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