The Lemon Fool

We are staying in one of our holiday lets for the first time this year, because that is how we find any issues that guests have not reported.

The landline phone isn't working. It is corded i.e. directly attached to the broadband microfilter. When I try to call TO the landline phone it rings but picking up the handset does not answer the call - in fact the ringing still continues. When trying to dial out, there is no ring tone and pressing buttons to dial a known number does not make a call.

To add to the complication we upgraded from Sky slow broadband to Sky Broadband Superfast a couple of months ago and our agent did the upgrade, so I don't know exactly what they did. Does Sky superfast have WiFi only phone? I have a feeling it might, so I connected the phone to the phone port on the router and went through the router reset and power-off/on routine recommended on the Sky website for that type of connection. However the voice light on the router still didn't come on and now the phone won't even ring.

I am confused. Might buy a cheap new phone tomorrow and see if it works.

Any ideas?

Thanks
C

Clariman wrote:The landline phone isn't working. It is corded i.e. directly attached to the broadband microfilter. When I try to call TO the landline phone it rings but picking up the handset does not answer the call - in fact the ringing still continues. When trying to dial out, there is no ring tone and pressing buttons to dial a known number does not make a call.

Well that sounds very much like the "hook" -- the button(s)/lever that the handset keeps pressed down when it's in the cradle and lifts when it isn't -- is stuck/broken. If it's just stuck then maybe banging on it a few times might free it up.

mc2fool wrote:

Clariman wrote:The landline phone isn't working. It is corded i.e. directly attached to the broadband microfilter. When I try to call TO the landline phone it rings but picking up the handset does not answer the call - in fact the ringing still continues. When trying to dial out, there is no ring tone and pressing buttons to dial a known number does not make a call.

Well that sounds very much like the "hook" -- the button(s)/lever that the handset keeps pressed down when it's in the cradle and lifts when it isn't -- is stuck/broken. If it's just stuck then maybe banging on it a few times might free it up.

Thanks. It certainly bounces up when the handset is picked up. Will test it again in the morning.

Clariman wrote:

mc2fool wrote:

Clariman wrote:The landline phone isn't working. It is corded i.e. directly attached to the broadband microfilter. When I try to call TO the landline phone it rings but picking up the handset does not answer the call - in fact the ringing still continues. When trying to dial out, there is no ring tone and pressing buttons to dial a known number does not make a call.

Well that sounds very much like the "hook" -- the button(s)/lever that the handset keeps pressed down when it's in the cradle and lifts when it isn't -- is stuck/broken. If it's just stuck then maybe banging on it a few times might free it up.

Thanks. It certainly bounces up when the handset is picked up. Will test it again in the morning.

Then most likely it's the switch inside that the lever/button operates internally that's the problem.

Presuming it's not fibre to the premises, did the upgrade involve a change to the latest master socket?

If so, these have a built-in microfilter and the phone plugs directly into the faceplate socket.

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/getti ... ave-i-got-

I bet that no tenant uses the landline phone anyway so does it really matter?

Dod

Dod101 wrote:I bet that no tenant uses the landline phone anyway so does it really matter?

Dod

If a phone's on the inventory then a tenant has every right to *expect* it to work, and to complain if it doesn't! The OP is merely attempting to Do the Right Thing.

Maybe it's also an area of inadequate mobile reception for one or more mobile network?

UncleEbenezer wrote:

Dod101 wrote:I bet that no tenant uses the landline phone anyway so does it really matter?

Dod

If a phone's on the inventory then a tenant has every right to *expect* it to work, and to complain if it doesn't! The OP is merely attempting to Do the Right Thing.

Maybe it's also an area of inadequate mobile reception for one or more mobile network?

Correct on both points, although it is a holiday let so would not become a long running issue. Also discovered the microwave isn't working and no guests reported it.

Thanks everyone. The Sky broadband change was a red herring but you all knew that didn't you. A new phone sorted the problem, plugged into the phone port on the microfilter as it always has been.

Noone ever reported the phone and microwave not working. Sonos wasn't working either thanks to agent not doing a proper job of putting in new router .... despite me pointing out that Sonos needed checking!

This is why it is essential to stay in your own holiday lets once a year.

Clariman wrote:Noone ever reported the phone and microwave not working. Sonos wasn't working either thanks to agent not doing a proper job of putting in new router .... despite me pointing out that Sonos needed checking!

This is why it is essential to stay in your own holiday lets once a year.

Noone reporting it might just be because they'd expect it to be futile and don't want the argument. A phone might go long-unused (especially if tenants fear the ripoff prices of hotel room phones), but a microwave will surely get used by a significant proportion of your tenants!

UncleEbenezer wrote:

Clariman wrote:Noone ever reported the phone and microwave not working. Sonos wasn't working either thanks to agent not doing a proper job of putting in new router .... despite me pointing out that Sonos needed checking!

This is why it is essential to stay in your own holiday lets once a year.

Noone reporting it might just be because they'd expect it to be futile and don't want the argument. A phone might go long-unused (especially if tenants fear the ripoff prices of hotel room phones), but a microwave will surely get used by a significant proportion of your tenants!

Clariman's lets are possibly so posh that the visitors will be eating out at the nearest Michelin star.

If the phone and microwave stopped working have you considered that there might have been an issue with the electricity supply?
(Possibly a lightning surge?)

Maybe make fully unplugging all electricals a clause in the letting agreement and put some surge protection/UPS on the BB/phone line?