BT phone line problems

[rosyherb]

A young friend has rented a house and paid for BT to reconnect the phone line however there is no dial tone. We have checked the main socket - no dial tone. Between the front door and the main socket there is a small box (RC910206.01 Issue 2) with a phone line going in and one coming out. It would appear that most of the wires in the lines are not connected.
1. Is BT responsible for this box? as they quoted a charge over �200 if a visit identifys the fault is in the house not the incoming line.
2. if 1 is a no - can we connect it up?
3. if 2 is yes, what bits go where?

Thanks - my Friend really can't afford this.

[ChuckFickens]

you should have a master socket somewhere, you can identify this as it will have a two piece face plate like below

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/attachments/cab ling-faceplate-help/485d1194380953-identifying -master-sockets-bt_master_socket_2.jpg

once you have found this undo the two screws on the front and pull the face plate off straight towards you, this will reveal the "test" socket behind. Plug your phone into this and see if you get a dial tone.

If you get no tone on this socket then it is a BT fault, if you do get a tone it is a fault in the wiring in the house and your responsible for sorting it out.

oh and you have checked that the actual phone your using works elsewhere :)

[rosyherb]

HI Chuck
I have already checked the main or master socket and tested using the test socket behind the plate.

My concern is the small extending box that prceeds the master / main socket in the hall. It may be that the main / master socket has been relocated from behind the door to further into the hall. We have no way of knowing wether this has been done by a previous owner or tennant or by BT. If it's the former the financial costs are over �200 if we call out BT.

[Dave-Sandra]

BT is responsible up to and including the main socket. The fault help desk should be able to identify a fault p to the main socket by their remote diagnostics but even if they cant they should be able to confirm that, as long as you are sure your phone you are testing the socket with is OK, then their should be no charge to put the fault right as they should have ensured when the line was reconnected that they tested and had the correct results when the job was completed! Did an engineer visit to connect the line?

[Dave-Sandra]

With regards to connecting the lines in the box. The line is usually on the two wires that are coloured as blue and white on each wire with one having more white than blue and vis versa. either strip off the outer coating from each side of the wires and connect them or push them into the socket using a tiny screwdriver. Check to make sure what colours are connected in your master socket!

[rosyherb]

Thanks, No engineer called it was all done at the exchange I understand, BT have (supossedly) run a test on the line any say they found nothing.

in the box I have orange into the B sq and orange (more) & white going in the A on the strip, blue coming out of the A on the strip and White (more) & blue coming out of the B on the strip.

I will make sure i'm there during the next call to BT, I think they are fobbing my friend off.

Thanks again for the help on this.

[Disco Fever]

Yes BT is responsible for the line from there exchange to the first master socket in your home, so if the fault is in the small box before the BT master socket then it is there fault and they should replace it for free and the small box you'll find has GPO on it somewhere, what ever happened to Gods Poor Orphans my late BT engineer dad used to say....

[theonlyone]

We had a fault on our line and it was
because the line box was outside and
not been looked at for years ..never
cost anything ..but did make the guy
tea with biscuits ....if you look in your
local free paper there are ex BT guys
who now work for themselves ...