Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

frank1492 wrote:

Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

Bad SLIC at the CO or RT, or improper config on the switch.

frank1492 wrote:

Any ideas?
Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK.

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it has
suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

A phone that has suffered an internal failure and goes off-hook is not
that uncommon. It happened to my parents just a few months ago.

They e-mailed me and said they're phone wasn't working. I told them to
disconnect all the phones in the house.

Sure enough, one particular phone had failed and went off-hook.

I don't know what Verizon is like, but when a telco problem is traced to
customer-owned equipment or wiring, the customer gets a bill for the
service call.

Check your phones by physically disconnecting all of them, then plug in
the simplest, most non-electronic phone you have into a service jack and
see what you get.

On 8/10/2011 7:29 PM, Home Guy wrote:
frank1492 wrote:

Any ideas?
Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK.

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it has
suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

A phone that has suffered an internal failure and goes off-hook is not
that uncommon. It happened to my parents just a few months ago.

They e-mailed me and said they're phone wasn't working. I told them to
disconnect all the phones in the house.

Sure enough, one particular phone had failed and went off-hook.

I don't know what Verizon is like, but when a telco problem is traced to
customer-owned equipment or wiring, the customer gets a bill for the
service call.

Check your phones by physically disconnecting all of them, then plug in
the simplest, most non-electronic phone you have into a service jack and
see what you get.

He already tried that, by checking from the demarc box.

--
aem sends...

On 8/10/2011 7:29 PM, Home Guy wrote:
frank1492 wrote:

Any ideas?
Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK.

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it has
suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

The phones could be on fire but he verified nothing internal is an issue
by checking at the demarc: "Have tried phones directly from the box"



A phone that has suffered an internal failure and goes off-hook is not
that uncommon. It happened to my parents just a few months ago.

They e-mailed me and said they're phone wasn't working. I told them to
disconnect all the phones in the house.

Sure enough, one particular phone had failed and went off-hook.

I don't know what Verizon is like, but when a telco problem is traced to
customer-owned equipment or wiring, the customer gets a bill for the
service call.

Check your phones by physically disconnecting all of them, then plug in
the simplest, most non-electronic phone you have into a service jack and
see what you get.

George quoted improperly:

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it
has suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

The phones could be on fire but he verified nothing internal is
an issue by checking at the demarc: "Have tried phones directly
from the box"

aemeijers unnecessarily full-quoted:

He already tried that, by checking from the demarc box.

Plugging a phone into the demark box doesn't mean he disconnected the
rest of his home's phone wiring from the box.

If he didn't disconnect his home's internal phone wiring from the demark
box, then a faulty phone somewhere in the house will still cause an
off-hook condition, and a working phone plugged into the demark jack
will still not work.

In article , Home Guy wrote:

George quoted improperly:

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it
has suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

The phones could be on fire but he verified nothing internal is
an issue by checking at the demarc: "Have tried phones directly
from the box"

aemeijers unnecessarily full-quoted:

He already tried that, by checking from the demarc box.

Plugging a phone into the demark box doesn't mean he disconnected the
rest of his home's phone wiring from the box.

It does on my box. Ain't that the standard design?


If he didn't disconnect his home's internal phone wiring from the demark
box, then a faulty phone somewhere in the house will still cause an
off-hook condition, and a working phone plugged into the demark jack
will still not work.

On 8/11/2011 12:59 AM, Home Guy wrote:
George quoted improperly:

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it
has suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

The phones could be on fire but he verified nothing internal is
an issue by checking at the demarc: "Have tried phones directly
from the box"

aemeijers unnecessarily full-quoted:

He already tried that, by checking from the demarc box.

Plugging a phone into the demark box doesn't mean he disconnected the
rest of his home's phone wiring from the box.

If he didn't disconnect his home's internal phone wiring from the demark
box, then a faulty phone somewhere in the house will still cause an
off-hook condition, and a working phone plugged into the demark jack
will still not work.

'demarc box', unless you are using the term to include ancient
post-style connection boxes, involves a modular jack inside the
customer-accessible side of the box. If you plug in a phone at the
demarc, you have to unplug the house side from the modular jack, which
completely disconnects the house wiring. Unless OP has his own lineman
phone, aka 'butt set', or had the parts laying around to connect another
jack to an old-style connector box, yes, he did disconnect the house
wiring. Situations like this are what modern demarc boxes were invented
for. MOST local telcos, when they install DSL or do other service
changes, automatically change the outside box to a connector-style
demarc, if the house is old and has an old-style box. The old boxes are
getting extremely rare.

