Line Noise on BT phone line, Will ADSL work?

I am currently looking at getting PlusNet or Zen ADSL, but I currently have
loads of line noise on my normal BT phone line. It is intermittent and
varies from none at all, to sometimes so much that I cannot get a dial up to
the internet to stay connected. I have got BT to come and check it, and
they said they would change something in the wires connecting the house to
the telegraph pole, which worked for a few months then the line noise came
back.

I want to know what happens when I sign up for ADSL self install - I am
worried that this line noise will affect the speed of connection, and I will
end up with the ISP saying that it is BT's problem, and BT saying that it is
the ISP's problem. Because of this I am actually considering using BT as an
ISP, so that they have only themselves to blame, but reading the posts on
this NG, I would prefer not to.

What is the procedure once I sign up with an ISP for ADSL?

Thanks,

Report the line fault. (noisy)
150

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 22:40:24 +0100, Martin Cooper
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>if you have line noise, then you should hassle BT dirctly to get it
>sorted out
No need to hassle anyone. Just ring 150 and report it noisey, they will
com and fix it. So long as the noise is not on your own equipment that
is.

I have in the past contacted BT several times about it... they said the line
is only guaranteed for voice quality, and any use for data (i.e. with a
modem) cannot be guaranteed. However, they did send an engineer out, and on
the day he called, the noise was not noisy!! However, on a second occasion
an engineer came out and it was noisy. He changed some wiring at the box
halfway down the road, which seemed to fix the problem (or at least it was
not noisy when he left), but the noise returned a couple of weeks later.



"cyberdog" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 22:40:24 +0100, Martin Cooper
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >if you have line noise, then you should hassle BT dirctly to get it
> >sorted out
> No need to hassle anyone. Just ring 150 and report it noisey, they will
> com and fix it. So long as the noise is not on your own equipment that
> is.

On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 22:33:06 +0100 and in article <bepup3$r0a$1
@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>, -Captain-Pugwash- said...
> I have in the past contacted BT several times about it... they said the line
> is only guaranteed for voice quality, and any use for data (i.e. with a
> modem) cannot be guaranteed. However, they did send an engineer out, and on
> the day he called, the noise was not noisy!! However, on a second occasion
> an engineer came out and it was noisy. He changed some wiring at the box
> halfway down the road, which seemed to fix the problem (or at least it was
> not noisy when he left), but the noise returned a couple of weeks later.
>
Well that's not acceptable. Get BT out again. There should be _no_
noise on your line.

--
CB

"-Captain-Pugwash-" <Peter@(NoSpam)PBarnfield.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
message news:bepup3$r0a$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have in the past contacted BT several times about it... they said the
line
> is only guaranteed for voice quality, and any use for data (i.e. with a
> modem) cannot be guaranteed. However, they did send an engineer out, and
on
> the day he called, the noise was not noisy!! However, on a second
occasion
> an engineer came out and it was noisy. He changed some wiring at the box
> halfway down the road, which seemed to fix the problem (or at least it was
> not noisy when he left), but the noise returned a couple of weeks later.
>

I had this a while ago before broadband, it was a pain in the bum because
the
noise kept coming and going so it was hard to solve the problem. It took BT
about a week to sort it out, the phone line I use is a dedicated internet
line and
they were very happy to help me. Just dial 150 and report a noisy line, say
it's
useless for accessing the internet. If they get funny about it threaten them
with
the cancelation of the line, that never fails.

When I had noise on the line my narrowband was USELESS, I assume the
same would apply to ADSL.

"-Captain-Pugwash-" <Peter@(NoSpam)PBarnfield.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
message news:ber3hj$jgt$(E-Mail Removed)...
> This is exactly it... sometimes I can get quite a good narrowband
> connection, other times it just keeps dropping the connection or gets
about
> a 12k connection. This is one of the reasons I am looking at getting
ADSL.
> Did BT tell you what the problem was with your line?
>
There was a small connection problem on the telephone pole outside my
house. When I reported the fault the line was really crackly so they did a
line test quickly and noted that it was not a constant problem. As that line
was dedicated internet they did fix it. This was on narrowband and i could
not get any life online, even getting my e-mail was impossible.

Hope BT don't give you anymore crap.

Matt

This is an awfully familiar story. I had intermitent terrible noise on my
phone line at the end of last year to the point where it was sometimes
impossible to hold a conversation , let alone make narrowband connections.

