Dear Forum,

Yesterday, I was trying to troubleshoot my downstairs phone. My
upstairs phone works fine.

Downstairs, the phone line is in rather poor shape. The phone line
connects to a socket whose screws are corroded. When I jiggled the
socket, I got a tone. However, a few moment later, the downstairs
phone would not give me a tone. More surprising, the upstairs phone
would not give me a tone either. I had to wait about 10 minutes before
getting a tone upstairs.

Does anybody know what could have happenned?

I greatly appreciate your help.

wrote:
Dear Forum,

Yesterday, I was trying to troubleshoot my downstairs phone. My
upstairs phone works fine.

Downstairs, the phone line is in rather poor shape. The phone line
connects to a socket whose screws are corroded. When I jiggled the
socket, I got a tone. However, a few moment later, the downstairs
phone would not give me a tone. More surprising, the upstairs phone
would not give me a tone either. I had to wait about 10 minutes before
getting a tone upstairs.

Does anybody know what could have happenned?

I greatly appreciate your help.

Any number of things could have caused the downstairs in-wall jack to fail.
Anything from a loose screw to streaming neutrinos from the solar wind.

If your hand fits a screwdriver, it should be an easy fix. Take the cover
plate off the jack and have a look.

On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:53:08 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

Dear Forum,

Yesterday, I was trying to troubleshoot my downstairs phone. My
upstairs phone works fine.

Downstairs, the phone line is in rather poor shape. The phone line
connects to a socket whose screws are corroded. When I jiggled the
socket, I got a tone. However, a few moment later, the downstairs
phone would not give me a tone. More surprising, the upstairs phone
would not give me a tone either. I had to wait about 10 minutes before
getting a tone upstairs.

Does anybody know what could have happenned?

I greatly appreciate your help.


Get a replacement phone jack socket - plate from the Dollar Store.
Perhaps also get a replacement phone cable. For $2 its a very cheap
fix.

DA had written this in response to
http://www.thestuccocompany.com/main...ms-277412-.htm
:
wrote:


Dear Forum,

Yesterday, I was trying to troubleshoot my downstairs phone. My
upstairs phone works fine.

Downstairs, the phone line is in rather poor shape. The phone line
connects to a socket whose screws are corroded. When I jiggled the
socket, I got a tone. However, a few moment later, the downstairs
phone would not give me a tone. More surprising, the upstairs phone
would not give me a tone either. I had to wait about 10 minutes before
getting a tone upstairs.

Does anybody know what could have happenned?

I greatly appreciate your help.

Have the downstairs jack replaced. If it's corroded, it's its time to go.
Apparently, the upstairs jack is daisy-chained off of the downstairs one,
so you need this one operational for both phones. It's easier if you
purchase exact same jack or if you can't get the same, just make sure you
are connecting to the same pair of screw terminals that the red and green
wires are connected to (assuming the standard color code is used, could
also be white/blue-blue wires instead)
Good luck.


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On 27 Dec 2007 18:14:41 GMT, (DA)
wrote:

Apparently, the upstairs jack is daisy-chained off of the downstairs one,
so you need this one operational for both phones.


More likely the downstairs phone was sensed as "off-hook" then
disabled by the automatic phone exchange and reset.

On Dec 27, 3:01�pm, PaPaPeng wrote:
On 27 Dec 2007 18:14:41 GMT, (DA)
wrote:

Apparently, the upstairs jack is daisy-chained off of the downstairs one,
so you need this one operational for both phones.

More likely the downstairs phone was sensed as "off-hook" then
disabled by the automatic phone exchange and reset.

If you have a NID network interface device you can unplug house so you
dont get shocked while working on jacks. its not dangerous but
unpleasant........

in a emergency you can plug a 25 foot phone extension into the NID run
the wire indoors and connect to phone so you have service

wrote:

On Dec 27, 3:01�pm, PaPaPeng wrote:

On 27 Dec 2007 18:14:41 GMT, (DA)
wrote:


Apparently, the upstairs jack is daisy-chained off of the downstairs one,
so you need this one operational for both phones.

More likely the downstairs phone was sensed as "off-hook" then
disabled by the automatic phone exchange and reset.


If you have a NID network interface device you can unplug house so you
dont get shocked while working on jacks. its not dangerous but
unpleasant........

in a emergency you can plug a 25 foot phone extension into the NID run
the wire indoors and connect to phone so you have service
Hmmm.
No cell phone?

In article
,
wrote:

Downstairs, the phone line is in rather poor shape. The phone line
connects to a socket whose screws are corroded. When I jiggled the
socket, I got a tone. However, a few moment later, the downstairs
phone would not give me a tone. More surprising, the upstairs phone
would not give me a tone either. I had to wait about 10 minutes before
getting a tone upstairs.

If the cover plate screws are corroded, it's a good bet that the brass
contacts INSIDE the jack are also corroded. You should replace the outlet.
If you are reasonably handy and have some experience working with wires, it
should be almost easy.

If the downstairs outlet is as corroded as I suspect, jiggling the cord in the
outlet probably caused enough of a short to "kill" the dial tone temporarily.
If the outlet IS bad, you should replace the cord (end) that was plugged-into
the jack as it will be equally compromised. Good luck.
--

JR

wrote in message
...
Dear Forum,

Yesterday, I was trying to troubleshoot my downstairs phone. My
upstairs phone works fine.

Downstairs, the phone line is in rather poor shape. The phone line
connects to a socket whose screws are corroded. When I jiggled the
socket, I got a tone. However, a few moment later, the downstairs
phone would not give me a tone. More surprising, the upstairs phone
would not give me a tone either. I had to wait about 10 minutes before
getting a tone upstairs.

Does anybody know what could have happenned?

I greatly appreciate your help.



Do what Jim Redelfs said. And one more thing: Fix one phone location at a
time. Since the downstairs installation needs a new plate anyway, disconnect
all the wires, tape the ends, and work on the upstairs phone until it's OK.
Then, unplug that phone, and work on the downstairs phone. Isolate them from
one another, in other words.