--
aem sends...

aemeijers wrote:

If he didn't disconnect his home's internal phone wiring from the
demark box, then a faulty phone somewhere in the house will still
cause an off-hook condition

'demarc box', unless you are using the term to include ancient
post-style connection boxes, involves a modular jack inside the
customer-accessible side of the box. If you plug in a phone at
the demarc, you have to unplug the house side from the modular
jack,

I've seen house wiring run into the modular jack (for connection
reliability reasons).

He might also have a DSL filter somewhere in this mix, which might be
the cause of the problem.

On 8/11/2011 12:59 AM, Home Guy wrote:
George quoted improperly:

You probably have a phone in your house that is off-hook, or it
has suffered an internal failure and is off-hook.

The phones could be on fire but he verified nothing internal is
an issue by checking at the demarc: "Have tried phones directly
from the box"

aemeijers unnecessarily full-quoted:

He already tried that, by checking from the demarc box.

Plugging a phone into the demark box doesn't mean he disconnected the
rest of his home's phone wiring from the box.



He must be a clever guy then and rigged up some Y cables or something
similar to cross connect the telco and premise sides to defeat the
purpose of the demarc.

If he didn't disconnect his home's internal phone wiring from the demark
box, then a faulty phone somewhere in the house will still cause an
off-hook condition, and a working phone plugged into the demark jack
will still not work.

George wrote:

Plugging a phone into the demark box doesn't mean he disconnected
the rest of his home's phone wiring from the box.

(a simple concept that some people around here want to keep fighting
over)

He must be a clever guy then and rigged up some Y cables or
something similar to cross connect the telco and premise sides
to defeat the purpose of the demarc.

The demark is the physical point at which the telco is responsible for
providing service or a connection point to the customer.

There is no standard specification as to how the customer's internal
premisis wiring is connected to the demarcation (in terms of detachable
plug vs hard-wired).

(rest of my post that George quoted for no reason deleted because I know
how to edit my usenet posts correctly)

frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

If you can't get a dial tone at the DMARC (the box outside that connects the
'phone company's lines to your house wiring), it's definitely a TELCO
problem.

As to what caused it, it could be anything from moisture in a terminal box
to union sabotage.

With Vonage - and others - you can get a box that plugs into your network
router. The other side of the box is a telephone jack. That jack acts
EXACTLY like a TELCO trunk line (except it's cheaper, you get all the add-on
stuff for free, and all the long distance you can eat).

Beat feet down to Best Buy, Walmart, and other places and pick up the Vonage
starter kit (about $20). Plug it in and you're good to go.

If you currently have call forwarding from your Telco, contact them and they
can forward all your calls to your new Vonage number.

On 8/10/2011 8:20 PM, HeyBub wrote:
frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

If you can't get a dial tone at the DMARC (the box outside that connects the
'phone company's lines to your house wiring), it's definitely a TELCO
problem.

As to what caused it, it could be anything from moisture in a terminal box
to union sabotage.

With Vonage - and others - you can get a box that plugs into your network
router. The other side of the box is a telephone jack. That jack acts
EXACTLY like a TELCO trunk line (except it's cheaper, you get all the add-on
stuff for free, and all the long distance you can eat).

Beat feet down to Best Buy, Walmart, and other places and pick up the Vonage
starter kit (about $20). Plug it in and you're good to go.

If you currently have call forwarding from your Telco, contact them and they
can forward all your calls to your new Vonage number.



Only works worth a damn if you have a real good internet connection.
VOIP and data do not play nice together.

Might be worth trying, to see if it is 'good enough' for your needs, but
it isn't a real phone line. I use VOIP via a dial-around for overseas
calls, and at work, we have multiple VOIP connections to sandbox.
Quality of call often sucks.

Just sayin'

--
aem sends...

aemeijers wrote:
On 8/10/2011 8:20 PM, HeyBub wrote:
frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due
to the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground.
All I hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is
OK. Have tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good
at this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

If you can't get a dial tone at the DMARC (the box outside that
connects the 'phone company's lines to your house wiring), it's
definitely a TELCO problem.

As to what caused it, it could be anything from moisture in a
terminal box to union sabotage.

