When I got up this morning, my phones have no dial tone.
The first thing I did was look for a phone off the hook. Then I went out to the NID, and plugged a phone into it. Works fine. So the problem is somewhere in the wiring.
I checked the wiring at the terminals. Everything is good, solid connections.
I went around to every jack in the house and plugged in a phone. Nothing.
I'm at a loss. I expected to find a loose wire in the NID, but now I don't know how to proceed.
My NID has a cut-out for each phone jack. They just snap/pivot, and the circuit is disconnected. Disconnect all of them. Then, one at a time, reconnect and test the outlet, and see which one(s) work. I assume that when you used the test jack, that you removed the jumper cord that connects your house circuits to the common point.
I had a similar problem, and found that the installer had provisions for only 4 circuits, but had connected 5, putting two together, and didn't do a good job of it. Took me about 1/2 hour to track the problem down. I made careful note of which jack now connects to which cutout.
PITA.
If you have the older junction block with the screw/bolt terminals, disconnect each line, and proceed as above. I crimped lugs on to each wire pair to make connections and disconnection easier in the future (a house I owned before this one).
Hope that helps..
I had that problem recently. One phone out of several plugged in was killing the circuit. Unplug them all, then plug in one at a time into the same jack to verify their operation.
Red
Is there an arrangement where you don't have to do that?
In my NID, there is one jack per line, and I have to unplug my house to plug in a phone (Unless that other jack is for the same line????)
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Don't forget that there are a lot more things than phones plugged into the phone line these days. Modems, burglar alarms, separate bells or lights, special electronic boxes (I have one that does redial, hold, and memory dial for the whole house with one box.)
That's how mine works, too. There's a short black phone cord plugged into each line. I have to unplug it in order to plug a phone in and listen.
By the way, my wife's office line works.
I have literally every phone jack in the house unplugged, and can't get a dial tone on any of them.
If there is a monitored alarm system installed in the home there will be a special jack "RJ-31X" that the alarm panel plugs into. This jack has a pair going in and a pair going out. When the alarm panel is unplugged from the RJ-31X, the pairs are hooked together. Since alarm systems are designed to seize the phone line, the jack is there in case the alarm malfunctions. You unplug the alarm and jack switches the phones back on. For some very good information on modern home phone wiring, take a look at this web site:
Eureka. I decided to go checking each jack for shorts. My prime suspect was the unused jack by the counter where the kids have breakfast.
My 2-year-old must have jammed something in the jack, because when I removed it, I immediately noticed that the 4 contects inside the jack were all mashed together.
I disconnected it, taped up the wires, and everything works.
I got lucky on choosing that jack first!
A fellow I know who worked as a phone company repairman found a corroded jack at a little old lady's home. It was caused by her cute little dog peeing on the jack.
[8~{} Uncle Monster
I hope you have those kid-resistant clear plastic plugs on all the open power outlets! Kids love to stuff things in holes, and while the phone jack was just a PITA, the regular outlets could get tragic. 2 years old is old enough to start reminding them that plugging things in is a job for grownups , whenever you see them playing with cords, or watching you plug something in.
(No, I'm not parroting stuff from a nanny book- just remembering stuff I did as a kid, and what got told to me years later that I did. Kinda suprising I am still alive, and still have both eyes and all ten fingers and toes.)
aem sends...
The original smiley face was my younger brother after he bit down on an extension cord :o)
Wet thumb in empty light socket.
My older brother told me to.
About a dozen years ago, I was working on a flooring project and I temporarily stuck the tv cable line in the phone jack . The cable line had a male coupler in the end of it and I wanted to get the cable off of the floor real quick. I forgot about it. And a few hours later a female friend came to my door mad as hell.
She said you didn't have to keep hanging up on me..? The most I thought it would do was disable 'that' jack..
Definitely.
Don't blame your 2-year-old. I did that.
Call your local provider (use cell phone)
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