How can I repair faults on my home phone line?

In this article

Here’s how we can help if you're having problems with your home phone.

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Is your home phone service active?

Is your home phone service active?

Your service may not be active yet if you've moved your home phone service to EE or you've placed a home move order.

Your home phone service can go live at any time up to midnight on your activation day and we'll send you a text message letting you know it's working.

If you think we may be having problems taking payment for your home phone service, you can check your home phone bill to see if a payment has been made.

To check your home phone service is active:
  1. 1

    log in to My EE
  2. 2

    go to Menu > My EE Home > Track an order
  3. 3

    you should see details of order and when it’s due to complete

Are you getting a dial tone?

Are you getting a dial tone?

When you lift your phone's handset, you should hear a steady or, if you've got voicemail, interrupted buzzing.

If you can't hear a steady or interrupted buzzing, check:

  1. your phone is plugged in: it might have been unplugged by accident

  2. your phone isn't faulty: try a different phone if you've got a spare or take your phone to a friend's house to check it works

  3. extension sockets and doublers: remove these where possible by testing in your main BT socket

Using a cordless phone?

If you're using a cordless phone, it's also worth checking:

  1. your phone is charged: put it on charge to check

  2. your phone is still in range of its base station: try moving closer, check the base station is plugged into the power and phone sockets

  3. your phone isn't broken: for example after a thunderstorm

Still having problems?

> Find out how to check your internal wiring

Do you have a noisy line?

Do you have a noisy line?

If you're getting noise on your landline, it's worth checking the following:

Do you have a broadband filter set up?

As well as fitting a broadband filter to your router's phone socket, you'll also need to fit a filter to any extension sockets. For example, sockets used for telephones, TV services (e.g. Sky), answerphones and older alarm systems would all need a broadband filter.

Unfiltered phones or devices on your line can cause noise. To fix the problem, you should disconnect any unfiltered devices as a test or fit a broadband filter to the socket: 

Single socket with microfilter

You might find your broadband becomes more reliable or the speed increases.

Is your phone faulty?

Try a different phone, if you've got a spare, or take your phone to a friend's house to confirm that it works on a different landline connection. If you're using a cordless phone, it may not be fully charged or it may be out of range of its base station.

Do you have faulty equipment on your line?

To check for faulty equipment:
  1. 1

    disconnect all your phones and equipment from your phone line, including phones, TV services (e.g. Sky), answerphones, faxes, alarm systems and broadband filters
  2. 2

    now, with a phone that you know works, connect it to your phone line and check if this has fixed the problem
  3. 3

    if it has, reconnect each piece of equipment (starting with your broadband router) back to the line, one by one, testing each time. Leave any faulty equipment disconnected until fixed

Are you getting interference on your line?

Sometimes interference from other electrical devices can cause noise on your phone line. Try moving your landline phone away from any potential sources of interference like mobile phones, baby monitors, WiFi routers and wireless thermostats.

Are you using extension sockets and doublers?

An extension cable or a doubler could be the cause of the noise on your line.

> Find out how to check your internal landline wiring

Are you having problems making or receiving calls?

Are you having problems making or receiving calls?

If you're having problems receiving calls:

  1. 1

    try calling yourself from your landline phone, call a mobile phone to give a missed call
  2. 2

    then, return the missed call, so you're calling your landline
  3. 3

    you should hear a ringing tone on your mobile and your landline phone will ring if your phone and line is working

If you get a number unavailable tone, please get in touch.

If your landline phone does ring, check the landline number you called back on your mobile phone. It may be that you've been calling an incorrect landline number or your landline number hasn't moved over to our home phone service correctly.

> Let us know if your number isn't correct

You'll need to have both your old and new numbers to hand.

If your landline doesn't ring, check:

  1. your phone is plugged in (to a phone socket and/or through a broadband filter). If you're using an extension cable, check this is plugged into your main phone socket too

  2. your phone's ringer hasn't been turned off or put on silent

  3. your phone isn't faulty. Try a different phone if you can or take your phone to a friend's house to confirm it works. If you're using a cordless phone, it may not be fully charged or may be out of range of its base station

  4. for a lifted handset. If you've got more than one phone in your house, check the receivers on all the phones have been properly replaced

  5. for too many phones. Don't connect more than four phones to the line. If you've got more, try removing them one by one to test which are working

Have callers been barred?

Some phones have a call-barring feature, which allows you to block numbers. Check your phone's user guide for details on what to do if you've barred a number by mistake.

Do you have faulty equipment on your line?

To check for faulty equipment:
  1. 1

    disconnect all your phones and equipment from your phone line, including phones, TV services (e.g. Sky), answerphones, faxes, alarm systems and broadband filters
  2. 2

    now, with a phone that you know works, connect it to your phone line and check if this has fixed the problem
  3. 3

    if it has, reconnect each piece of equipment (starting with your broadband router) back to the line, one by one, testing each time. Leave any faulty equipment disconnected until fixed
Thanks for your feedback

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