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uncle ralph · Nov 7, 2006, 08:26 AM

I have no dial tone but the phone rings very low when someone calls and when I pick it up it's dead except for another low ring on other end. I live on second floor of garden apt. could the person below me have punctured the line coming up from the NID with a nail or screw maybe hanging a picture or something? I have a new jack and tried a new phone but same problem. Any ideas?

ScottGem · Nov 7, 2006, 08:33 AM

Who is responsible for the wiring? You now have to pay a monthly fee for your Telco to be responsible. Otherwise their responsibility ends at the terminal. If you do pay the Wire Service charge, then have the Telco come in and check the terminal and your jack. If there is no problem at the terminal, but a problem at your jack then its in the wiring somewhere.

uncle ralph · Nov 7, 2006, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by ScottGem

Who is responsible for the wiring? You now have to pay a monthly fee for your Telco to be responsible. Otherwise their responsibility ends at the terminal. If you do pay the Wire Service charge, then have the Telco come in and check the terminal and your jack. If there is no problem at the terminal, but a problem at your jack then its in the wiring somewhere.

Thanks Scott, I'm not sure if the apt.building owner is responsible or not for the wiring in the walls. Would it be a simple job for me to rewire from the NID up through the wall to my jack?

ScottGem · Nov 7, 2006, 08:59 AM

Depends on how and where the wires are. If the wiring is internal then the landlord would be responsible.

labman · Nov 7, 2006, 09:12 AM

You question reminds me, I have a phone that does the same, and have had checking it on my list for too long. OK, I plugged it into a known good jack, and no dial tone. My guess is that the switch that connects it inside is bad.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum, maybe rather than try to fix it, my wife's birthday is Thursday.

Scott makes a good point. Back before I discovered I could quit paying for it, whenever I called the phone company, they always threatened me with a $50 fee if it was my equipment. If you are at all handy, it is a poor investment. If you have more than one jack and phone, you can always localize the problem. You can even take a phone outside and plug it directly into the newer interfaces.

I was paying $40 a month for limited feature local service plus long distance which started on the far side of the county. And I did frequently have to complain about my phone being out. Lousy phone service plus dial up ran about $55 a month plus long distance and many of our calls were $.10 in state. Now I pay $75 a month fro cable internet and better local service that includes more features than I will ever use plus free call to not only my whole county, but all of the USA, Canada, and much of Europe. VOIP, www.vonage.com.

My kids don't even have a land line, just cells.

labman · Nov 7, 2006, 09:26 AM

Sorry, I guess you already tried the switch the phone trick. Likely the cable has 4 wires and maybe only 1 of them is damaged. Unless you have 2 lines, you only need 2. Normally you use the red and green. Try swapping the red and yellow, and the green and black at both ends.

Or since it is a rental, you could always complain to the landlord.