Billccm ) writes:

Our telephone line is giving us some trouble. It has a loud buzz, or hum, and
our internet dial up connection performance has degraded.

I took a phone out to our 'network box', and plugged it in. No hum, or buzz. I
reconnected the network box, and took a cordless phone back out with me. It
seems that I can reduce the hum by touching wires that are connected to other
phone numbers (at one time this house had FOUR phone numbers). I am not sure of
this is a clue, or not.

The phone company wants $85 to come out and troubleshoot, that's TROUBLESHOOT,
not repair. They have this long speal that they may not be able to make the
repair, and it will still be $85 hour. I'd gladly pay the $85 an hour IF they
would repair the problem.

So, any suggestions on what to look for, how to troubleshoot, or even a third
party repair person would be helpful.

Thanks for any advice. Have a nice day,

Bill

The hum is likely being picked up from an electrical source inside the
house, near a phone line. Make sure the inside lines are not running too
close to the electrical wiring. Try unplugging suspect appliances. I
suppose you could even turn off the house fuses to see if it fixes the
problem, if you don't mind resetting all your electronic clocks. Moving
the appliance or phone line could save you $85.


--
"For it is only of the new one grows tired. Of the old one never tires."
-- Kierkegaard, _Repetition_

James Owens, Ottawa, Canada