Troubleshooting for landline phone problems

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Can't make calls?

Check for any faults in your area and test your line.

Still having trouble making or receiving calls? Check out solutions for the most common problems below.

If you can't hear a dial tone, first check that:

  • The phone cable hasn't been damaged.
  • The volume on your phone is turned up.
  • The phone is plugged into the mains.
  • If you have a cordless phone, the base unit is plugged in and your phone is fully charged.
  • All the receivers have been replaced on other landline phones in your home.


Still can’t hear a dial tone? Try plugging a different phone into the master socket, if you have one (it’ll have a line across the middle, like the one below).

You can usually find your master socket near to where the telephone line enters your home.

 

Master phone socket


If you can hear a dial tone with a different phone, the problem is likely to be with your handset.
 

If you can hear a stuttering or intermittent dial tone on your line, this means you've received a voicemail and there’s no fault with your line.

Dial 1571 to listen to your voicemail.

If you hear noise on the line when making calls it might be because your microfilter isn’t installed correctly.

What’s a microfilter?

A microfilter is a small white box with a phone cable attached.

It stops interference on your line, and lets you use your phone and broadband at the same time.

Microfilter

Each microfilter has two sockets:
  • One for your NOW Broadband Hub.
  • One for another device, such as a landline phone.

How do I set up my microfilter?

 

Step 1:

Plug the microfilter into your master phone socket.
 
How do I find my master phone socket?

Your master phone socket will have a line across the middle, like the one below.

Master phone socket

Step 2:

Plug your phone cable into the microfilter port marked Phone, and your Hub into the port marked NOW TV Hub.
 

Connect phone and Hub to microfilter

Step 3:

Got more than one phone socket with devices connected? Make sure a microfilter is plugged into each socket (a spare one will have been included with your Hub).
 

Step 4:

If you use a telephone splitter to connect more than one device to the phone socket, plug this into the microfilter port marked Phone.
 

Plug splitter into microfilter

 
Got a phone socket with two ports?

If you have a pre-filtered phone socket with two different ports, you don't need to use a microfilter.

If you have one, make sure you use your pre-filtered phone socket to connect your Hub – it won’t work with any other socket.

pre-filtered phone socket

 

Need more microfilters?
Select Get in touch and give us a call on the number displayed to order additional Microfilters (you’ll need to be signed in to see the number). Alternatively, go to accessories.sky.com.
 

Try these steps to check your phone equipment is working properly:

Step 1:

Unplug everything that’s connected to your phone line. This includes your landline phone, your Hub and microfilters.
 

Microfilter

Step 2:

Plug your landline phone directly into the master phone socket and try making a call.
 

How do I find my master phone socket?

Your master phone socket will have a line across the middle, like the one below.

Master phone socket

Step 3:

Was your call successful?

If so, plug the microfilter back into your phone socket first, and try to make a call again. If your call is unsuccessful this time, it’s likely there’s a fault with your microfilter.

Repeat this process with everything else connected to your phone socket until you find what’s causing the problem.

For more about microfilters see 'There's noise or interference on my line' above.

Step 4:

For any other equipment that's causing a problem, get in touch with the manufacturer.

If none of the solutions above worked, get in touch by phone to speak to an advisor about the problem.

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