Phone issues, help plz

[Nate]

Hello everybody... Our phone doesnt work...
The jack is upstairs, in the kitchen. The known good phone and known good line came from out downstairs phones.
Heres what I did, and the results
Unplugged origional phone, and plugged it back in, static only

Pluged in old phone (from junk drawer), static only

Pluged origioniol phone in, with a known good line from phone to jack... Static only

Pluged in known good phone, and known good line, and static...

Pluged in known good phone, and line, back into ITS own jack, and now it doesnt work either (doesnt turn on even)


When you call the phone, you get a busy signal. When you call from the phone, you get static only... No diel tone, no connection, just static...

The downstairs phone can nolonger turn on, but it can revieve calls

I poped the jack cover off of the upstairs phone, and theres a total of 8 wires, going to 8 bridged (into 4) screws...

Please help, My mom uses the downstairs phone for her bussines
Thanks alot
~Nate

[Azimyth]

been doing any remodeling? Neibors been doing any under ground work? Vermin infestations? ice storms?

[iwrock]

Plug it in to the line directly in the phonebox. What it does it it comes in from the street then foes into a grey "Telephone Company" box. Take a phone out there and plug it in to see if that is dead. If so, then it is your tele-company. If not, then it is internal.

[davidmash]

First thing I usually try to do is figure out if the problem is in the lines in the house or if it is the phone companies fault.

I you go out to the phone box where it comes out to your house you should be able to open it up with a screw driver. There should be a phone jack in the box. On my house there are 2 sides to the box. One consumer side (you and me) and one phopne company side. I am not sure which side this jack is on. Anyway, once you find the jack, plug in an old fashioned phone and see if your phone works. If the phone works then the problem is in your house and you will need to hunt that problem down. If the phone does not work, then call the phone company and tell them to get their buttin gear and fix it.

Hope this helps.

[davidmash]

I would have been first with that idea but I typed a more detailed explanation. Drat.

[iwrock]

Sorry bout that....

But yes, definitely try to see if it is your problem or the phone company's. If it is your problem, hen you get the nice process of disconnectin/ reconnecting to see what the dealie is.

[Nate]

I'll try that in the morning... Make that afternoon after school...

thanks alot, any more tips are REALLY appreciated
~Nate

[fz500sel]

fixin' people's phones is what I do for a livin'!

Many people don't realize that a corroded jack can cause static on the line or worse-even hold down your dialtone. You can have a corroded jack somewhere in the house that isn't even being used or worse yet-you don't even know it exists and it will cause you problems. Go to each jack and shine a flashlight in it. Looks for any green on the contacts. This is corrosion. The most likely culprit will be a jack that is on an outside wall. These jacks have a tendency to get more moisture/humidity and will corrode faster than the others.

If you can't find a corroded jack go to your NID (box outside house) and look at the wires going from the box into the house. If there is more than 1, disconnect all but 1. Then go into the house and plug a phone into each jack and listen for static. You will NOT get dialtone on some of the jacks because you have some wires disconnected outside. BUT the jacks that you DO have dialtone on, how do they sound? If they are nice and clear you have eliminated those jacks and the wiring to them. Next connect another line and now check some of the other jacks that didn't have dialtone before. Continue this process until you have isolated which line is causing the problem. You may find that the 1 wire that is causing the static is connected to jacks that aren't even being used, or possible the wire is not connected to any jacks but has been chewed on by rodents or is corroded somewhere. Anyways you may find you don't even need that wire hooked up.
If that's the case, problem solved!

Good luck,
Frank

[Nate]

OK, great...
Our upstairs phone works now, send/recieve... BUT our downstairs phone does NOT turnon anymore (can recieve messages, but not send) That was our known good phone, which is now the bad one

Before It started working, I pulled the jack cover, and theres 8 connections (bridged to 4)... I loosened and then tightend the screws to them all, so mabey one of them had corrosion on it (didnt see any, but im R/G colorblind)

I also cleaned the inside of the jack with an eraser, which mabey was negligabal

I'll check the downstairs phone again today, with the junk drawyer one after I get home... THANK YOU FZ500SEL, I appreciate the time it takes to do a write up for this piddely stuff.
Thanks alot
~Nate