Landline Losing Periodic Connection

[fredtheted]

I wonder if anyone could make a few suggestions.
I am currently experiencing problems with my telephone landline, since last Tuesday,in that the line goes 'dead' for hours at a time.
When picking up the receiver nothing is heard, but would be calls get an 'engaged' tone. The 'LED' screen on the telephone is also blank, denoteing no signal is coming through.
After a period of time the phone line is 'live' again and able to accept or take calls, but the line can suddenly go 'dead', as like last Saturday in the middle of a call to Customer Services.
I did have an engineer call last Saturday, but sods law said that the line would be OK. It was, be said everything was fine, He reckoned that unless the line was 'dead' he could not find the fault. He suggested phoning when the line was next down. I told him how could I with no phone and also I had a job to go to.
Then within half an hour of him leaving the line went dead again. All leads are ok and I even bought a new telephone, but to no avail. It is impossible to speak to customer services. I was on the phone waiting to speak to them on Saturday on 3 occasions, waiting in line for an operative a total of 2 hours.
I had to go around to my daughter's to use her phone as using a moble, at Virgins prices, would cost the earth. It is even more bitter when you consider I should be having free calls on my land line. An operative from India took my mobile number and said he would call on Sunday afternoon to check if line was not working
The line was working on Sunday morning, but was 'dead' from 12 o/c to 7 o/c, but of course no call was received from customer services, as promised. I then waited 45 minutes to speak to an operative, who is going to send another engineer, but the earliest is Wednesday. Sod's law will say that the phone will be working again when he arrives.
In all, my Saturday/Sunday was ruined attempting to resolve this ongoing problem, which cannot be too hard to resolve.
Hope anyone can help.

[Rhyming Obituary]

Hi,

it sounds like you're suffering from a blocked line.

It occurs much like if the telephone is left off the hook - you'll get a dead line and anyone calling will get a permanent engaged tone.

It's typically something physical that causes the problem such as the telephone or a problem with cabling or connections between your phones and the cab. The reason it could be happening intermittently could be a dodgy connection in the cab or a nick in the cable.

Try removing your telephone and any other extensions & equipment from the line and plug in a chorded phone that you know to be working normally. If that doesn't resolve a problem you'll need another technician visit. Due to the nature of the fault, when the tech attends, make sure he's thorough eliminating the equipment, master socket cabling and cabinet as the fault can be with any of these.

You can call 151 when the landline is up and running (freephone) to the faults department open between 8am and midnight, it's obviously much quieter after 8.

[Paul4]

I had exactly the same trouble for at least a month.

After a few goes ringing Virgin (I'm really not prepared to sit there for 20 minutes), I got through and tried to explain my simple problem. This also took a few goes! The chap said I should ring the next time it happens. I said that that wasn't possible as it entails using a phone, and wasn't prepared to use any more of my mobile money. He said there wasn't any point in investigating the fault if it wasn't manifesting at the time. I managed to get him to send someone out anyway, to see if the engineer could find anything.

Some days later a very nice man called Paul came and "fixed it". There were two wires in the master socket touching that shouldn't be, blamed on the plasterers who did the hall. He then wisely said I should try it while he was there. No dialling tone. At just the right moment, the fault at the exchange had kicked in, contrary to sod's law. He went to the exchange or somewhere to see what he could find. Half an hour later he rang back to tell me he had instantly found two very obvious faults. All fixed now as far as I am aware.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

[PS1]

Any decent "engineer" should be able to find a fault whether the phone is completely dead or not.The problem seems to be that many of these so called above mentioned are in fact only installers.Not their fault i know,but it doesnt help the poor old out of service customer does it

[Arch Stanton]

Intermittent faults are by their very nature notoriously difficult to fix first time. Could be a problem within the cabling from your home to the street cabinet. Then there is also the line card in the PMux, I have known these to also cause probs. All I can suggest is be persistent with CS to get someone out to look at your line.

[fredtheted]

The engineer was supposed to have arrived between 12 and 4 today, but phones and asked my wife the problem. When told he told her it sounded like there was a problem with the box, particularly as we found out one of our neighbours had the same problem.
I the engineer said he would investigate and sort out the problem the call my wife back.
She is still awaiting this call 4 hours later.
Mind you she says the phone has not disconnected yet.
Many thanks for all your suggestions.
Long live Virgin Media.

[Nedkelly]

Sounds like there was a problem in the dsa/mux if others in the area were having the same problem .Glad to hear its fixed

[Lucie from SW16]

Originally Posted by fredtheted

I wonder if anyone could make a few suggestions.
I am currently experiencing problems with my telephone landline, since last Tuesday,in that the line goes 'dead' for hours at a time.
When picking up the receiver nothing is heard, but would be calls get an 'engaged' tone. The 'LED' screen on the telephone is also blank, denoteing no signal is coming through.
After a period of time the phone line is 'live' again and able to accept or take calls, but the line can suddenly go 'dead', as like last Saturday in the middle of a call to Customer Services.
I did have an engineer call last Saturday, but sods law said that the line would be OK. It was, be said everything was fine, He reckoned that unless the line was 'dead' he could not find the fault. He suggested phoning when the line was next down. I told him how could I with no phone and also I had a job to go to.
Then within half an hour of him leaving the line went dead again. All leads are ok and I even bought a new telephone, but to no avail. It is impossible to speak to customer services. I was on the phone waiting to speak to them on Saturday on 3 occasions, waiting in line for an operative a total of 2 hours.
I had to go around to my daughter's to use her phone as using a moble, at Virgins prices, would cost the earth. It is even more bitter when you consider I should be having free calls on my land line. An operative from India took my mobile number and said he would call on Sunday afternoon to check if line was not working
The line was working on Sunday morning, but was 'dead' from 12 o/c to 7 o/c, but of course no call was received from customer services, as promised. I then waited 45 minutes to speak to an operative, who is going to send another engineer, but the earliest is Wednesday. Sod's law will say that the phone will be working again when he arrives.
In all, my Saturday/Sunday was ruined attempting to resolve this ongoing problem, which cannot be too hard to resolve.
Hope anyone can help.

I am not with Virgin, but had the same problem with TalkTalk. It started to happen when they were up-grading their exchange for higher speed broad-band. Eventually it was solved their end, although I went through a few diagnostic tests in the meantime on their advice. i.e. take the panel off your phone socket and plug a phone directly there. Sometimes filters can cause these intermittant faults or you have a doggy connection elsewhere.

Hope this helps, Lucie