Problem with phone line


  #1  
Old 02-05-09, 12:49 PM
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Angry Problem with phone line

Our phone line quit working.....again. Static in the line, no dial tone and messages saying to try dialing the number again when we never even dialed a number. 2 years ago when this happened my son rewired the phones with cat5 and everything worked great until yesterday. The wiring, including a junction box, is all accessable under the house. Can anyone offer a clue as to why this keeps happening? Right now I am running phone cords off of the NIB so I will have a phone and my DSL.
When it happened 2 years ago our phone did a very strange thing. While the phone was not even being used it dialed 911 on its own and then hung up. Our police dept. responds to all 911 hang-ups. Needless to say the cops showed up at our door to investigate. My husband answered the door with a butcher knife in his hand as he had been cutting up some summer sausage at the time. The cop drew for his gun and asked my husband to put the knife down. Can't blame the cop for that. He confirmed that there were no problems in the house and left.
 
  #2  
Old 02-05-09, 01:17 PM
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Is there any static when you have the telephone set plugged directly into the network interface? Do you have an alarm system?
 
  #3  
Old 02-05-09, 02:21 PM
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Are you using cordless phones? Got neighbors? Has the DSL ever quit?

That's a funny story about your husband, but I'll bet he wasn't laughing when he opened the door.
 
  #4  
Old 02-05-09, 05:40 PM
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No static when plugged into the NI. No alarm system. Yes on the cordless phone. But the problem may be solved. My other son happened to stop by and he looked things over. He disconnected the answering machine and low and behold....the phones worked again. That could very well have been the problem the 1st time around. I guess maybe answering machines go haywire sometimes.
I had been telling my son that I crawled under the house to check out the junction box. I was complaining that I had a tough time directing the flashlight and opening the junction box at the same time. He said a headlamp would help with that problem. And then it dawned on me......I have a very nice headlamp sitting in the closet....I completely forgot about it.
Yea the cop story is pretty funny. I'm just glad my husband hadn't cut his finger and wasn't bleeding when he answered the door.
Thanks for the replies.
 
 

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