Question 1

I’m having problems with a phone line order through my service provider, can you help?

Accepted Answer

Sadly, unless you have a working telephone line within your premises, there is very little we can do to progress an order through your chosen service provider. They are the only ones who can physically connect your line to the network. From experience this can be a very frustrating process waiting for Openreach to complete the work. We are more than happy to give advice and check the problem is within their domain. Please feel free to contact us!

Question 2

I have a crackling noise on my line, what could be causing this?

Accepted Answer

A noisy line is almost always caused by connection in the line feeding your property starting to go faulty. Common factors include damp sockets, damage to cables, overhead lines rubbing against tree branches, and corroded connections. Usually the noise will get progressively worse over time and in some cases, lead to the line going completely dead. To establish whether this fault is outside in the Openreach network, or inside your premises, it is important to try and isolate everything within the property.

This can easily be achieved if you have a master socket with a split front, by plugging a telephone into the test socket. If the noise has disappeared then the fault is certainly within your property. Contact us to locate and repair the fault, or if you don’t have a split front master. We can prove if the fault is internal or external.

A visit from Openreach will be charged at up to £130 just to prove it into your wiring with an additional charge to repair. If the noise is still present in the test socket, then the issue is likely to be within the Openreach network. It is still worth contacting us for advice or a visit as sometimes the fault will still be within your property and potentially chargeable.

Question 3

My telephone rings once then cuts out, what is causing this?

Accepted Answer

This fault is known as a Ring Trip and is quite a common occurrence. It is caused by a part of the wiring putting a partial short on the line making the telephone exchange believe someone has picked up the telephone when the number is called. A majority of these faults tend to be located within the customer’s property, so can often lead to a hefty bill if a Openreach engineer visits. Common causes of this issue are damp sockets, faulty filters or telephone equipment, and damage to internal or external cabling. Contact us for a visit, where we can locate and resolve the issue at a much cheaper price than Openreach.

Question 4

I have cut/damaged my telephone while carrying out gardening/building work, can you help?

Accepted Answer

Yes absolutely. Please contact us for advice, where we will either arrange for a visit to perform a temporary repair for Openreach to complete permanently if in their network, or complete a permanent repair to the same (or higher) quality standard they operate to at a substantially cheaper cost if within your property.

Question 5

My service provider is supplying a fibre to the premises connection, but when I carry out a speedtest the results are much lower than they have quoted, what is the reason for this?

Accepted Answer

With the latest fibre optic broadband connections, it is critical to utilise the best equipment to gain full benefit from the service being provided. We always recommend using hard wired wi-fi access points rather than plug in boosters which will generally cause large losses in speed between each unit.

Question 6

Can you fix a fault on my line if it’s proved in the Openreach network?

Accepted Answer

No sadly not. Although I spent nearly 10 years working on the network climbing hundreds of poles and working in numerous underground boxes, I am not authorised to now work there. This would be effectively trespassing and could lead to legal action against me by Openreach. If I visit your premises and prove the fault into the Openreach network then you will have to contact your service provider to raise a report. I am more than happy to assist with this, as quite often customers get highly frustrated when negotiating the multitude of options when speaking to call centres.

Question 7

You have proved my fault into the BT network, will I still get a bill from them?

Accepted Answer

Ordinarily once we have proved that the issue within the Openreach network, then no further charges will be applied by BT or your service provider. However if there has been damage to their network within your land eg if an overhead wire has been damaged by tree owned by you, or the wire has been brought down by a vehicle on your property then they may charge for the repair, as this will probably involve replacing it right back to the pole. This is outside our control and we will give appropriate advice on our visit.

Common Questions

Frequently asked questions