atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers Inside or Outside Wiring Problem?

I am trying to troubleshoot this issue before Wednesday. I would appreciate any feedback.

I have a single telephone number coming to the house with three jack lines ran to various rooms. These lines have been in place for 30+ years. The phones are all working and corded phones.

Making calls from home:
All is fine. I can call out without any problem.

Receiving outside calls from home:
When a call comes in, the pots lines rings one half ring. All telephones ring at once (normal). If I try to pick the call up, no one is there.

Calling home from work:
When I call my house, I hear a half ring, then very heavy static and then dead air as the line is disconnected.

I will plug a phone line into the outside box to see if there is dialtone. I also have a call in to the local provider to run a test. I have an extremely urgent need to get this phone line working before Wednesday morning.

Does this sound like Inside wiring or outside wiring to you? Any information is appreciated.

Thanks, Rhonda

It sounds like ring trip to me. Plug in a phone at the interface outside and have someone call the number. If it rings correctly and can be answered, then the problem is with the inside wiring. If it does not, then it's the telco's responsibility to fix it. Most of the time, it's a problem in their facilities, not yours.

Ed to the rescue, as usual. Thanks Ed. I called home and we have an OLD set up with an outside unit you cannot get into. I did some research and found that we have a "Junction Block" in the basement hooked to the ceiling. Is there anything I can do there? We have an "102 year old home" and I expect this unit went in shortely after.

I tried to expedite the repair with the telco but "due to work volume" they cannot.

Thanks Ed!

Rhonda, if you are comfortable with it you can remove the feed side of the junction box and then call the number to see if it still trips. You could do the same with the box on the house, just remove the inside wire then call the number. Make sure the phone company gives you a proper DEMARC when they come out, they are suppose to but many times they don't.

I'm betting this is a phone company issue, unless you have wiring running around the outside of your house.

Rhonda, is it possible for you to post a picture of the block that is there so we can tell you what to do? I'd like to see what is inside and outside if possible.

Is this situation occurring at your parent's house? If so, you can throw the elderly/health issue card at them to see if they have any programs in place to expedite these repairs. Most telcos do.

We have a wire coming to the outside of the house (no box), into the basement and directly to this 1910 looking square unit. I went to a site called www.naturalhandyman.com and looked at the pictures of what we have. He calls it an "old-style junction block." It looks like white glass say 6" high by 5" wide. It has a black knob in the middle. It has 4 corner screws. The bottom two have the outside wire coming in and split in two with one half going to each screw. On the top right, there are two red wires attached. The top left has a green and a yellow wire. There is dust on it so I cannot see anything else. Sorry Ed, I don't have a digital camera to post a photo.

This might be too much for me. I think I'll use a cell phone for a few days and at least give my mother the ability to call home through the night if she needs to.

I tried to push it with a notation that one of the people was elderly and going into the hospital on Wed. but a recorded message said due to work load they could not push it up. Nothing more then I expected.

Thanks for your help guys. Murphy's Law says when you least need another issue, it will come. I appreciate your help and time. The telco will either fix their end or I'll hire someone next week when there is time. I'm wore out and we haven't even gotten to the worst of this yet.

Thanks so much! :bow:

That's excellent help. Rhonda, on the end where the cable comes in and splits, loosen one of the nuts (start with the one on the right) and remove the hooked wire from beneath it. Make sure that before you do this that you take one phone off the hook in the house.

Once this wire is disconnected (make sure it isn't touching anything), place a call to the number and see what happens. If the problem goes away, then you have an inside wiring problem.

You'll need to put the original wire back and repeat this process with the one on the left to be sure.

Once you have tried disconnecting both, if the problem persists then you have ruled out an inside wiring problem. Of course if the problem does go away when one of the wires are removed, then you have an inside wiring problem that we can easily assist you in clearing at least on a temporary basis.

I am going to give this a try. Thank you Ed!!!

Well, Rhonda, how did it come out?

You actually have the "new" style protector (haha)....

In the middle is a black round thing....unscrew it and you will find carbons that protect your circuit from lightning.

Are there two red "tubes" ? If so they should have two copper straps, one on each to cover them. Now those are the old style protector fuses.

Ed is doing a great job helping....slow but sure is the right way to do it.....

Does it look like this?

Yep, Jeff, that is a 93C protector. The older version had the fuses below the porcelain.

Sorry I didn't get back to this last night. We have family issues going on that needed attending to.

Okay, so I printed this thread and got side tracked before I headed back to the basement. All of a sudden the phone rang a full ring and then another full ring. I answered it and it was a pre-recorded message from the telephone company saying they would be at our residence on 2/17 to fix the problem.

Well, since we received a call it apprears to already be fixed. I did a bunch of testing with the cell phone and having other people call us and what do you know, problem gone.

Okay, how did it get fixed? In a 100+ year old house, wires don't fix themselves. If the phone company fixed their end, why didn't they just call and tell us that? Why would someone need to come out to the house? I expect to give us a billing charge.

However it happened, we are making and receiving calls again, without static and without disconnects. If something is acting up in the inside wiring I can have it looked at when we have more time to concentrate on it.

Thank you Ed, Bill and Ken for chimming in. Although I cannot see Jeff's picture from work, I expect you guys know what this basement unit looks like. Yes, porcelain would better describe the base material.

Thanks again guys, I truly appreciate your attention to this!!! We really need a phone right now and we have one. Thanks, Rhonda

That's the wonder of copper cables. Problems tend to mysteriously fix themselves. :bang:

Before switching over to FiOS, my telephone line would sometimes exhibit the same symptoms. Verizon would simply swap cable pairs in a bundle a few streets over and that would resolve the issue for a while.

Quiet simply a weather change.

Temperature change or the cable had time to dry out… If you get a GOOD tech on dispatch they’ll still take a look at the pairs even thought the trouble cleared. If not the trouble unfortunately, WILL come back.

Rhonda:

It is possible that the reason they are sending a technician out is to install an outdoor network interface for you. In many instances, they don't do this until a repair is dispatched. Make sure that you ask them to do this (at no charge) so that if this problem occurs again it will be easier to troubleshoot.

I haven't been able to get a person on the phone. The original automated system didn't give me a trouble ticket. When I called back to cancel the visit I had to take a path as if I was calling in a new trouble, in which they gave me the prompt to cancel. I was concerned we'd have a huge tech visit charge to do nothing as dialtone is working.

Due to a time issue with a family matter, I may have followed through. As I have dialtone working right now, I will just let it go until it acts up again. Then I will work more intently.

Thanks again. Rhonda

As a follow-up...

I okay'ed an ATT tech to come over and diagnose the issue.

The tech found a "short" in the wire between the telephone pole and our house. He replaced the wire and gave us a Network Interface Box on the house. We now have outgoing and incoming dial tone at no charge. Yahoo!

Thanks for all of your help. It's always nice to have an understanding so when the repairman comes, you can discuss the issue without sounding like a babbling idiot. Thanks again!

Glad to hear it all worked out!

Sam