With Vonage - and others - you can get a box that plugs into your
network router. The other side of the box is a telephone jack. That
jack acts EXACTLY like a TELCO trunk line (except it's cheaper, you
get all the add-on stuff for free, and all the long distance you can
eat). Beat feet down to Best Buy, Walmart, and other places and pick up
the Vonage starter kit (about $20). Plug it in and you're good to go.

If you currently have call forwarding from your Telco, contact them
and they can forward all your calls to your new Vonage number.



Only works worth a damn if you have a real good internet connection.
VOIP and data do not play nice together.

Agreed, sort of. IF you do have a good internet connection, voice and data
DO play well together. We've had both our VoIP lines in use while one of the
computers on the network was engaged in a massive download with no
degradation of voice quality. 'Course we have a really peppy internet
connection.


Might be worth trying, to see if it is 'good enough' for your needs,
but it isn't a real phone line.

Correct. VoIP is NOT a "real" 'phone line. In many respects it's better.

First, is the price: $19.95 (or thereabouts) per month. Period. No sales
tax, Al Gore tax, Spanish-American War tax, excise tax, Universal Access
Fee, blah-blah-blah.

Second - and this is tied to the first - no charge for the add-on features:
call waiting, caller-id, call-forwarding, three-way calling, touch-tone
capability, princess-phone rental, etc.

Third, you get all the long-distance you want. At three cents/minute our
small business ran up about $200/month in LD charges. All that went away
with our VoIP connection.

Fourth, you get to pick the area code you want. If you live in Floating
Stick, Oklahoma and all your relatives live on Cape Code, you can get a 508
area code so when they call you, to them it is a local call.

There are some downsides. (Let me think...)

Ah, yes. If you lose power or your network connection, you are deaf and
dumb. Power and internet interruptions are more common than land-line
failure. In this event, we fall back on a cell-phone.

I use VOIP via a dial-around for
overseas calls, and at work, we have multiple VOIP connections to
sandbox. Quality of call often sucks.

Just sayin'

You're right. The quality of a call might be sub-par (we've never had that
happen). YMMV.

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

You're right. The quality of a call might be sub-par (we've never had that
happen). YMMV.

Got a couple of friends with VOIP and the quality of the calls are
"sub-par" about 10% of the time. And by sub-par, I mean, I can't
understand one word they're saying. IOW, you can keep all your so-called
advantages, because that one disadvantage alone is plenty of reason not
to abandon my landline.

As far as it never happening to you, it never happens to my friends,
either. Incoming sound for them is always OK.

On 8/10/2011 10:11 PM, aemeijers wrote:
On 8/10/2011 8:20 PM, HeyBub wrote:
frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

If you can't get a dial tone at the DMARC (the box outside that
connects the
'phone company's lines to your house wiring), it's definitely a TELCO
problem.

As to what caused it, it could be anything from moisture in a terminal
box
to union sabotage.

With Vonage - and others - you can get a box that plugs into your network
router. The other side of the box is a telephone jack. That jack acts
EXACTLY like a TELCO trunk line (except it's cheaper, you get all the
add-on
stuff for free, and all the long distance you can eat).

Beat feet down to Best Buy, Walmart, and other places and pick up the
Vonage
starter kit (about $20). Plug it in and you're good to go.

If you currently have call forwarding from your Telco, contact them
and they
can forward all your calls to your new Vonage number.



Only works worth a damn if you have a real good internet connection.
VOIP and data do not play nice together.

Might be worth trying, to see if it is 'good enough' for your needs, but
it isn't a real phone line. I use VOIP via a dial-around for overseas
calls, and at work, we have multiple VOIP connections to sandbox.
Quality of call often sucks.

Just sayin'

And there is no particular goodness about vonage other than you can find
it at the big box mart. One can easily install VoIP for less.

On 8/10/2011 8:20 PM, HeyBub wrote:
frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

If you can't get a dial tone at the DMARC (the box outside that connects the
'phone company's lines to your house wiring), it's definitely a TELCO
problem.

As to what caused it, it could be anything from moisture in a terminal box
to union sabotage.

With Vonage - and others - you can get a box that plugs into your network
router. The other side of the box is a telephone jack. That jack acts
EXACTLY like a TELCO trunk line (except it's cheaper, you get all the add-on
stuff for free, and all the long distance you can eat).

Beat feet down to Best Buy, Walmart, and other places and pick up the Vonage
starter kit (about $20). Plug it in and you're good to go.

