Hi all,
It's a long time since I went through the process of trying to get this issue fixed, and I would have linked to the previous threads if I could have, but the links in my profile now lead to a 404 error.
For reference, this is the old link in my profile with the date and heading of the original topic.
Apart from the severe crackling, we also have the issue of regularly being unable to make an external call, although this can sometimes be fixed by making an incoming call with a mobile. For whatever reason doing this kicks the outgoing ability into life. Sometimes.
At the time, in 2020, while connected to customer services, I went through all the standard procedures of removing the face plate from the front of the Openreach master box, connecting my phone directly to the internal master socket, dialling a call out and then dialling a call in with my mobile, and finally trying all this with a different phone.
All to no avail.
The operator did whatever tests she could from her end, and the outcome of that was the decision to have an engineer come to the house.
And that's as far as I could take it, although I did get a call from an engineer to arrange an appointment.
If you look at the date (March 2020), that is sadly when Covid started to really bite, and with my wife and I being pensioners and her with particularly severe asthmer, we were in one of the most vulnerable groups and couldn't take the chance of allowing anyone into our house. Especially someone who could probably have been in contact with other properties and people.
Covid went on for a long time, and we got used to using our mobile phones in place of the unusable landline. And it's been like that since. An ornament sitting there which we weren't really bothered about.
Until last month.
On January 13th our O2 mobile signal went down in Esh Winning, Durham. And it's still down with the next update from O2 scheduled for the 20th February!!
Apparently this is an upgrade to a single mast which encountered unexpected technical problems. Unbelievable, and this multi-provider outage has now made the local BBC news for the third time.
What this has done is make us realise we do actually need that landline working properly.
Finally, apologies for the lengthy post, which wouldn't have been necessary if I could have either continued on from the previous one, or simply just linked to it.
The point of it also is that I really do not want to jump through all those initiall hoops again with a faulty line and a no doubt very helpful customer services person whose dialect I really struggled with last time. My 74 year old ears are not what they used to be.
I no longer have a spare phone and I would also have to disconnect a large TV from a number of hifi separates and a heavy third party glass swivel stand to access the box behind it.
Can I respectfully request that we continue from where I left off in 2020. The phone hasn't fixed itself during those years and is in fact worse.
Thanking you all sincerely in advance,
Dennis (Dixon)
Staff
