Phone Sockets Don't work

[EvianBaby]

I don't really want to call out an engineer and get charged a fortune for this so thought I'd ask here first.

Moved into new house on 11th. Early last week my phone and internet provider (O2) text me to say my phone and broadband were now connected.

I plugged everything in and nothing happened. I called my house number from my mobile. It made the ringing sound through my mobile but the house phone itself did not ring. I tried it in another socket downstairs and same thing. No dialing tone. I then tried a different phone in the sockets. Nothing. Finally I decided to try with the socket in the bedroom and hey presto, it worked.

So for some reason the phone sockets downstairs do nothing. I unscrewed the socket face and plugged the phone into the main socket underneath but that made no difference.

Has anyone got a clue what the problem might be? It's a bit annoying having the phone and router in the bedroom because I have to keep covering it all up at night so the lights don't keep me awake.

[Hymie]

From your description of the fault – it would suggest to me that either your downstairs sockets are not connected or that there is a break in the wiring (to them).

I can only suggest you trace the wiring back to a common point (with the working bedroom) – there may be a plug out of a socket, or not fully home. It would also be worth unscrewing each socket outlet to visually check the wiring. Other than that, you might have to consider replacing the wiring, which can be done fairly cheaply – it is only a question of routing the wiring neatly.

Take care with access to the bare telephone wiring/connections – there can be up to 120Vac from a telephone ringing signal. It probably won’t kill you – but it will certainly wake you up.

[The Builder]

Try and identify your line socket Evian. It's the only one that BT are responsible for. The main incoming cable connects into the back of it. All yours come from that.
Assuming your bedroom socket is one of yours, BT will charge for a call-out if the line socket turns out to be ok.

[whiskeryron]

As The Builder says locate your master phone socket, then if you want to start from scratch buy this kit.

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[chas2008]

many problems on extensions can be due to the cable being laid under carpets (and its not uncommon for BT to have done this in the past) over time walking over the carpet just wears & breaks the cable,once broken it can short and knock out other sockets. As said locate the master socket and work from there..