Eircom line test & line noise

iplogger1

We moved into our new house about 5-6 weeks ago now and we have found that our land line has a lot of background pop/crackle/hum which is in the "distance" as such but noticeable against the continuous dial tone and as a backdrop to incoming/received and outgoing calls. I reported this to Eircom and they did a brief test yesterday which came back as no noise recorded and a more detailed one today where they once again said they could not determine there to be any line noise. They advised me that if I proceed with a further more detailed check (involving a visit from Eircom personnel) that they will probably charge a 57Euro callout.

Has anyone else had this experience and found the root cause of such line noise. I've eliminated most things I can think of within the house, eg. used
two separate handsets, used only the connection nearest where the line comes into the house. Also we had a 12 hour ESB outage recently where we had no mains coming into the house and I checked the phone then and still heard the same line noise so I'm pretty sure it is not electrical interference due to mains wires within the house or appliances interfering with the telecoms wiring. The only other factor I can think of is that we have run cat5e cable throughout the house (currently unterminated) and it all arrives into a single room. Could this be acting as some kind of unshielded antenna which amplifies noise ? .. only a thought ...

Finally - we have broadband (1MB home starter/eircom). I'm using all the correct filters and I've swapped in and out other filters just to eliminate a faulty microfilter. One thing I find with the broadband is that the router/modem often connects at a low eg < 384kbps rate and if I randomly
restart the router it can connect at a much higher rate. I'm guessing that
the poor line quality is providing the DSL/handshake with a pessimistic
view of the data rates available.

--ipl

10-10-20

iplogger1 wrote: »

We moved into our new house about 5-6 weeks ago now and we have found that our land line has a lot of background pop/crackle/hum which is in the "distance" as such but noticeable against the continuous dial tone and as a backdrop to incoming/received and outgoing calls.

Is the house new, or new to you?
What distance is the line from the road or the connection point - ie, is it piggybacking onto your neighbors etc?

I reported this to Eircom and they did a brief test yesterday which came back as no noise recorded and a more detailed one today where they once again said they could not determine there to be any line noise. They advised me that if I proceed with a further more detailed check (involving a visit from Eircom personnel) that they will probably charge a 57Euro callout.

I'd take that offer. Sounds good to me.

Has anyone else had this experience and found the root cause of such line noise. I've eliminated most things I can think of within the house, eg. used
two separate handsets, used only the connection nearest where the line comes into the house. Also we had a 12 hour ESB outage recently where we had no mains coming into the house and I checked the phone then and still heard the same line noise so I'm pretty sure it is not electrical interference due to mains wires within the house or appliances interfering with the telecoms wiring.

If you've eliminated the background issues which are under your control, then you rightly need to look at the suppliers. I believe that Eircom have this €57 charge covered in their charter and I have a feeling that you get the cash back if the fault is on their end - checkout the charter on their site.

The only other factor I can think of is that we have run cat5e cable throughout the house (currently unterminated) and it all arrives into a single room. Could this be acting as some kind of unshielded antenna which amplifies noise ? .. only a thought ...

I doubt it. It's not live.

Finally - we have broadband (1MB home starter/eircom). I'm using all the correct filters and I've swapped in and out other filters just to eliminate a faulty microfilter. One thing I find with the broadband is that the router/modem often connects at a low eg < 384kbps rate and if I randomly
restart the router it can connect at a much higher rate. I'm guessing that
the poor line quality is providing the DSL/handshake with a pessimistic
view of the data rates available.

--ipl

The BroadBand issues are a pointer to the line noise issues. It won't negotiate the full rate when there is noise as it uses the higher frequencies which are susceptible to noise. There could be damp on the line, but I would have expected Eircom's test to pick that up. Go with the service call!

Alun

What happens if you disconnect the Eircom line from all the internal house wiring, and just connect the phone directly (with dsl filter) to where the Eircom line enters the house? That would eliminate any questions regarding the house wiring in any case.

northdublin

if your house is wired correctly(under eircoms terms) there should be a master plate in the house, it should have the eircom logo on it.
the plate is made of two main pieces the chassis and the front plate.
the main line is connected to l1 and l2 on the chassis and the front plate screws onto the chassis. your phone extensions are wired into the front plate which when screwed onto the chassis make them live. when you remove the front plate there is a single socket which can take an rg11 conection. so plug your phone directly into the chassis because if wired properly when the front plate is off all the phones should be dead.
also do you have a monitored alarm, if so this is usually wired into the front plate to give the alarm priority over the house phones. even if the power is off the alarm would have a back up battery and if its causing the problem would do so even if the power was off.
ive come across a vast array of differant things that cause line noise and the most popular in my book is damp on the line, the incorrect installation of adsl filters and digis in monitored alarms.