If you have no dial tone when picking up your telephone, please follow the steps below to resolve the problem.

Check your cables and make sure everything is connected properly. Your phone cable should be either plugged directly into your master socket, or plugged into the Phone port on your microfilter. The diagram below can help.

Make sure none of your phones are off the hook. If you use a cordless phone, press the end call button

Try using a different phone that you know works, preferably one that isn’t cordless. If the other phone works on your line, you know there’s a problem with your original handset.

If you’ve recently added or changed any devices (like other phones, a router or a TV set-top box), unplug everything. Now test the phone again. If it works, try adding each device back in, one at a time. Test your phone each time you add something back in. This will tell you which device (if any) is causing the problem. If you find something is faulty, you may need to replace it.

Your test socket is located inside your master socket and is the point where the internal wiring in your house connects to the phone line outside. By plugging into your test socket, you bypass all the internal wiring in your home. This makes it the ideal point to test your internal wiring for faults. If your master socket has a removable faceplate then it contains a test socket. You can tell if the faceplate is removable if it has a split in the middle with a screw in each side.

Please be aware if an engineer attends site and the fault is located with internal wiring/equipment a call out charge is applied, anything on the Openreach network will be repaired free of charge. More information on chargeable engineer visits can be found here.

Noise on you phone line can be caused by both internal and external factors.

Please follow the steps below to resolve the problem.

Check your cables and make sure everything is connected properly. Your phone cable should be either plugged directly into your master socket, or plugged into the Phone port on your microfilter. The diagram below can help.

Make sure none of your phones are off the hook. If you use a cordless phone, press the end call button.

Try using a different phone that you know works, preferably one that isn’t cordless. If the other phone works on your line, you know there’s a problem with your original handset.

If you’ve recently added or changed any devices (like other phones, a router or a TV set-top box), unplug everything. Now test the phone again. If it works, try adding each device back in, one at a time. Test your phone each time you add something back in. This will tell you which device (if any) is causing the problem. If you find something is faulty, you may need to replace it.

Your test socket is located inside your master socket and is the point where the internal wiring in your house connects to the phone line outside. By plugging into your test socket, you bypass all the internal wiring in your home. This makes it the ideal point to test your internal wiring for faults. If your master socket has a removable faceplate then it contains a test socket. You can tell if the faceplate is removable if it has a split in the middle with a screw in each side.

Please be aware if an engineer attends site and the fault is located with internal wiring/equipment a call out charge is applied, anything on the Openreach network will be repaired free of charge. More information on chargeable engineer visits can be found here.

First of all, check to see if you have a dial tone, if not please refer to our no dial tone guide above.

If do have a dial tone, but can’t make outbound calls, try calling alternative destinations to ensure the fault is not with the area you are calling or with the recipient’s service. If you are still unable to make outbound calls to other destinations, please complete the below test sheet and return, along with your details to the address at the bottom of the form.

One of our first line incident management specialists will analyse the contents and contact you to explain the next steps required to resolve this issue.

In order for us to verify where the problem is occurring, and to enable us to report the fault to our network engineers, please complete all sections:

If you need to report a line fault to us, we may ask you to confirm the line number. To identify your line number, dial the automated service 17070 from your handset.

This will provide you with the line number your handset is connected to.

If you are still experiencing an issue with your single or multi line, you can conduct a line test through our My Account portal. This may help to determine whether the issue is internal, i.e. within your equipment, or within the Openreach network.

You can then log a fault ticket with our UK based incident management team, who work 24/7 to ensure your services are back up and running as quickly as possible.

Please note, line tests are used as a guide only, and may not be 100% accurate. A line test will not give a result for an ISDN line.