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OT: UK phone line problem

My wife's phone line is dead, no dialing tone. This is directly after a visit by our occasional window cleaner. I suspect he strained the line where it leaves an upstairs bedroom, directly below a window he was cleaning while standing on the tiles. But there's no obvious sign, nothing visible.

So I plan to cut the line at X close to the wall and again a few feet further on at Y, a point beyond which the cable seems well protected and unlikely to have been damaged. And check for a voltage. There seems no easy way to first disconnect from the exchange connection, so there will be a voltage present at Y. Therefore inevitably a short will occur when I make that cut. Is that safe to do nevertheless? Presumably there is inbuilt protection for this at the exchange?

Once I find the break I can replace with a new section of cable.

Can anyone think of a smarter way of detecting the precise location of the assumed break *before* cutting it? Would a magnetic earpiece pick up a signal from the voltage carrying section, for example, with no current flowing?

--------- If there are any UK phone experts around, I have a further query please.

This is a Pipex Homecall contract. If we did instead manage to reach Pipex Customer Service (no success so far after many attempts over a period of 30 mins or so - constantly engaged), would they send an engineer to do what I'm proposing to do myself?

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Reply to
Terry Pinnell
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Breach of your service contract to go fiddling. Just report it to the

*cancellations* department. Oh, how many times have you been told to ditch Tiscali?

This would have been better posted under the uk.telecom heirarchy and certainly not to sci.electronics.design

--
Adrian C
Reply to
Adrian C

If it is dead at the master socket, get the service provider in. Anything before this is their responsibility.

--
*Ever stop to think and forget to start again?

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You can also unhook outside the house at the demarc point, cut separate, re-connect.

If the line also has DSL on it you can run a portable AM radio on a vacant frequency along it. Use a low frequency or longwave if your radio has that. Where there is a noticable drop in hash the break would be. But it sure ain't easy to break a wire inside a cable without the whole cable snapping. Sure there isn't a junction box somewhere?

Go on the web and try to find the number of the highest ranking guy there, preferably the CEO. Then have at it. In the US a hint about utility commision complaint sometimes does the trick. Didn't have to do that yet but had to with insurance carriers, twice. Boy did that get a prompt reaction, made them shake in their boots.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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Reply to
Joerg

[snip]

There are tone injectors and tone probes for doing exactly what you want. However, they'll cost you more than you want to pay.

It sounds like you need professional help (telephonically, not psychologically).

Bob

--
== All google group posts are automatically deleted due to spam ==
Reply to
BobW

Well its his wifes phone, and you know how women like their phones !!

don

Reply to
don

Posted similar query there too and have had a helpful reply thanks.

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Reply to
Terry Pinnell

Dave Plowman (News) Inscribed thus:

And not legal for the OP to even touch !

--
Best Regards:
                Baron.
Reply to
baron

That's what turned out to be the case Dave. I wish I'd started at that end. But I was put off by the mess of wires in that junction box and their inaccessibility. And anyway I'd convinced myself it was down to the window cleaner! After finding no voltages before the suspect break section I bit the bullet and tested at source. No voltages there either.

Several frustrating calls later to service support staff of Pipex (Tiscali now I think) in various far parts of the globe, and after getting authorised by my wife to speak on her behalf, I finally have a promise of someone *phoning* me to discuss the problem in 24-48 hours. BTW, during these conversations I was told that no faults had been reported that could be the cause of the problem! It's now 18 hours since we first discovered the issue, so leaves me wondering what

*could* be the cause, and how it could apparently remain undetected?

Just finished repairing my cut in the cable. Six wires, individually soldered and heat-shrinked, and an outer heat shrink on top. Basically the whole morning down the tubes ;-(

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Reply to
Terry Pinnell

But from a reply I've just had in uk.telecoms it seems that conclusion was premature!

"The fault is a short circuit (hence the engaged tone), so with all the wiring connected a short circuit anywhere between exchange and master socket will result in the voltage across the incoming pair being close to zero. Only after disconnecting the wiring beyond the external junction box can you check whether the voltage on the line from the exchange is now back to 50v, or whether it is still near zero, the latter indicating that the fault lies on the exchange side of the external box."

But I didn't *remove* the active pair, I just exposed some bare wire on them and looked for a voltage reading, in vain. Can't do so today, but tomorrow I'll test again, properly this time!

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Reply to
Terry Pinnell

Why an external JB? BT normally bring the external wiring indoors before jointing it.

--
*Aim Low, Reach Your Goals, Avoid Disappointment *

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.
Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

This would be the point where one needs to ponder whether or not to tuck the tail and return to old Missy Bell. At least out here (AT&T land) they are pretty responsive.

Whoops ...

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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Reply to
Joerg

Fixed. OpenReach engineer diagnosed as a shorting pair of wires in a junction box 800m away.

Window cleaner fully exonerated - without ever knowing he was a suspect ;-)

-- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Reply to
Terry Pinnell

Terry Pinnell wrote: [...]

Wait until you guys get hit with all those RoHS tin whiskers ...

--
SCNR, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

I think Telecoms ( and military/Medical) is exempt from RoHS...

Reply to
TTman

Probably so, but eventually COTS gear will sneak in. Stuff that's also sold into other markets with a RoHS requirement and which only comes in one version. Also, in the homes there'd be the DSL modems, DSL filters, answering machines, the telephones themselves etc.

--
Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

Only the military is really exempt. Space segment and other ultra high reliability have conditional exclusions. Medical has a few. And telecom has fewer still. But it will take over ten more years for the regulators (idiots) to find out the truth.

Reply to
JosephKK

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