Chuck Bradley
January 14th, 2004, 07:54 PM
I'm new here, so I appologize for any bad manners.
I have one main question, and several more in the background section.
I get a dial tone in the kitchen, but it goes away when I add the
second floor bedrooms. Why, and what can I do about it?
Of course you are suspicious about my question. Why do I mention
adding the other portions of the house? The background info will
supply the answers, I hope.
The house was built in 1977. We are the original owners. Until this
weekend, the phone wiring was never touched. A few covers were removed
for painting or wallpapering projects, but none for several years.
No wires were ever added or removed.
There are extensions to the system in several rooms, all by extending
existing RJ11 cables with connectors or Y adapters. From the jack in
the kitchen, there are drops in several rooms to hook up a computer.
One bedroom upstairs has drops for three computers. All of this
stuff has worked for months, and most has worked for years.
Almost all of the added stuff is unpluged now. All of the phones
and computers are disconnected. A few jacks are behind bookcases, so
there is a cable in the jack, and nothing at the other end of the cable.
I knew almost nothing about the phone system. There is a network interface
device. Test there. The problem is probably in your house. If you have
anything other than a plain old telephone plugged in to the phone network,
unplug it before beginning to do any diagnosis or repair. I still know
almost nothing about the phone system. I'll probably get some of the
terminology right because I spent a day at the local library and most of another
day on the web. My new knowledge is suspect. I probably got some of it wrong.
Perhaps information about me will help identify my blind spots or mistakes.
I programmed digital computers for over 40 years, got instructions added
to the instruction set, rebuilt carbs, transmissions, DOHC engines, cut
and split several cords of firewood per year, and do almost all home maintenance,
but I still know almost nothing about the phone system, even if it sounds
like I know a little bit.
We lost dial tone over the weekend. We are having some cold weather here
near Boston. I unplugged everything and dial tone came back. The next day
dial tone disappeared again. This time, unplugging everything did not help.
We had one warm day after that, but a problem persists. Details are below.
I traced wires and found a three pair cable goes from the network interface
to the kitchen and continues upstairs to four bedroom jacks. I learned
two color wires are identified by the dominant color first. The green and
white/green pair was unattached at the NID and continued through the kitchen box.
The box in the kitchen contained what I learned was a split beam strip without
connector caps. The orange and white/orange pair from outside terminated at
2 and 1 respectively. The blue and white/blue pair ended in air.
The orange and white/orange wires to upstairs hung in the air. The blue and
white/blue wires went upstairs from terminals 2 and 1 respectively.
The symptom, no dial tone from any jack could be explained by a fault in the
cable from the kitchen to the NID or by a fault in the split beam strip.
The change in color and some history of the house led me to suspect the cable.
The local hardware store had the classic four wire, red green, black, yellow
cable. I installed it from the external world to the box in the kitchen and
still had no dial tone. So perhaps my guess was wrong. I bought a new plate, with screw terminals and replaced the junction in the kitchen. Success. Dial tone.
Computers can connect to the Internet from the external cables that originate
at the jack in the kitchen. We can make and receive calls.
When I try to reattach the second floor, things fail. Usually when I expect a
dial tone, I get almost silence, but not quite silence. Rather it is the very
faint sound of voices, perhaps cross talk. I can not make out words. Sometimes
I suspect the words are the canned hang up and try again message, but this
happens before any dialing, and immediately after going off hook.
Sometimes I get a shrill beeping, about the frequency of a busy signal.
I don't know what I'm doing differently to get different results.
What could cause the beeping?
I thought I learned that white/blue is tip, the same as green, and
blue (when paired with white/blue) is ring, the same as red.
But properly paired, or improperly paired, the dial tone goes away
when I reattach the second floor to the network. Why?
My wife noticed a phone company car in the neighborhood. Is it possible
my efforts affected other people? I thought the NID prevented problems
from excaping from the house to the network. Does it?
