From: awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu (Andy Wolf)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Only One Phone Works ... Help!
Date: 21 Nov 92 02:28:55 GMT
Organization: Milton S. Hershey Med Ctr / Penn St College of Med / Hershey,PA
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 863, Message 3 of 10

I have a problem in an apartment that I recently moved into.  There is
a phone jack in the kitchen that I have been using with a Panasonic
phone/answering machine with no problem.  There is a phone jack in the
third bedroom that had been plugged in to a standard honest-to-god
Western Electric tan 2500 set (everybody has one, right?).  This phone
I assumed worked correctly since I had used it to talk to someone at
the same time the kitchen phone was in use talking to the same party
(we have one line).  

However, my wife told me that she could not dial out on that line, and
sure enough, she's right.  If I hit the buttons, I hear the DTMF, but
I still get dial tone no matter how many numbers I hit.  To further
complicate matters, there is a phone line in the wall between the
master bedroom and the second bedroom.  Right now, this line extends
into the second bedroom and is tied in a loose knot.  It is not
terminated in an RJ-11 (some might say six-pin modular jack), it was
just cut.  The phone in bedroom three also rings on incoming calls.

	Now the questions.  

1. Why doesn't the phone in bedroom three work?  Bad phone cord?  Is
is because of the mess with the other line?  Could it be the
(bulletproof) phone?

2. In a rental situation, is it typical that the apartment company
should fix this problem, or do I have the burden?

3. If I properly terminate the other cord (I am capable of doing this
since I work with data communications) might this problem go away?

4. If it is my responsibility and I want the phone company (tm) to fix
this (charging at the 1/4-hour interval, of course), should I first
put the $2.00/month line maintenance service into effect, then not
have to pay the big bucks, then remove it next month?

My guesses are:

#1 faulty wiring in the apartment, or the patch cord to the phone;

#2 It is probably up to me to fix this;

#3 only a factor if the lines are shorting;

#4 the maintainence fee will eliminate the problem of the $$$ payout
to fix the problem.

Thanks for your time.

Please mail your thoughts to   awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu

	T H A N K   Y O U ! !


Andy Wolf				Internet	awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu
The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center	BITNET    awolf%cit.hmc.psu.edu@PSUHMC
Penn State College of Medicine		Phonenet	717.531.5825
Hershey, PA  17033			Footnet		C5756A


[Moderator's Note: Have you tried other instruments in BR-3 to see if
they work on the line? If so, then your problem is in the phone. Even
if you are hearing tones, they could be out of frequency. Have you
tried the phone in BR-3 in the jack in the kitchen to see if it works
there? The fact that you can talk on the BR-3 phone on the same call
as the kitchen phone suggests the line is okay and the phone is also
okay with the exception of the touch tone pad. Don't worry about the
loose wires in BR-2 for the moment. If they were shorting out or
crossed somehow, then you'd not be able to use the other phones at
all. I'd begin with a different phone in BR-3 and see what happens.

The landlord does not have to fix the problem.  Telco is not as easily
chiseled out of their fees as you suggest. Most telco maintainence
plans require at least a few months on the plan in order to be
covered. Much like insurance policies, telco maintainence plans may
not always cover pre-existing problems. But I strongly believe your
trouble is simply in the phone itself.   PAT]