If you currently have call forwarding from your Telco, contact them and they
can forward all your calls to your new Vonage number.



Only works worth a damn if you have a real good internet connection.
VOIP and data do not play nice together.

Might be worth trying, to see if it is 'good enough' for your needs, but
it isn't a real phone line.

Just sayin'

-- aem sends...

Thank you all for your comments. It is clear that the interface box
doesn't require disconnect of the phones to tell if it's a TELCO issue
but I did disconnect the phones and the DSL modem and there is
nothing. I also checked the ground and wiggled a few wires.
As for the Vonage idea, fortunately I do have Skype and will have
to live with imperfect calls until the 20th I am afraid. My cell phone
minutes are pretty much used up.
Heaven help anyone that wants to get their phone outages even
reported during this strike. For me, there was no answer at
1-800-verizon about half the time and even the automated system did
not function properly. I was essentially told my lack of a dial tone
was because I hadn't paid my bill so was directed to the billing
department!!






On Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:51:44 -0400, frank1492
wrote:

Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

frank1492 top-poasted:

Thank you all for your comments. It is clear that the interface
box doesn't require disconnect of the phones to tell if it's a
TELCO issue

That tells us exactly nothing about how your premesis wiring is
connected to the demark jack.

but I did disconnect the phones and the DSL modem and there is
nothing.

You don't post here that often, but I hope you do come back and tell us
what the problem was.

Take a look back. There is my original post with all the details. In
sum, no dial tone, DSL running normally. With all inside phones and
modem disconnected, no dial tone at the box. What more would you like?
I already have had a dozen or so ideas.





On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:57:44 -0400, Home Guy wrote:

frank1492 top-poasted:

Thank you all for your comments. It is clear that the interface
box doesn't require disconnect of the phones to tell if it's a
TELCO issue

That tells us exactly nothing about how your premesis wiring is
connected to the demark jack.

but I did disconnect the phones and the DSL modem and there is
nothing.

You don't post here that often, but I hope you do come back and tell us
what the problem was.

frank1492 used improper usenet message composition style by
top-poasting:

It is clear that the interface box doesn't require disconnect
of the phones to tell if it's a TELCO issue

That tells us exactly nothing about how your premesis wiring is
connected to the demark jack.

Take a look back. There is my original post with all the details.

Those details did not include if you had physically disconnected your
home's internal phone wires from the demark point such that they can
absolutely be ruled out as causing your apparent off-hook condition.

In sum, no dial tone, DSL running normally. With all inside phones
and modem disconnected, no dial tone at the box. What more would
you like?

Someone else mentioned an alarm system. Do you have an alarm system
wired into your phone wires?

It's quite possible that you have a device connected to your home's
network of phone wires. An alarm system. A stand-alone call-display
unit. An overlooked portable phone base. A faulty phone extention
cable.

By physically disconnecting ALL your home's internal phone cables from
the demark point, only then are you able to rule out anything beyond the
demark point as the cause of the problem. I don't believe you've
clearly said if you've done that (complete physical disconnection from
the demark).

I have two phones and a modem which I have tried disconnecting. I did
not disconnect the house wiring at the box but will try when I get the
time. I do not have an alarm system, but I do have a standalone
answering machine, which I thought I had ruled out but will check
again.
Actually I thought the jack at the interface wasn't supposed to
require any of that. Although I am not an expert on interfaces I have
never had Verizon tell me that I would have to disconnect my home
wiring in order for that test to be reliable. Perhaps you could
explain further.






On Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:50:23 -0400, Home Guy wrote:

frank1492 used improper usenet message composition style by
top-poasting:

It is clear that the interface box doesn't require disconnect
of the phones to tell if it's a TELCO issue

That tells us exactly nothing about how your premesis wiring is
connected to the demark jack.

Take a look back. There is my original post with all the details.

Those details did not include if you had physically disconnected your
home's internal phone wires from the demark point such that they can
absolutely be ruled out as causing your apparent off-hook condition.

In sum, no dial tone, DSL running normally. With all inside phones
and modem disconnected, no dial tone at the box. What more would
you like?

Someone else mentioned an alarm system. Do you have an alarm system
wired into your phone wires?

It's quite possible that you have a device connected to your home's
network of phone wires. An alarm system. A stand-alone call-display
unit. An overlooked portable phone base. A faulty phone extention
cable.

