phone problem

my phone started buzzing, there is no dail tone you can not place or receive a call on it. All you can hear is a buzzing sound it has been doing this for about a day and a half now. The phone company wants 35 dollars to check the outside lines. I do not make much money. Can anyone help with this problem?

 

Chances are the buzzing sound is caused by what they call ground hum. I means that the one of the wires is grounded out. The lack of dial tone associated with the hum is caused from the wires being shorted together. What I would do first is refer to my "Phone Phact #2" which I posted recently this week for instructions on how to find out if it is your problem or the phone company's problem. If you perform that test and you prove your inside wiring good you can be rest assured the phone company will not charge you for the dispatch to your location for something that is their problem. If they do you can certainly tell them where to go. The phone company CANNOT charge you for any wiring UP TO your home. Usually it is a gray box on the outer wall of you home. They ARE responsible for everything to that point. Unfortunately unless you pay for the "Linebacker" service you are responsible for your inside wiring. Linebacker only covers "normal wear and tear" of inside wiring. It does not cover someone spilling a soda all over a phone jack or rolling a couch into it and smashing it nor does it cover a child cutting the wires and things like that. Since you are a do it yourself I'm sure that Phone Phact #2 will help you out. If for some reason you discover the problem is inside your home let me know and I can walk you through on how to troubleshoot it as well. Hope this helps!

 

Thanks Phonetek you were right a grounding problem.

 

Glad I could help!!

 

Phonetek,

I don't want to correct you, but you have mistated a fact. I'm a Qwest tech and in some of our states, New Mexico comes to mind, they CAN charge a trouble isolation fee if the problem turns out to be on the customer side of the demark. If the problem is outside, there's no charge of course.
Girlbuilder

 

Wait a second! They charge an isolation fee for something they test and find it's THEIR problem not the customers? Excuse me for saying but that is a crock! I would personally call the FCC, The Citizens Utility Board and the Better Business Bureau. That is a total scam! They can purposely put someone on a bad pair only to wait until the customer complains and send them a bill? I would be the first to say NO WAY JOSE'! I hope you are just pulling my chain about them charging this way. I would have to say for sure that whoever the local company is in New Mexico is they have poor business practices and lack of respect for their customers as they take them for idiots and have lack of respect for themselves! If they are doing that kind of business maybe they should market their services in Iraq, they would fit right in!

Wow! Sorry, but that struck a nerve!

 

Phonetek,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I didn't mean to jump on your only nerve. What I meant is: If a technician is dispatched and the trouble is found to be on the customers side of the demark, theres an isolation charge. If the trouble is on the phone companies side, no charge. Testing is still free.

Girlbuilder

 

LOL, no I have more nerves left to be jumped on so you need not worry about that. I must say I am relieve that testing is free, as it blew me away to think that someone was out there doing business that way. Actually looking back at our posts we both corrected each other when we were both correct to begin with.

Let me paste in what we said its actually very funny

Phonetek to Huxley:The phone company CANNOT charge you for any wiring UP TO your home.

Girbuilder to Phonetek: If the problem is outside, there's no charge of course.

Phonetek to Girlbuilder: They charge an isolation fee for something they test and find it's THEIR problem not the customers?

Girlbuilder to Phonetek: What I meant is: If a technician is dispatched and the trouble is found to be on the customers side of the demark, theres an isolation charge.


See...we were both actually saying the same thing back and forth!LOL! All I have to say in my defense of this is sometimes I look at the posts very late at night and lately I have been working midnight's so my sleep schedule is all screwed up. Sometimes I tend to either not say what I intended to say or read thing and totally misunderstand them all together. Sorry for the misunderstanding and please keep coming in here. I like the advise you give as you are also in the business. The more brains we have working in here the better off the people who need us are!

 

Phonetek,

Hey thats ok. I get that way during the day sometimes, i.e. climb a pole and forget why, DUH. I have to make a comment and I hope nobody is offended, but it never ceases to amaze me when customers finish off their basements, ceiling included, and expect us to find their inside wiring to repair it. I had one today. The drop came in thru the roof (2 story) and down the conduit. Folks, please leave the interior connection point to your inside wiring accessible.

Girlbuilder