Any Phone Tech's here.

Stephen Newell · Jul 21, 2013

I have a problem with my phone and trying to determine if something in my house is causing the problem or it's the phone company problem. For the last month from time to time the line won't disconnect. I have taken a phone to the box outside and disconnected the house wiring and plugged the phone into the box and it's still an open line. It sounds like there is another phone somewhere else off the hook. If I contact the two wires together briefly the dial tone will come back and all is fine until the next time. I've had the phone company service come out three times and they tell me they fixed it but the problem keeps coming back. I'm using dial up internet and have been wondering if one of the modems on a computer is causing the problem. It looks like if that was the problem though once I unplug the internal wiring it would disconnect.

Allan in NE · Jul 21, 2013

A bad modem will certainly cause that.

Try shuting off the computer after use and see if the problem goes away.

Allan

john *.?-!.* cub owner · Jul 21, 2013

When you plug in to the box on the side of your house it disconnects the wiring in the house, so you should be taking care of the modem when you plug in, without having to remove any wires. If you suspect your modem unplug the phone line form your computer the next time it happens, and wait a minute to see if that is the problem. Another possibility is a cordless phone, possibly one in somebody else s house that is activating your base. The mos likely cause though based on your description so far though is problems in the phone company cable and your line is getting crossed with another cable pair.

John,retired central office technician.

ben there · Jul 21, 2013

i had a modem go bad and cause that...kept line open until phone co shut down...theres a timer that shuts line off if theres no activity...drove me and my phone guy nuts for a couple months till modem finally died...never had problem again.

WAYNE-N-TX · Jul 21, 2013

Had one like that a couple of years ago. Findley found it, one of the receptacle that had a phone plugged in was bad (it had turned green), replaced it solved the problem.

huntingreen2day · Jul 21, 2013

Make sure all your line cords from the phone jack to the using device are good and are not corroded (little gold wires). Also check the phone jacks for the same problem. But if you are disconnecting the phone service from the house and still having problems either your test phone is the problem or the phone company has a problem.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 21, 2013

You might want to try a different phone.

onefarmer · Jul 21, 2013

If you went to the network interface box outside the house like you said and it still sounded like a phone was off the hook it's the phone companies side at fault. I have this at ;east twice a year.

The simple act of disconnecting the house at the interface box, eliminates anything from the box to the inside. There will be a dialtone there if the line is ok when you plug in your test phone, unless the test phone is the fault. Try another phone just to make sure.

On my line it was always a network card in the main box down on the corner. They have a T1 line going to that box and a mux dividing up the T1 into all the individual phonelines. One of the mux cards would be bad.

1939 farmall · Jul 21, 2013

I"m a repairman for the phone company with out haveing a meter on the line I can"t tell you exactly what"s going on but based on your description I would say John is correct the most likely cause is the cable pair that feeds service to your house . There can be several things on a circuit that causes this problem or there could be several trouble spots depending on how long your loop length is again with out having a meter or the or engineering prints I can"t tell you more. I would keep calling tickets in to your phone company until its fixed.

Mark - IN. · Jul 21, 2013

"I have taken a phone to the box outside and disconnected the house wiring and plugged the phone into the box and it's still an open line".

If the phone that you are using is good, and you disconnected the inside wiring from the service and the problem still exists on the regulated service side (not your home), then call it into repair, and report it just like that. You proved that the problem is not yours under those circumstances, and you make them understand that. The persons answering your repair calls almost never have any experience regarding telephony, unless they lost their jobs through downsizing and ended up at a call center answering calls, so don't take anything off of them. "I disconnected my house at the network interface eliminating the possibility of inside wiring or equipment causing the problem, and I plugged a known good phone into the line istelf going back to the central office, and the problem is still on the line, proving that the problem is Telco".

Mark

Any Phone Tech's here.

Stephen Newell

Well-known Member

Allan in NE

Well-known Member

john .?-!. cub owner

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ben there

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WAYNE-N-TX

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huntingreen2day

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Anonymous-0

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onefarmer

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1939 farmall

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Mark - IN.

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