Freaky phones

[mikekn]

Just found out that our phones are dead - no dial tone. I checked all of them and they were all on-hook and all the cables are in good shape. I went outside and don't see any downed wires anywhere, plus I get no dial tone at the network interface box. The freaky part is I still have DSL, which runs over the same pair of wires...

Comments

[braider.livejournal.com]

Unplug *everything*, then re-plug it in. A friend just had an identical problem. For her, it was the caller ID box.

[mikekn]

I tried it, but no luck. I didn't really expect anything though - when I tested at the network interface box I was effectively unplugging the entire house and connecting my phone directly to the incoming line (leaving the house unplugged).

It's "Name That Quote!"

[cryptess.livejournal.com]

"He's coming for you, Barbara."

Re: It's "Name That Quote!"

[mikekn]

Night of the Living Dead :)

[kathy-the-geek.livejournal.com]

I wondered if it might be your answering machines since there was a power outage somewhere...do you have a straight analog phone anywhere? Try unplugging everything and plugging that in?

[mikekn]

I tried the unplug everything trick, but no luck.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Do you have any exposed jacks on the floor which a cat could have peed upon? My sister just had weird phone troubles which were sourced to that.

[mikekn]

It's a possibility, but since the line is dead at the network interface box, the problem is almost certain to be outside the house. (There is still the chance that I screwed up testing at the box since we seem to have five lines coming into the house - but only one of them should be working.)

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Oh, right -- forgot that data point. Um, really big kitty at network box? ;)