Sound of silence as BT stops the buzz

Aug 30 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

ENGINEERS have solved a fault on a telephone line which left people in a remote Northumberland village unable to phone their neighbours without hearing an ear-splitting din.

A loud, high-pitched tone made local conversation impossible for residents of Carrshield, near Allendale, and yet they were able to make calls to other parts of the world on completely clear lines.

Neighbours made repeated calls to British Telecom (BT) but, despite visits from engineers, callers were told by the firm that there was no problem and that the lines were fine.

Villager Amanda Bartle even sent a letter to BT on behalf of the local parish council, but did not receive a reply.

But now, following a report in The Journal detailing the problems, further checks were made and the fault was located.

The problem with the local lines first started last summer when engineers installing an underground line at nearby Whitfield accidentally cut lines to Carrshield.

The connection was repaired but a significant buzz remained on the line and from May this year the buzz became so loud that the person on the other end of the line could not be heard.

The hamlet has about 40 homes and is just a short distance from the Durham border.

Pensioners John and Eileen Roe live just outside the hamlet, and while they could telephone friends in America, a call to a house they can see less than a mile away was not possible. Mr Roe likened the interference on some calls to steel drums played down the line at high volume.

He said around 50 calls had been made to BT prior to the story about the fault appearing in the paper.

“For all BT’s insistence that there were no faults on the line, following the newspaper articles they sent a BT Operate engineer and he went to the exchange and found the problem,” he said.

“The explanation they gave me was the new lines which were installed in May, the equipment settings were such that everything was overloading.”

Mr Roe said he had been in touch with the telecommunications ombudsman Otelo which is currently looking at BT’s handling of the situation.

“We have had a sub-standard line for a long time and they just wouldn’t believe that it was happening,” he said. “They were telling me it was impossible.”

Mr Roe has a phone line which is 14km long and was put in using a line extender which increases gain, or in simple terms power, on the line.

With similar set-ups in and around Carrshield, too much power was being produced on the line and causing the noise.

In May, three miles of cable on the route to the village was upgraded, which increased feedback further up the line because it added yet more power.

In a statement, BT yesterday said: “We would like to offer Mr Roe a sincere apology for the way his fault has been handled and the length of time taken to resolve the problem.

“This type of fault is extremely rare and, as a result, diagnostic tools did not identify it when the fault was reported.

“This is not an excuse as irrespective of our diagnostic reports we should have resolved the fault in a more efficient and timely manner.”