Hi
Sorry for the delay in replying.
I tried to load the photos of the external box and internal socket, but the file sizes were too big and I don't know how to reduce the file size. The photos, that had to be emailed to me by my daughter, I have now sent to you by email just before 11.30. However I have now received the automatic response telling me to go online.
There were two sockets in the house, the other was disconnected years ago so we now only have the one (with one socket in it).
I bought a new handset anyway and the problem remains the same, so...
A bit of history:
The line to the house was put in by Telewest (now a Virgin company) but was put in far too shallow - literally just below the surface. The cable was cut through by accident about 10 years ago when a fence post was being put in, and was repaired by a Virgin engineer who agreed the cable was too shallow. The cable was still shallow as the orange 'box', I presume housing the repair, was visible on the surface!
The post was renewed about 3 months ago and because the cable was too shallow, the workman renewing the post went through the cable again (phone and internet). He repaired the cable and all was working fine. Over the last couple of weeks City Fibre have been upgrading the cabling in the area. Assuming this is a network/cable problem it is not clear if it is the cable from the road to the house, or 'road side'. If it is the cable to my house and the problem is the repair carried out recently, I should not be charged as Telewest never installed it correctly.
Hope this helps.
Mark