OK, it gets worse!

I brought my really old BT freeway cordless phone over from my parents'
house today as I couldn't hear the new BT Paragon phone very well in its
home in the main bedroom when I was situated in the lounge.

I plugged it in in the study (which currently has a 15m plug-in extension
kit running from the main bedroom) and took the handset downstairs.

Then I (just about) heard the Paragon ringing in the main bedroom but the
cordless (plugged in in the study) remained silent.

I investigated further by moving the Paragon to the study (where the
cordless remained silent) and phoning the house with my mobile. The Paragon
rang. Odd!

I took the cordless to the main bedroom and plugged it straight into the
wall. It still wouldn't ring.

I took the cordless base unit downstairs to the master socket... it rang.

I took it to the dining room... it rang.

So now I'm left wondering what to do.

To summarise, I have the following...

A 'brass' master socket in the lounge - seems to work fine.

A brass secondary socket in the dining room - seems to work fine.

An 'unconnected' socket in the hallway (the one I was planning to wire in).

A brass secondary socket in the main bedroom. Works ok with new BT Paragon
phone but not with old BT Freeway Cordless (which calls out etc but doesn't
want to ring).

A plug in extension in the study which behaves the same way as the socket it
is plugged into (in the main bedroom).

There is also an alarm system which is capable of connecting to the
phoneline. I'm not sure where this fits in to the equation - maybe it's
what's causing the problem 'between floors'?

Should I get someone in to check the system over? I had a quick look behind
the faceplate of the main bedroom socket - it was a complete mess with wires
everywhere (and the brass faceplate was not earthed as far as I could see).
It was also installed upside-down!

Is this something which I should get BT to come and sort out. If not, what
sort of person do I look for?

Many thanks in advance... I hope it all makes sense. This
'post-moving-house-DIY' is a really fast learning curve! )

Daz

PS I also intend to add ADSL to the line as soon as my computer is in the
house. I'm guessing that currently an upstairs location for the broadband
router may be a no-no if some phones won't even ring!?