I recently bought a used cordless phone that is behaving strangely. When I use it, it disables the incoming ring signal on my phone line.

That is, no phones ring when there is an incoming call. This condition remains after I remove the this phone and replace it with the old one that previously worked OK. The line doesn't ring. In fact, none of the extensions on the same line will ring.

All the while, everything else with the phone service is fine. I get a dialtone, I can place outgoing calls, I can even receive calls if I pick up the extension while someone is calling. This is the same on the new phone and on the known good phones I have around the house.

This persists for a day or two and then resumes to normal.

I have repeated this twice. All is well until I try using that phone, and then the signal for incoming calls is disabled on all extensions in the house.

Any idea what could be wrong?

What do you hear when trying to call the line? Sounds like you may have a high resistance ground or short tripping the ring.

Justbill, I agree. You want to inspect each of your jacks carefully. Make sure the little gold pins are straight and shiny. Corrosion caused by moisture can cause ring trip. I see you're from Atlanta. Did this problem start or get worse after all the rain you guys have been having?

"This is a recording."

Do you work on telephone circuits professionally?

Do you know what the basic electrical parameters are for a POTS line?

Do you own /can you use a VOM?

You need to analyze this situation from a basic trouble-shooting standpoint. You need to check your line for shorts, crosses, grounds, and high capacitance.

The symptoms you describe are extremely odd and somewhat contradictory. Removing a known defective telephone from a circuit will always (eventually) clear the line *IF* there is no other trouble on the line. It sounds like you have more than one trouble, and they are combining in a way that is causing some confusion in your evaluation of the symptoms.

Take the suspect cordless phone / base to a neighbor's house and try it there. Does it exhibit the same symptoms?

How many jacks are wired on the line? Have you removed each one, one at a time, and re-tested your suppositions?

Let us know of your progress. We all enjoy a challenging trouble-shooting story. It's our version of Law & Order.

Thanks for all the comments, guys! Nothing unusual heard when trying to call the line.

It is still raining in Atlanta, and things are a mess. A lot of folks here have bigger problems right now than malfunctioning ring signals. Thankfully, I am located on high ground!

I think I'll try the suspect phone on another line. That might tell me whether the problem is with the phone or the wiring.

I just have to carefully find a line to use. If the problem is caused by the phone, I would hate to trash somebody else's line with it!

First, I’m going to echo what everyone else has said, even though you do seem to contradict yourself, from what you said I’d suspect a bad jack.


Really that is virtually impossible.


Another thought...Are you using the SAME cable to plug in the suspect phone to the jack? If it has been damaged at all that could explain both the symptom of the ring being tripped AND that the problem persists at that same location with a different phone.