Phone problem

judexx · 18-09-2006, 18:38

Hope someone can give me some advice.

Yesterday I had a call that my answer machine picked up. The caller (I don't know who) didn't leave a message and must havethought that they had hung up. They hadn't, which meant that I could not use my phone. When I picked it up, I could hear 'office type noise', me hanging up made no difference, and no amount of shouting into the phone got anyones attention.

Thankfully, after about half an hour, they must have realised and hung up properely.

My questions is, if this were to happen again, who should I contact ? Obviously I would have to use my mobile or a neighbours phone, but who can listen in to such a call and terminate it ? Is it still the BT operator - if so what number would I call from a mobile ?

TIA

Jude

Paul K · 18-09-2006, 19:31

AFAIK BT can only do that on BT lines and even then have to be very careful with what they do. Sounds more like a fault somewhere not closing the line as it should have closed when you put the phone down at your end.

m419 · 18-09-2006, 19:40

That happens a lot to me.

What I do I press the hook down several times and until it cuts the other person off evenutally.

BT has no control over NTL's telephone network and does not provide any direct services to NTL customers. 100-Operator service,155-International operator and Emergency services are provided by Cable and Wireless on NTL,Telewest,T-Mobile/Virgin and Wight Cable.

And another thing, there is no way of accessing BT operator services except by dialling 100 or 155 from a BT line or payphone.

If your a Telewest customer, when you dial 100 and select option 1 for onward connect, you'll be charged 50p plus a premium per minute.

Fingy · 18-09-2006, 20:07

If someone has phoned you and not hung up their phone correctly if you unplug all your phones from their sockets for about 10 minutes this will clear your line.
hth

m419 · 19-09-2006, 16:26

It is kind of annoying though when this happens, they should find a way of stopping this where you can force off incomming calls like mobile phones.

Another problem has been mentioned in another forum about Voip, when Voip users have hung up after an outgoing or incomming call, the call is still connected which is a pain when you need to make an important phone call. The mentioned company was Vonage. I'm sorry but I cannot specify the name of the forum as it is against the T&C's of Cable Forum.

fudge · 19-09-2006, 20:02

we are getting the same thing , no one at other end and it takes a couple off mins . to get ring tone back. This happens to us at least once a week.

m419 · 19-09-2006, 20:34

What on a standard landline or Voip?

If you call someone and you can't cut them off, its worth complaining to ofcom if your landline company doesn't fix it as your paying for calls which should have been disconnected. However, if its incomming calls, then there isn't much landline companies can do about it.

Fingy · 19-09-2006, 22:02

Sorry, but its simple, next time it happens just unplug your phone from the socket for 10 minutes.. at least give it one try, you could be sitting in a queue to complain about it for longer.

m419 · 20-09-2006, 19:21

Thats what you can do with incomming calls and theres no point complaining since there isn't anything you can do about it.

But I was refering to outgoing calls which means when you put the phone down, the call should end, but if you lift the handset again and the call is still connected, your still paying for the call and you've no idea how long the call is going on for.

judexx · 20-09-2006, 23:27

Hi
The call was incoming, as described in original post.

Thanks for the replies, I'll try unplugging all the phones for 10 mins if it happens again.

cheers

Jude