By physically disconnecting ALL your home's internal phone cables from
the demark point, only then are you able to rule out anything beyond the
demark point as the cause of the problem. I don't believe you've
clearly said if you've done that (complete physical disconnection from
the demark).

frank1492 wrote:

I was essentially told my lack of a dial tone was because I hadn't
paid my bill so was directed to the billing department!!

An answer to your problem (or at least a way to get your problem fixed)
will be found on the website DSLReports.com.

All manner of teleco and ISP related issues are discussed on that board,
with forums devoted to every major telco, cable and satellite provider,
and all manner of services (internet, phone, cable tv, IPTV, etc).

Each of the major players has a "direct support" forum, where you can
post your problem and only a bona-fide company rep get to read and act
on them, and will communicate with you as the problem is worked on.

In your case, you want to go he

https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/vzdirect

So go and sign up and get a user-name and password on dslreports.com,
and then go and post your service problem in that forum. You'll
probably have to post your name, address, and service phone number along
with a description of the problem. Only you, and the company rep or
technician will be able to read your post - nobody else.

I can tell you that it's legit. You can see by the subject lines the
various issues that people are dealing with at the moment.

The tech that deals with your issue will be able to test the line-card
in the CO (central switching office) that your house is wired to. He'll
be able to run a remote diagnostic on the line card and it will tell him
where the problem is.

Thank you for these details. I have been to this forum and have
received several ideas. Verizon has run a line test from the office
and tells me nothing is wrong which is puzzling. I will do what you
have suggested but am tied up with another matter at the moment.
What can the DSLReports tech do that the phone company couldn't?






On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:39:18 -0400, Home Guy wrote:

frank1492 wrote:

I was essentially told my lack of a dial tone was because I hadn't
paid my bill so was directed to the billing department!!

An answer to your problem (or at least a way to get your problem fixed)
will be found on the website DSLReports.com.

All manner of teleco and ISP related issues are discussed on that board,
with forums devoted to every major telco, cable and satellite provider,
and all manner of services (internet, phone, cable tv, IPTV, etc).

Each of the major players has a "direct support" forum, where you can
post your problem and only a bona-fide company rep get to read and act
on them, and will communicate with you as the problem is worked on.

In your case, you want to go he

https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/vzdirect

So go and sign up and get a user-name and password on dslreports.com,
and then go and post your service problem in that forum. You'll
probably have to post your name, address, and service phone number along
with a description of the problem. Only you, and the company rep or
technician will be able to read your post - nobody else.

I can tell you that it's legit. You can see by the subject lines the
various issues that people are dealing with at the moment.

The tech that deals with your issue will be able to test the line-card
in the CO (central switching office) that your house is wired to. He'll
be able to run a remote diagnostic on the line card and it will tell him
where the problem is.

frank1492 top-poasted:

Each of the major players has a "direct support" forum, where you
can post your problem and only a bona-fide company rep get to read
and act on them, and will communicate with you as the problem is
worked on.

I will do what you have suggested but am tied up with another matter
at the moment. What can the DSLReports tech do that the phone company
couldn't?

Just to clarify something:

The techs that answer the questions posted to the direct forums on
dslreports work for the various companies (Verizon, Comcast, ATT, etc).
Their normal dayjob is with those companies. They have an arrangement
with DSLReports which gives them the ability to read and deal with the
issues posted by customers.

I don't know the history of how that arrangement came about, but I can
imagine that as DSLreports became popular as the place people went to to
discuss cable, telecom and internet issues, and as the various big
companies were slow (or still haven't) developed a credible on-line
service portal of their own, it became clear that having a presence on
dslreports was beneficial to everyone concerned.

frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

You didn't say whether you checked for voltage on the negative side???
BUT

If you've disconnected the house and a known-good phone is hooked to
the company line and it doesn't work,
What are you gonna do to fix it?

All solution sets lead to the phone company.

I wouldn't discount sabotage by the strikers.
What better way to end a get Verizon to yield than to have angry
customers without service.

I have an appointment for Ag 20. I'd blame the strike except that I
have some sort of problem every year. Beach house, high winds, lots of
salt.




On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:15:13 -0700, mike wrote:

frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

You didn't say whether you checked for voltage on the negative side???
BUT

If you've disconnected the house and a known-good phone is hooked to
the company line and it doesn't work,
What are you gonna do to fix it?

All solution sets lead to the phone company.

