No landline dialling tone - storm damage?

[Rosetta]

Wondered if anyone else had this problem? I have a landline because the mobile signal in this house is poor. Yesterday the phone started to repeatedly call me and make strange noises. When I picked the phone up there were peculiar noises in the line. Within a few hours there wasn?t any noise at all.

My WiFi is with same provider and is working. Was wondering if anyone else had same problem. I?m in Oglander Road. I have managed to report it online to Plusnet with great difficulty. They kept telling me to call them.

[Penguin68]

Plusnet is a BT owned company and the network it uses is BT's. Broadband and telephony are likely separated in your delivery, so having broadband and not having telephony is entirely possible. The fault may lie in overhead distribution, in a cabinet or an underground chamber (which could be flooded) - and may well be storm associated. BT Openreach will need to check where the fault lies in the network, which they do as an 'arm's length' wholesale supplier to Plusnet (the same relationship they also have with BT Retail and any other wholesale customer). Depending on the scale of any local storm damage this may take time. You should be able to make (a lot of) voice calls over your WiFi/ broadband network using an appropriate ap and your mobile.

[Rosetta]

Thanks for your reply. My phone called me once again and I?ve heard crackling on the line. Now nothing again. I cannot believe how unhelpful Plusnet gave been, no email acknowledgement of my complaint.

[Sue]

I can't help with your phone problems, but I'd just like to defend Plusnet, who really went the extra mile in sorting out an issue I had recently.

Admittedly that was one particularly helpful person, had I had somebody else it might have been different.

Could you not phone Plusnet via a mobile, btw?

[Trinnydad]

Always had superb service from PlusNet and from what you have said, this is clearly an Open Reach issue.

Phone calls and internet signals come down the same cables but they have different frequencies. The phone line signal is much more prone to loss of quality when the line deteriorates due to poor connections or water damage. This unusually manifests itself as audible crackling on the phone.

If you get internet but not phone then it is a line issue and it is Open Reach and so it is up to your phone provider to take it up with Open Reach.

[Rosetta]

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I can't help with your phone problems, but I'd

> just like to defend Plusnet, who really went the

> extra mile in sorting out an issue I had

> recently.

>

> Admittedly that was one particularly helpful

> person, had I had somebody else it might have been

> different.

>

> Could you not phone Plusnet via a mobile, btw?

I?ve made contact with them by email. The signal in my house with a mobile is dire and cuts out. They told me they would get back to me but haven?t. I used to find them helpful but in the last year they have been dire. Consistent overcharging every month, then apologies and blame on a new billing system. Eventually told me I?d have to start over with a new account as they could not fix the overcharging issues. They then tried to charge me an exit fee of more than ?200 when it was their decision. They kept apologising but nothing was sorted. Threats to cut me off because I didn?t pay them money I didn?t owe them. They eventually offered me several months ?free?, as an apology. Prior to that they?d been limiting the broadband and phone use. They set up a second direct debit in my bank account without my permission. It was a very surreal experience. I?ve been with them since 2009.

[Sue]

Not intending to be funny, but you don't have to use a mobile only in your house!

If you don't own a mobile because of the poor signal in your house, could you not phone them from somebody else's mobile or landline somewhere else?

Only sometimes it's a lot quicker to sort things out over the phone (or by live chat online) because you aren't waiting for somebody to reply to an email.

I imagine the terrible billing issues you had are a totally different department.

[Rosetta]

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Not intending to be funny, but you don't have to

> use a mobile only in your house!

>

> If you don't own a mobile because of the poor

> signal in your house, could you not phone them

> from somebody else's mobile or landline somewhere

> else?

>

> Only sometimes it's a lot quicker to sort things

> out over the phone (or by live chat online)

> because you aren't waiting for somebody to reply

> to an email.

>

> I imagine the terrible billing issues you had are

> a totally different department.

I did do a live chat eventually but even during that they kept trying to get me to phone them and then hanging up. I am currently unwell so don?t want to go anywhere to make phone calls. Their website used to be much better and you could raise an issue which they would log and then get back to you.

I would advise anyone with Plusnet to go over their bills to check for overcharging. I found overcharging going back to beginning of 2018.

[JohnL]

I've had Openreach issues managed through Sky recently and logged on to the sky community forum. There's a lot of issues going on. I got the best service by instant messaging on my mobile - but the biggest part of the problem is getting through to the right department - make notes of every phone call and ask them to add everything to the ticket so it's easier next time.

I ended up having my master socket replaced by an openreach engineer but appointments aren't easy to get.

edit: instant messaging == live chat :)

[Rosetta]

Happy to report my landline is now working, but there is still some crackling.

[Sue]

Excellent! Apart from the crackling!

Hope you feel better soon x