Phone line Repair
 

Phone line Repair is expensive, so I want to do it myself.

The phone in my room began to become static-y so i repleaced the phone jack. When I got it hooked up, there was no dial tone. I tried different phones... no tone.

I got a new jack and tried it... still no tone.

I looked under the house and the line has not been severed (to the best of my knowledge).

Is there anything else I can do? How do i open the phone box? I'd like to check the connection there also. Anyhting i should reexamine?

Thanks

Since it worked with the old jack and not the new one, the problem is most likely your wiring. Check another phone in your house to make sure you used the right wire colors.

There should be a bundle of wires within the line; like 4-8 of them. You most likely hooked up the wrong pair. Try different combinations until you get two that work.

OR you might have the right pair. One of them was cracked prior to the repair, but broken now. You can't see the break, because its hidden by the wire's insulation. If you are sure you have the right pair, clip off the last few inches and ty again.

Good luck. This can be very tedious, frustrating work.

If I remember right, and it's been awhile the wires are used in the pairs "red/green" and "yellow/black" You should be able to determine which ones were used before by looking at the ends of the wire, unless you have trimmed them.

The new jack should have matching colors. Check the package if the colors aren't the four I mentioned. If your house wires are different, then checking another jack as mentioned before is about your only bet.

The static could be a bad jack, or a break in the wire as clavus pointed out, but it could also be a break in the cord running to the phone, or a bad connection there. Don't forget to check that.

yup don't worry keep trying them, you'll get it, don't worry about shorting anything or getting electrocuted :D there is a small current running through some of those wires but tooooo small, try putting your tongue on it , you'll find them:D, and besides that way u will know which ones to work with :D

yup, i have all of the wires connected for the correct sequence. i guess, I'll trim it back a few inches or so and try again.

I'd look at the NID(Phone Box). If it is a relatively new NID, there should be a test jack. Grab a phone and test it from there. btw, I work at a phone company so, I hear about our techs doing this all the time. That's step one, now if it's clear there, and your other phones aren't staticy, it's probably the wire to that phone. Like someone said, cut it back a little bit to test it, and if that doesn't work, you might need to replace the line. If that's the case, lemme know and I'll get more details for you from one of the techs here.

Most phone companies offer an inside wiring service for a few bucks a month. I know it adds up after a while but when you need it, they come out and do the work for you.

If you need to run a new phone line to that jack it is a lot like running coax for you cable. The difference is that you need to make sure you connect red to red, green to green, yellow to yellow, and black to black. it is pretty simple. Also I wouldn't put the wires to your tongue, because if the line gets called the ring voltage is quite a bit higher than usual. If you need to know the NID (usually grey box on the side of the house) shouldn't be locked. There are 2 sides to it the customer side (you) and the phone company side. That side would be locked.

Yup, i think that I will restring.

you can put the wires to your tounge if you want but I wouldn't suggest it. Ringing votage is 90-110 volts AC, dial tone is 48 volts DC. Red/green is the primary pair unless your phone company or whoever hooked the line up before was drunk or something. It doesn't matter which one goes where as long as you have the correct pair. Also if you have a short (the two wires touching each other) all your other phones in your house will not work either. Disconnect all the lines to your house at the outside box and hook them up one at a time make sure you use the correct pair. If you hook one up and it doesn't work use the black/yellow pair (just make sure you change it at both ends). If it still doesn't work replace the wire. It's as easy as that.

Can't add much to what these fine folks have said, but in my house, the wiring is Blue/Blue-White and Orange/Orange-White for each line respectively. All the colors of the rainbow. :) Good luck

I would open up one of the other boxes to see what colors they are using, and do the same with your new jack. However since none of your other phones are working, I think you may have a short somewhere, (cracked insulation).

Acctually, the other phones are working, just not the one in my room.

I checked at the phone box and it's old line. It only has red and green writes (new wire had red-green and yellow-black, enabeling upgradability to 2 phone lines).

I've gotta take a look at the set up, under thouse, because I'm not quite sure what to do. The phone wire in my room might be conected at a junction or soemthing.

I believe, for a single line phone, your only required to connect the red and green wires (at least that's how I have it). I would suggest attempting to trace the path of the wires. Make sure there are no sharp bends in the wiring (could have broken a wire within the insulating) and everything appears to be connected properly. If that does not work, run new wiring. Where ever your (bedroom) wiring connects to the main box (from the telephone company) disconnect. At the end of the (old) wiring, secure the new wiring, but try to make it as un-obtrousive (sp?) as possible. I usually fold each end of the wiring into a 'J' and interconnect the two sets of wires, then wrap them well with electrical tape. Now, go back up to your room and pull the wiring through (careful not to seperate the old wire from the new and not to pull too hard). Make sure you retain about a good foot extra on each end for 'mistakes'. Quickly connect the new wiring to the main junction box (from the phone company) and the jack in your room and test the connectivity. If it works, now you spend the time to tidy things up. If it does not work, you have a bigger problem.