BT Openreach Box making a noise

[Louise367]

Let me run outside the next time the alarm goes off to see if it's coming from there 👍 🥴 

I'm not having a go (even though I know it sounds like that) - I just frigging hate technology - especially when it doesn't work (which is all the time!) 

I honestly have lost the will trying to resolve this problem several times over and all I seem to hear is ... we've never seen that before .... guess what, neither have I and I don't want to be the one to spend the time to troubleshoot and find the problem, I just want someone who knows what they're doing to fix whatever the problem is 

[Louise367]

What another actual waste of time .... I'm just on the phone to Sky again and they're saying any open reach engineer would only check the equipment outside my house and not inside ... what the actual hell! 

[Deb3000]

Is it a mains buzz from the plug-in power unit rather than the ONT box?  It’s more likely to be the plug-in power unit that the ONT box.  (Yours is a Nokia by the way).

As has been said, unplugging it and seeing if the noise stops would be the acid test.  (The ONT should restart with no problems and reconnect in a couple of minutes when you plug it back in.  Full-fibre doesn’t have the temperamental nature of part-fibre).

It’s not entirely unheard of for a blown capacitor to make a whining noise but it doesn’t usually come and go.  There’s also usually a burning smell when that happens and they don’t carry on working for long after.

If you can pin it down to the power unit then you can report it as a faulty power unit and they should send a new one.

[Louise367]

After entirely too much time and effort, I'm pleased to report that I have finally coaxed a Broadband Engineer visit out of Sky - the appointment has been booked for this coming Wednesday 14th 

honestly? If I catch the box making the noise again, I'll try and unplug it but I'm so mentally exhausted that I might also just leave it to when the engineer visits on Wednesday. 

A formal complaint has also been raised and now I'm going to lie down in a dark room 

[Louise367]

Deb thanks for coming back to me - honestly I'd be lying if I said I understood any of that 🤷‍♀️ but sadly I don't 

the whole thing should simply be plug and play and if there are any problems, a certified engineer should come out to investigate and resolve. 

if I was comfortable or confident to resolve, I would have had a go but I'm not so here we are. 

Also, troubleshooting is just a way for big companies to get paying customers to do the checks rather than fix the problem with their own equipment which is why I'm reluctant to engage because I'm not on the payroll! 

this is your equipment, if there's a problem, you need to come and fix it 

[Deb3000]

"this is your equipment, if there's a problem, you need to come and fix it"

Sorry, there's a bit of a misunderstanding there.  This is just a customer-to-customer help forum.  You are not talking to Sky.  The only employees on here are the moderators.  I am just a fellow customer, like yourself.  Sorry I couldn't help.

[Louise367]

Hey Deb, 

apologies for any misunderstand - I was making a wider point with my previous comment. 

I appreciate you're a fellow Sky customer and have offered help and support this afternoon. 

It's not excuse but I'm just drained with the effort required to try and fix a seemingly simple problem ... but hey, welcome to the UK in 2026 (also appreciating that Sky is now an American company) 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Louise367 wrote:

 the effort required to try and fix a seemingly simple problem

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I'd suggest it's really not a simple problem for ISP support to resolve if the ONT is physically incapable of generating such a noise.

Listening to it again, it sounds a lot like a typical intruder alarm some distance away.

[Louise367]

Hi 👋 

it's literally not an intruder alarm - it also l goes off at random times of the day and on different days so there's no way to anticipate / guess when it's going to happen again. 

I know you're only trying to help but honestly this level of gaslighting is insane ... there is only 1 place the noise is originating from and it's the little white box on the wall. 

should it make that sound? No 

is it making that sound? Yes

do I know what's causing that to happen? Hell no 😔

[Louise367]

Clearly this little white box is making a noise so we'll chalk that up to a faulty unit. 

hopefully the engineer who visits next week will swap it over for one that isn't faulty 🤞