Phone Outlet

[UTAustin92]

I have a couple of phone outlets in my place that does not work. I have replaced the whole phone outlet out but I still don't get anything but static. What other things should I be checking?

 

[Bob Wills]

I'd also check the cabling.

How old is your house? Is it CAT3 wiring? Is it possible to pull new cable runs? Are you using only one phone to test? Is it a cordless?

 

[ths71]

You can get a cheap(6 bucks) line tester from Radio Shack that will tell you if you have an open/short (continuity) or a tip/ring reversal(polarity)

 

[UTAustin92]

Bob,
The house is about 30 years old. I don't know what a CAT3 is but I am guessing it is the wirings coming from the wall to connect to the outlet. Is this something that will make a difference? I tested the outlets with multiple phones (cordless and the corded ones) but same results.

Ths7,
I will try that.

 

[HornTillDeath]

If you're getting static, it means it is connected to something, else it would just be dead. Are all the phone jacks static, or just a couple? If it's all, check the line where it enters the house, this will let you know if it's in the house (your problem) or in the line to your house (SBC's problem).

If it's only a couple, but not all, then the problem is in those specific lines. Since you've already replaced the outlets, it's either on the other end where all the phone lines are distributed throughout the house, or it's somewhere behind the walls. 30 year old house, can you say mice? If it's behind the walls, it would be better not use those outlets or run new lines. Trying to track down specifically where the line is shorted would be too involved.

 

[wolfman]

I would call the phone company. You may have coverage inside the home. I have SBC and their inline plus service which covers inside wiring. Some people have it and do not realize it.

 

[Sasquatch69]

If you are getting static, it's likely that those jacks are configured for a second line. Out of the 4 wires in a typical phone line, the wiring guys often wire second lines to the opposite 2 from the 2 used for the primary line. That's likely the case in your dwelling.

 

[idigTexas]

Adding to what's already been said, check the wiring on the outlets that work. Use the same scheme for the outlets that don't work. You may also need to check your phone company's box outside. Typically, all the outlets are fed from this box using red, green, black, and yellow cable. You may need to simply move the wires from the posts of a dead second line to the posts of the active line. Don't move the multicolored cables from the phone company's feed (orange, blue, striped, etc.). You are ony interested in the 4 colors listed above. If the wires aren't labled, you can use a line tester to find the hot posts. If you don't want to go to the trouble of getting a tester, the trial and error method should work (if you remove the cables from one post, and your working outlets go dead, you chose poorly).

You also have to keep in mind that sometimes jacks are wired to feed from other jacks. Thus when Jack A is down, so is Jack B. Fix Jack A, and Jack B may work as well. If any of the jacks in question aren't in the wall, they were likely wired in this fashion, but internal outlets are often configured this way as well, especially on cheaper homes.

The above applies to most homes that were built in the last 25 years or so. This may or may not apply to your home.

It would be helpful to know what color the wires are in the working and non-working jacks. Are they red, green, black, and yellow? Are all 4 cables connected to the jack, or just 2? Which 2? Can you find a phone comany box? What does the wiring look like inside?

 

[ths71]

In reply to:

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[OrangeHair]

This may or may not help you. I had a problem like this in my apartment a few years back. The only jack that worked was in the kitchen and there was a dead jack in my room. When I took a voltmeter and checked the wires from the dead jack there was nothing, no voltage, no continuity (meaning an open loop). BTW, this was an old apartment and there were only 2 wires. So either there was a break in the wiring or the jack was setup for a second line that had been disconnected. I hoped it was the later and If I was correct then that meant there would be wires running from the dead jack out to the distribution panel outside. If I could locate which wires in the distribution panel went to that dead jack then all I needed to do was connect them to the right posts for the active line in my apartment.

Anyway since this was an apartment complex there were a lot of unlabeled wires, some loose and some connected to posts. Live wires register a voltage so I was able to determine which posts and lines were active and which were not. Then I was able to determine which 2 dead wires were going to that dead jack by twisting them together in the room and using a volt meter to check which 2 wires in the distribution panel changed from no continuity to continuity (open to closed circuit). In my case the two wires were actually connected to 2 dead posts in the distribution panel. All I had to do was take these 2 wires and connect them to the posts for the rest of my apartment (lucky the posts for my main apartment line were labeled). You probably don't want to twist the wires together for boxes that are live, I don't think the voltage is very high but you could probably short or damage something like that expensive 3.14159 GHz phone.

You might also use this technique to determine if the 2 dead jacks are at least connected to each other. In that case you might be able to run a live wire from a working box to just one of the boxes and then all of them would work. Maybe one of the dead boxes is in a convenient location such that you could run this wire discretely inside or outside the house.