On Aug 20, 6:24 pm, Jethro wrote:
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:18:12 GMT, Ken wrote:
Jethro wrote:
I hate to ask this question - as I expect the most logical answer is
'it could be anything'. But since the repairman can't get here until
Thursday, I thought I would throw it out to see if anyone can suggest
something.

It seems my 4 house phones were all working just fine this morning at
10AM. The this afternoon, I discovered that there is a horrible
'buzzing' or 'humming' kind of sound on the line that renders
conversation impossible, and in fact my dial-up is non working as a
result as well.

I have tried connecting a spare phone outside to the phone company
box, and there is no noise there, and the phone works fine. Obviously,
then, the problem must be in my house somewhere, despite the fact that
I did nothing to cause a problem.

I have tried disconnecting red/green wires from each of the outlets
one outlet at a time, but have ended up with no improvement.

Since the repairman wants $90/half hour, I am hoping someone of you
can suggest something I can try. I have until Thursday!

Thanks

Jethro

As others have suggested, you should disconnect ALL other devices
connected to the phone wiring inside the house. Then try your phone.

If I read you right, I think I have done just that. And the buzzing
still existed.

If the buzzing still exists, disconnect the house wiring from the phone
company line at the box outside, and place an ohmmeter across the inside
tip and ring while all devices (phones etc.) are disconnected to see if
there is a short.

I can disconnect the wiring from the company line at the outside box
okay. But I don't understand what you mean by 'tip and ring'. Please
excuse my ignorance. If you are saying to take an ohmage reading of
the two wires I disconnect there (with all inside phones etc
disconnected) then I can do that. I should get zero?

Thanks

Jethro- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Tip and Ring comes from the old days when phones were connected using
a "phone plug" and "phone jack", the same 1/4 inch plug/jack that is
used today to connect audio like electric guitar and headphones. The
tip was the tip of the plug and the ring was the shank. If your house
uses standard color code then the tip is green and the ring is red, or
the tip is black and the ring is yellow, but dont depend on those
colors. You can pick up a cheap polarity tester from radio shack to
test the proper polarity of your jacks. But your problem is probably
not polarity since the system worked before. You need to get every
phone device off of your inside wiring and disconnect the demarcation
box. Using a multimeter test one of your inside jacks for voltage to
ensure that there is no current on your inside line, test both DC and
AC there should be zero volts. Then test the ohms of the internal
wiring it should be at infinity. Then short out one of the inside
jacks (tip/ring) (make sure you are disconnected from phone company),
measure ohms again, the line should go to zero ohms. If all this
checks out then plug in your "best phone" and see if you get hum.