I logged the fault on five seperate occasions and had five different
engineers out to "fix" it. Each one left claiming to have doe something to
resolve the problem, but each time (except the last) the fault was still
there.

For what its worth, the fault I had was a simple loose wiring issue on the
main phone socket. The fifth engineer dismantled my phone socket and one of
the wires from the outside simply fell out of the screw down connector. Why
it took _five_ trained engineers to spot a simple fault like that I'll never
know.

Good luck

Malcolm Burtt

"-Captain-Pugwash-" <Peter@(NoSpam)PBarnfield.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
message news:ben8b2$7bi$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am currently looking at getting PlusNet or Zen ADSL, but I currently
have
> loads of line noise on my normal BT phone line. It is intermittent and
> varies from none at all, to sometimes so much that I cannot get a dial up
to
> the internet to stay connected. I have got BT to come and check it, and
> they said they would change something in the wires connecting the house to
> the telegraph pole, which worked for a few months then the line noise came
> back.
>
> I want to know what happens when I sign up for ADSL self install - I am
> worried that this line noise will affect the speed of connection, and I
will
> end up with the ISP saying that it is BT's problem, and BT saying that it
is
> the ISP's problem. Because of this I am actually considering using BT as
an
> ISP, so that they have only themselves to blame, but reading the posts on
> this NG, I would prefer not to.
>
> What is the procedure once I sign up with an ISP for ADSL?
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>

Probably because of the sheer range of hardware they have to deal with
and the fact that so much of it dates back to who knows when. Also with
so much of the quipement out in the open, any of the "joints" in the
connection could be the cause of the problem. If you've ever had
problems with a car that doesn't like damp weather, you will know what I
mean, it's almost impossible to fix. (of course, you should always start
with the obvious! But cut them a little slack, it's easy to forget
something).


From Malcolm Burtt:

>This is an awfully familiar story. I had intermitent terrible noise on my
>phone line at the end of last year to the point where it was sometimes
>impossible to hold a conversation , let alone make narrowband connections.
>
>I logged the fault on five seperate occasions and had five different
>engineers out to "fix" it. Each one left claiming to have doe something to
>resolve the problem, but each time (except the last) the fault was still
>there.
>
>For what its worth, the fault I had was a simple loose wiring issue on the
>main phone socket. The fifth engineer dismantled my phone socket and one of
>the wires from the outside simply fell out of the screw down connector. Why
>it took _five_ trained engineers to spot a simple fault like that I'll never
>know.
>
>Good luck
>
>Malcolm Burtt
>
>"-Captain-Pugwash-" <Peter@(NoSpam)PBarnfield.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
>message news:ben8b2$7bi$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I am currently looking at getting PlusNet or Zen ADSL, but I currently
>have
>> loads of line noise on my normal BT phone line. It is intermittent and
>> varies from none at all, to sometimes so much that I cannot get a dial up
>to
>> the internet to stay connected. I have got BT to come and check it, and
>> they said they would change something in the wires connecting the house to
>> the telegraph pole, which worked for a few months then the line noise came
>> back.
>>
>> I want to know what happens when I sign up for ADSL self install - I am
>> worried that this line noise will affect the speed of connection, and I
>will
>> end up with the ISP saying that it is BT's problem, and BT saying that it
>is
>> the ISP's problem. Because of this I am actually considering using BT as
>an
>> ISP, so that they have only themselves to blame, but reading the posts on
>> this NG, I would prefer not to.
>>
>> What is the procedure once I sign up with an ISP for ADSL?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>>
>>
>
>

--
Julian Knight,
/--------------------------------------------------------------------\
| *** Remove Anti Spam bits from address for Email Replies *** |
|Home Page: http://www.knightnet.org.uk/ |
|Location : Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom. |
|Occupation: Security, Directory, Messaging, Network & PC Consultant |
\--------------------------------------------------------------------/

"Malcolm Burtt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:beulrj$dfg$(E-Mail Removed)...
"This is an awfully familiar story. I had intermitent terrible noise on my
phone line" "the fault I had was a simple loose wiring issue on the main
phone socket." "Why
> it took _five_ trained engineers to spot a simple fault like that I'll
never"

Did the other four have access to your property? Was it noisy when they were
there? Can anyone be trained to find a fault that is not evident at the time
of a visit? The line may be several miles long - engineers deal with all of
it - not just the last few metres in the house.