Telephone not ringing

[jenningsp]

We have had several reports of people calling us, getting a ringing tone, but our phones do not ring. This seems unlikely to me but my wife is convinced it is happening. We have three phones connected to various extension points in the house but none appear to ring. Talktalk have checked the line and say everything is working fine and they can find no fault. Does anyone recognise this a possible fault and has anyone got any advice as to how to track it down so that it can be corrected?

I should add that generally it works ok - I have tested it many times from a mobile and it always works.

Thank you

 

[EightyTwo]

Does your answerphone pick up the calls?

 

[jenningsp]

We do not have the answer phone option configured. I guess this could be a good idea given the problem we think we have.

 

[Europlex]

Seen / heard of that loads of times over the years, don't know what the answer is, but it can / does happen. Change providers if they are that thick.

They don't want to have to, possibly, pay Openreach to check it out for them.

 

[joe-90]

If you try it from your mobile and it works then it's your imagination.

If you are in the house for the day, pick up the receiver every now and again and do 1471 and it'll tell you if you had a call or not.

Either that or disconnect the extensions and see if it works.

 

[kbdiy]

Ring the landline from a mobile and go off-hook on one of your phones while listening to ring tone on the mobile. Does it trip the ringing and open a speech circuit?

If yes, then the fault is likely to be internal - could be one of your phones or a wiring fault. If you cannot trip ringing then most likely external/ provider problem. Best if you can test with all phones disconnected except one, preferably the one connected at the master socket.

 

[bernardgreen]

One possible reason is a short between bell wire ( terminal 3 ) and A wire ( teminal 5 ) either in the wiring or a faulty hook switch in a phone ( receiver not properly replaced maybe ).

Having 2 master sockets ( using a master as a slave ) and a reversal on the pair ( 2 and 5 ) between them with terminal 3 connected will put two capacitors across the line in series and short out the ringing voltage.

Some phones have internal capacitors which can become incorrectly connected across the line to create a similar short when there is a 2-5 reversal.

Although disputed it is considered that having too many phones on the line can trip a protective device on the line card at the exchange that removes the ringing voltage from the the line. The total REN total must be 4 or less.

 

[cajar]

A socket reversal if my memory serves causes constant ringing as soon as you pick any handset up so I expect you'd notice if that were the case. Loads of phones or three phones with other kit with lots of capacitance can impair the ring, though in 14 years of bt work I have never known of a protective device removing ringing voltage from the line.

Since it's intermittent and if you're happy the complainer isn't just ringing the wrong number or your mobile while you're at work (like an elderly aunt) then I'd isolate the master socket and leave one phone in there for a time and see if it happens and gradually add more devices and extension wiring till the problem comes back. If you report it to your provider unless you're lucky they'll send someone out to phone it while in your house, get a good line test and walk away with a charge for callout.

 

[peterpumpkin]

I remember a fault like this, it turned out to be the hansdset in the bedroom not fully down on the cradle due to a lip around the edge of the bedside cabinet top not allowing the handset to go fully down.Apparently when you pick up the handset, it short circuits the bell before putting a loop on the line.
As already said just plug a good phone into the NTE5.