I wouldn't discount sabotage by the strikers.
What better way to end a get Verizon to yield than to have angry
customers without service.

frank1492 wrote:
I have an appointment for Ag 20. I'd blame the strike except that I
have some sort of problem every year. Beach house, high winds, lots of
salt.
Which is why the check for -48V is relevant.





On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:15:13 -0700, mike wrote:

frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank
You didn't say whether you checked for voltage on the negative side???
BUT

If you've disconnected the house and a known-good phone is hooked to
the company line and it doesn't work,
What are you gonna do to fix it?

All solution sets lead to the phone company.

I wouldn't discount sabotage by the strikers.
What better way to end a get Verizon to yield than to have angry
customers without service.

frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

In addition to what others have said, I just have two things to add in case
it helps.

One is, what happens when you call your own number from another phone? Does
it sound like it is ringing when you listen on the phone you are calling
from? Do you get a busy signal?

And, the second is, do you have an alarm system (or maybe the DSL hookup)
that is wired directly to the telephone company side of the D-Mark? The
phone company says that nothing is supposed to be connected directly to
their side of the D-Mark, but sometimes alarm company installers and others
ignore this and do it anyway.

I mention these because I had a phone line problem recently and there was no
dial tone. When the phone company came out, they said my alarm system was
connected to their side of the D-Mark, which it shouldn't be. However, that
was not the problem. Also, in my case, although there was no dial tone,
including after doing the same tests you did, when I called my number from
another phone I always got a busy signal. It turned out that my problem was
in the buried phone line going to the house (we have buried incoming phone
lines in my area). They had to call out the "buried cable" guys to fix the
problem.

Thanks Roger!
The last people to work on the interface were Verizon techs when
they ran a dedicated line to my DSL because I was having speed issues.
All was fine for awhile. No alarm guys here.
People that call get a busy signal.
I will mention again that V did a line test from the office and
they said everything was normal.





On Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:49:42 -0400, "RogerT"
wrote:

frank1492 wrote:
Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20 due to
the strike. Have checked box connections and checked the ground. All I
hear on my phones is a slight hiss. Verizon says the line is OK. Have
tried phones directly from the box and also no dial tone.
If you have no clue, is there a forum that is particularly good at
this type of issue?
Thank you!
Frank

In addition to what others have said, I just have two things to add in case
it helps.

One is, what happens when you call your own number from another phone? Does
it sound like it is ringing when you listen on the phone you are calling
from? Do you get a busy signal?

And, the second is, do you have an alarm system (or maybe the DSL hookup)
that is wired directly to the telephone company side of the D-Mark? The
phone company says that nothing is supposed to be connected directly to
their side of the D-Mark, but sometimes alarm company installers and others
ignore this and do it anyway.

I mention these because I had a phone line problem recently and there was no
dial tone. When the phone company came out, they said my alarm system was
connected to their side of the D-Mark, which it shouldn't be. However, that
was not the problem. Also, in my case, although there was no dial tone,
including after doing the same tests you did, when I called my number from
another phone I always got a busy signal. It turned out that my problem was
in the buried phone line going to the house (we have buried incoming phone
lines in my area). They had to call out the "buried cable" guys to fix the
problem.

frank1492 wrote:

Any ideas? I won't have my phone service restored until Aug. 20
due to the strike.

Heh.

Don't rule out intentional sabotage or tampering...

====================
http://www.wtae.com/r/28846881/detai...#ixzz1UpxXvTnU

Verizon Site Mischief Cuts Police Phone Service
State Trooper Says Someone With Keys Went In Underground Vault

POSTED: 11:00 am EDT August 12, 2011

LEMONT FURNACE, Pa.

State police in Uniontown said a 29-hour loss of landline phone service
was caused by an act of criminal mischief when someone went into locked
underground Verizon vaults and shut off the power.

Trooper Timothy Kirsch said there was no forced entry at the sites on
Main Street and on Route 119 in Lemont Furnace, near the Penn State
Fayette campus. Police believe whoever shut off the power had keys.

Police are trying to determine if the incident, which began at about
9:30 p.m. Tuesday, is related to an ongoing strike by Verizon landline
workers.

The local state police barracks was without phone and computer service
for 21 hours, police said. Calls had to be forwarded to dispatchers who
worked out of another barracks several miles away.

All of the Lemont Furnace area -- including many local businesses -- had
no communication, data and cellphone service for about 29 hours, police
said.

Police have no suspects and have made no arrests.
=================