Sky HD box using the line

Hi

We have for a while now, noticed very occasionally, that someone has called
and left a message on the BT message system when we know we were in at the
time, and not using the phone.
Yesterday I connected a telephone recorder to the line and it has recorded 6
seconds of dial tone every half hour. This would account for the occasional
engaged line.

I only have 1 dect phone with answer machine , 1 BT sms phone , 1 Panasonic
speaker phone and a Sky+HD on the line.

Of all those the only thing that should be able to initiate a call on its
own is the Sky box.

Anybody else have this problem? is it normal?. is it the Sky box? Should I
disconnect the sky box or just ignore it?

Thanks

Gary

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"Gary" wrote in message ...
Hi

We have for a while now, noticed very occasionally, that someone has called and left a message on the BT message system when we
know we were in at the time, and not using the phone.
Yesterday I connected a telephone recorder to the line and it has recorded 6 seconds of dial tone every half hour. This would
account for the occasional engaged line.

I only have 1 dect phone with answer machine , 1 BT sms phone , 1 Panasonic speaker phone and a Sky+HD on the line.

Of all those the only thing that should be able to initiate a call on its own is the Sky box.

Anybody else have this problem? is it normal?. is it the Sky box? Should I disconnect the sky box or just ignore it?

Thanks

Gary

I know what is happening here and you can rest assured it is nothing to do with the Sky box.
One of those phones must have a "message waiting" facility (LED) and
the phone seizes the line at intervals to see if the dial-tone is intermittent
indicating there is a message on 1571

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

I'd be tempted to disconnect it for a trial period so you can tell if its
the box.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hi

We have for a while now, noticed very occasionally, that someone has
called and left a message on the BT message system when we know we were in
at the time, and not using the phone.
Yesterday I connected a telephone recorder to the line and it has recorded
6 seconds of dial tone every half hour. This would account for the
occasional engaged line.

I only have 1 dect phone with answer machine , 1 BT sms phone , 1
Panasonic speaker phone and a Sky+HD on the line.

Of all those the only thing that should be able to initiate a call on its
own is the Sky box.

Anybody else have this problem? is it normal?. is it the Sky box? Should
I disconnect the sky box or just ignore it?

Thanks

Gary

--
This email is Private and Confidential
This e-mail has been virus checked by Mcafee Virus Scan.
Telephone calls may be recorded for quality assurance and security
purposes.

Surely if the unit was actually making calls one would hear that on the
recording?

It is also sometimes possible to be engaged when you are not on the phone,
as there is a case called equipment engaged which seems to occur when
things get busy. This means the caller never gets to your line in the first
place!
Brian

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Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Paul Martin" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Gary wrote:

Anybody else have this problem? is it normal?. is it the Sky box? Should
I
disconnect the sky box or just ignore it?

If you don't have a Multiroom subscription, and don't watch PPV events
or BoxOffice films, or use the chargable interactive services, you
should be OK with disconnecting the phone line from the Sky box.

--
Paul Martin

"Graham." wrote in message
...


"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hi

We have for a while now, noticed very occasionally, that someone has
called and left a message on the BT message system when we know we were
in at the time, and not using the phone.
Yesterday I connected a telephone recorder to the line and it has
recorded 6 seconds of dial tone every half hour. This would account for
the occasional engaged line.

I only have 1 dect phone with answer machine , 1 BT sms phone , 1
Panasonic speaker phone and a Sky+HD on the line.

Of all those the only thing that should be able to initiate a call on
its own is the Sky box.

Anybody else have this problem? is it normal?. is it the Sky box? Should
I disconnect the sky box or just ignore it?

Thanks

Gary

I know what is happening here and you can rest assured it is nothing to do
with the Sky box.
One of those phones must have a "message waiting" facility (LED) and
the phone seizes the line at intervals to see if the dial-tone is
intermittent
indicating there is a message on 1571

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

That would be the SMS phone then.

That would make sense.

Thanks for that. I will look into it further.

Gary

Just as a side note here, below are some logs from my TrueCall system
showing how often Sky calls out.

You can see that Sky will make a call anywhere between every 9 minutes to
once a month. The call can be to two different numbers, at any time of the
day, and lasts about 40 seconds.

07/08/2009 13:31 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:42
08000531707 Sky Digital

07/08/2009 13:40 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:42
08000531707 Sky Digital

10/08/2009 09:08 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:41
08000531706 Sky Digital

10/08/2009 09:35 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:38
08000531706 Sky Digital

10/09/2009 09:18 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:38
08000531706 Sky Digital

10/10/2009 06:08 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:41
08000531706 Sky Digital

10/10/2009 06:45 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:39
08000531706 Sky Digital

10/11/2009 07:11 Outgoing Dialled from an extension phone 00:00:38
08000531706 Sky Digital


And below is TrueCall nuking a certain unwanted sales calls such as that
pesky Sky Warranty company without me even hearing the phone ring... easy as
pie.

05/11/2009 03:39 Incoming Zapped caller - rejected 00:00:18 INTERNATIONAL

05/11/2009 07:43 Incoming Zapped caller - rejected 00:00:19 INTERNATIONAL

16/11/2009 14:29 Incoming Unrecognised caller - Hung up at whisper 00:00:12
08712659865 Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd

16/11/2009 19:49 Incoming Zapped caller - rejected 00:00:07 08712659865
Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd

Note, that as that caller was "zapped" in the last instance, they are played
a messages asking them to not call again. If they do, they are breaking the
law, and it is literally a button click on the online interface to report
the caller to OFCOM. Sweet.

