Sorting out my noisy phone line

Same problem here in West Virginia, U.S. Can't hear and have a clear conversation much of the time. Wish I could talk to a human being, and one who is not half way around the world and whom I can't understand due to language/accent barrier. I'm thinking of going back to dial-up connection just to get my phone service back in order.

4 engineer visits over a period of time, same problem-corrosion where the wire from outside enters box inside. Last one was helpful, binned the contents of the box and connected the wires using outdoor grade silicone sealed connectors, they lasted longer than the others (who all said it was/my fault/damp/nothing there etc). One contact corroded away inside the silicone - you can see the black and I kept it to prove. This must be some chemical reaction/electrolitic? I'm no expert, perhaps someone can suggest? I shortened the wires again and connected with automotive block connector - all working again. I shoulde send BT my bill for £120 perhaps?
-location Dalton-in-Furness

Same here in Formby, Merseyside. We have terrible line noise/crackles at certain times throughout the year, mostly daily and I've called to complain about it many times. Following all these calls to BT eventually an engineer was sent out. We were informed that the line was fine and there was not a problem. I insisted that there was, we were continualy getting noise/crackles and I was sure it was the line itself and not any internal equiment as 'I' had unplugged it all. The engineer assured me that the line from the pole to our house had been replaced recently. Funny that!! Nobody has ever entered our house since it was built more than 35 years ago to connect anything to our internal master socket, hmmm, this is where the BT line ends!
Make sure you write all your experiences down folks (I am.) BT won't have a leg to stand on here in future however much they try to deny it.

I have exactly the same problem, haveing antiquated aluminium cable in the road outside. Unfortunately there are only three of us in the lane and so no chance, despite several battles, of getting BT to supply the standard of service I would like. Line chaecker shows ½meg 4k from the exchange!!

Personally I'm now using an expensive but working wimax radio link for my broadband, but why should I have to!!

CT14 postcode

Yes I had the same problem until BT went down their pavement manhole and cleared away the ants nest and debris from around the connections

I too suffer from a BT aluminium wire instalation and the consequential drop of my Broadband connection, this has been ongoing for 3 years and I have already had 6 x engineer visits to my house this year alone, 2 of the visits by Broadband specialist teams (more than 1 engineer). Yesterday I received a BT Home-hub (free - to replace my Belkin N BT compatible router that cost me £86.00 in February) The good news is they have now offered to increase my speed at a cost reduction of around £5.00 (makes sense to me !) AND I got £50 in vouchers for the protracted period I have suffered from an unreliable service for which I pay.
Aluminium can not deliver effective Broadband as it was never designed to do this, so copper wire is the only answer, but I also feel that replacement cable is a step that will never be taken

Always make sure the fault isn't with in your property by proving it to the test socket behind the removable lower part of the master socket .Try 2 phones or borrow next doors.If your not sure or haven't got one you could get a local private telephone engineer (Google telephone engineer + town/city name) to prove its BT Openreachs fault or fix it ,they will charge a lot less than the BT £120 call out + £98/h.

I had the same issue on my home phone/broadband and now have the same issue with business broadband.

Ended up going on for months. Only got sorted when they changed my line over at the exchange.

@ David, Penault
The charges would have been £116.33 call out. They have since dropped a little bit. But the charges are not there to rip you off! The reason BT charge you for internal faults is that YOU purchase equipment and place it on BT's line. BT does not maintain this equipment and it would be unfair to expect them to do so. Of course BT would not charge you to maintain THEIR equipment, that is covered in your line rental. And each time you have a fault that is on BT's equipment, BT Openreach charge BT Retail those exact charges, and they pay them for you. So it is only fair to expect the charges to be passed on to yourself if it is indeed YOUR own equipment which is YOUR choice to have on the line.

yes.
Use a Dehumidifier in the Winter months that will remove the water

British homes generally suffer indoor humidity, especially in the winter months. Humidity causes atmospheric corrosion that can play havoc with low-voltage electrical connections. I was able to reduce the severe crackling noise on my BT telephone line and cure my modem router's sudden line-dropping problems by doing the following:
I purchased a can of electrical switch cleaning spray from an electrical wholesaler. Using the spray and some paper towell, I carefully and systematically switched-off, uplugged, sprayed and gently wiped the contacts on each and every telephone line plug and socket throughout the entire house, including those on the ADSL filters, modem router, telephone answering machine, sky box, wall sockets.......the lot! After careful reconnection and testing, my crackling has fallen to 5% of what it had been and my router has stopped dropping the line.....Job done!
Caution: Where applicable, switch-off affected equipment before you begin. Use the spray sparingly, in very short bursts. Paper towell wetted with spray can be used to wipe over invisible corrosion on contacts. Avoid inhalation and overspray onto plastics, furniture, carpets, fabrics etc. and keep all spray well away from naked fires, your eyes, children, foodstuffs and pets. Wash your skin afterward where it has come into contact with the spray, and bin all dirty papers.

@Nick

He was independent, so obviously charged us! Oh and it was an internal fault and BT quoted us £160 callout and £99 per hour!!! Rip off b*******!