I'm willing to collect additional information if that will help identify
the problem.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I have one main question, and several more in the background section.
I get a dial tone in the kitchen, but it goes away when I add the
second floor bedrooms. Why, and what can I do about it?
Of course you are suspicious about my question. Why do I mention
adding the other portions of the house? The background info will
supply the answers, I hope.
The house was built in 1977. We are the original owners. Until this
weekend, the phone wiring was never touched. A few covers were removed
for painting or wallpapering projects, but none for several years.
No wires were ever added or removed.
There are extensions to the system in several rooms, all by extending
existing RJ11 cables with connectors or Y adapters. From the jack in
the kitchen, there are drops in several rooms to hook up a computer.
One bedroom upstairs has drops for three computers. All of this
stuff has worked for months, and most has worked for years.
Almost all of the added stuff is unpluged now. All of the phones
and computers are disconnected. A few jacks are behind bookcases, so
there is a cable in the jack, and nothing at the other end of the cable.
I knew almost nothing about the phone system. There is a network interface
device. Test there. The problem is probably in your house. If you have
anything other than a plain old telephone plugged in to the phone network,
unplug it before beginning to do any diagnosis or repair. I still know
almost nothing about the phone system. I'll probably get some of the
terminology right because I spent a day at the local library and most of another
day on the web. My new knowledge is suspect. I probably got some of it wrong.
Perhaps information about me will help identify my blind spots or mistakes.
I programmed digital computers for over 40 years, got instructions added
to the instruction set, rebuilt carbs, transmissions, DOHC engines, cut
and split several cords of firewood per year, and do almost all home maintenance,
but I still know almost nothing about the phone system, even if it sounds
like I know a little bit.
We lost dial tone over the weekend. We are having some cold weather here
near Boston. I unplugged everything and dial tone came back. The next day
dial tone disappeared again. This time, unplugging everything did not help.
We had one warm day after that, but a problem persists. Details are below.
I traced wires and found a three pair cable goes from the network interface
to the kitchen and continues upstairs to four bedroom jacks. I learned
two color wires are identified by the dominant color first. The green and
white/green pair was unattached at the NID and continued through the kitchen box.
The box in the kitchen contained what I learned was a split beam strip without
connector caps. The orange and white/orange pair from outside terminated at
2 and 1 respectively. The blue and white/blue pair ended in air.
The orange and white/orange wires to upstairs hung in the air. The blue and
white/blue wires went upstairs from terminals 2 and 1 respectively.
The symptom, no dial tone from any jack could be explained by a fault in the
cable from the kitchen to the NID or by a fault in the split beam strip.
The change in color and some history of the house led me to suspect the cable.
The local hardware store had the classic four wire, red green, black, yellow
cable. I installed it from the external world to the box in the kitchen and
still had no dial tone. So perhaps my guess was wrong. I bought a new plate, with screw terminals and replaced the junction in the kitchen. Success. Dial tone.
Computers can connect to the Internet from the external cables that originate
at the jack in the kitchen. We can make and receive calls.
When I try to reattach the second floor, things fail. Usually when I expect a
dial tone, I get almost silence, but not quite silence. Rather it is the very
faint sound of voices, perhaps cross talk. I can not make out words. Sometimes
I suspect the words are the canned hang up and try again message, but this
happens before any dialing, and immediately after going off hook.
Sometimes I get a shrill beeping, about the frequency of a busy signal.
I don't know what I'm doing differently to get different results.
What could cause the beeping?
I thought I learned that white/blue is tip, the same as green, and
blue (when paired with white/blue) is ring, the same as red.
But properly paired, or improperly paired, the dial tone goes away
when I reattach the second floor to the network. Why?
My wife noticed a phone company car in the neighborhood. Is it possible
my efforts affected other people? I thought the NID prevented problems
from excaping from the house to the network. Does it?
I'm willing to collect additional information if that will help identify
the problem.
Thanks in advance for any help.
