Dream Weaver

Due to our house flaling through we are currently decorating the lounge. Last night i tried to disconnect an old radiator to remove the paper behind it, and ended up twisting the valve so its been leaking since last night slowly.

The main phone wire which comes in from outside runs under said radiator, and has got a little bit damp - nothing major though.

Problem is, our phone line is now terrible - its crackling so bad I cant hear anyone when they ring and my net connection disconnects after 5 minutes which is well annoying!!

Anyone any ideas what i can check myself?

David_Wallis

sounds like a loose connection more than water damage.. dry it using a hair drier and see what happens.. if not deny all knowledge and call out service provider, ie ntl or BT.

David

Dream Weaver

How much would BT charge me for looking?

TBH it could do with an overall, as the previous bodgers have done some funny stuff with the connections. The main wire currently runs from outside through the lounge into the kitchen phone box. Another wire then runs back into the lounge box, then a third wire runs under the stairs (where there are bare wires twisted together) and then up into the upstairs.

Wires all look old and fragile, but we are not staying here for long so dont want to spend mega $

Mark Miwurdz

Nothing - just report it as a fault (assuming that BT are your provider, of course )

Cheers
Kav

scooby-tc

iTrader: (2)

Look for the supposed damaged part of the cable,cut it out and connect the 2 ends with a block 79A (small square 6 pin junction box) available from CEF and most hardware places,then join the blues to the blues,oranges to oranges etc.Water damage does indeed cause crackling lines but only if it penetrates the sheathing covering the copper wires

good luck

bob gray

iTrader: (1)

Dont call bt if you can help it, they will definetly try to charge £60 min, trust me i work for them and they have a major campaign on charging.try and sort it yourself if you can. Bt will only go to the main socket any thing off it is yours, try to disconnect the extensions.Fault reception will test the line if its okay they will try to get you to sort it or a chargeable visit...

David_Wallis

dw.. its easy enough to do yourself for less than 20 - 30 quid.. drop me a mail if you want a hand or need info.

David

darlodge

I can second what Bob said.

If BT come out and find that the problem is not with the line to the house they WILL charge you a fee for the visit. I was charged £50 for a visit before he even started fixing the problem. I was not bothered about the fee, I'd rather pay BT £50 then me try and fix it and need a cowboy to come and fix it and charge me double.

The engineer that came to our house said that BT's responsibility ends at the box that sits on the wall, the face plate (bit your phone cable plugs into) was mine. My problem was the cabling from the first box (downstairs) to upstairs. I had a really really crackly line and finallly got pi$$ed off and phoned BT.

Problem fix, wallet £50 lighter

Darren

Dream Weaver

So, how easy is it to just rewire the whole lot if I buy a shed load of wiring? Surely it is a case of just matching the coloured wires up?

If not, I know a good phone engineer that could do it - cost is not a problem really.