--
Vincent

"Mike Henry" wrote in message
...
In , Kay Robinson
wrote:

On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 11:02:07 -0000, "Vincent"
sharpened a new quill and scratched:

16/11/2009 14:29 Incoming Unrecognised caller - Hung up at whisper
00:00:12
08712659865 Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd

Interesting to see this company mentioned. I've been plagued by
letters from this company stating that my Sky cover has now ended and
that I should take cover out with them. I don't have any satellite
equipment. I contacted Trading Standards who say they have numerous
complaints about this company and are investigating.

I bet they'll never be shut down, though :-(.

The "whisper" mentioned in the logs is one of the many methods of call
screening TrueCall can use. The unit asks any unrecognised (i.e. not on your
friends list or your "zap" list) number to identify themselves. If they do,
my house phone will then ring and TrueCall will repeat what they said when
asked to identify themselves so I know who is calling. You're then given a
choice as to whether to accept the call, or add the caller to your friends
list or your "zap" list, which will either let the call through
automatically next time or tell them to get lost next time respectively. In
the case above, they hung up when asked to identify themselves.

However, I find people who I don't know calling me, who refuse to identify
themselves, annoying, so I always check the call logs online. The web
interface allows you to look up any number in your log. When I did this it
found hits for that company, with a LOT of people suffering annoying calls
from them, including people who don't even have Sky. So, I just added their
company to my Zap list, along with its name, and when they called a few
hours later they got told never to call again automatically - my phone
wouldn't have even have rung once.

TrueCall is a brilliant system - I can highly recommend it if you ever get
annoyed by any kind of unwanted call. Since I got mine several months ago
I've not had a single unwanted call of any kind, yet, every call I did want
or was expecting got through.

--
Vincent

"Kay Robinson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:14:07 -0000, "Vincent"
sharpened a new quill and scratched:


"Mike Henry" wrote in message
. ..
In , Kay Robinson
wrote:

On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 11:02:07 -0000, "Vincent"
sharpened a new quill and scratched:

16/11/2009 14:29 Incoming Unrecognised caller - Hung up at whisper
00:00:12
08712659865 Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd

Interesting to see this company mentioned. I've been plagued by
letters from this company stating that my Sky cover has now ended and
that I should take cover out with them. I don't have any satellite
equipment. I contacted Trading Standards who say they have numerous
complaints about this company and are investigating.

I bet they'll never be shut down, though :-(.
Since I went on the TPS I've never had any such calls, used to be
plagued by them. Now it's the equally annoying young employees of
NPower who regularly press my door buzzer claiming to be here to 'read
your meter'. The last one, a young girl, after buzzing while I was
eating and my answering with a 'not interested', kept her finger on my
buzzer for several minutes and when I decided enough was enough was
told 'You're very rude I only want ten minutes of your time', needless
to say I can't really write here the expletives I came out with.


I'm on the TPS too, but I still got those calls shown in my log.

Interestingly, I received a letter from Sky just the other day stating that
there is only one insurance company Sky deals with (I forget the name now,
and I've shredded the letter, but I imagine they're sending them to
everyone). One thing they did say was that the company they do use will know
all of your Sky setup details (e.g. box type). So - if you do want to
actually talk to such cold-callers, Sky or otherwise, ask THEM to tell them
what Sky box they have. If they don't know it, tell them not to call again
(it is illegal for them to call again if you've asked them not to).

Another related thing I learnt recently, is that it is now illegal for call
centres to withhold their number. I've used Anonymous Call Reject for a
number of years now. Although now it's free for me as I have unsubscribed
from the service from BT, and now my TrueCall system drops anon calls,
meaning it'll pay for itself in 2 years.

--
Vincent

In article ,
Java Jive wrote:
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:50:01 -0000, "Vincent"
wrote:

"Kay Robinson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:14:07 -0000, "Vincent"
sharpened a new quill and scratched:

Since I went on the TPS I've never had any such calls, used to be
plagued by them.

I'm on the TPS, but still get calls.

this doesn't apply to calls originating overseas ;-(

[Snip]

Another related thing I learnt recently, is that it is now illegal for
call centres to withhold their number. I've used Anonymous Call Reject
for a number of years now. Although now it's free for me as I have
unsubscribed from the service from BT, and now my TrueCall system
drops anon calls, meaning it'll pay for itself in 2 years.

Yet I suspect many still do. Of course, I don't know for certain
because I have a policy of ...

caller display doesn't work on foreign calls.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

On Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:41:06 +0000, Java Jive
wrote:

On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:50:01 -0000, "Vincent"
wrote:

"Kay Robinson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:14:07 -0000, "Vincent"
sharpened a new quill and scratched:

Since I went on the TPS I've never had any such calls, used to be
plagued by them.

I'm on the TPS, but still get calls. Or would, but I've now adopted a
policy of never answering the phone unless I recognise the number. I
let it ring and it goes through to the answering machine. I reckon
that anyone with anything important in my life would be willing to
leave a message.

Now it's the equally annoying young employees of
NPower

Our local council distributed stickers saying "We do not buy or sell
at this door", but despite my sticking it on the door, people still
try it on. Again, I have a policy of never answering the door unless
I recognise the caller (the door is covered by CCTV, so I can tell who
it is).

Another related thing I learnt recently, is that it is now illegal for call
centres to withhold their number. I've used Anonymous Call Reject for a
number of years now. Although now it's free for me as I have unsubscribed
from the service from BT, and now my TrueCall system drops anon calls,
meaning it'll pay for itself in 2 years.

Yet I suspect many still do. Of course, I don't know for certain
because I have a policy of ...

How do you deal with international calls?