[vox-tech] [Fwd] suspected telelphone line breaks

[Shwaine]

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006, Bill Kendrick wrote:

>
> Tod posted this from an unsubscribed address...
>
> ----- Forwarded message from vox-tech-bounces at lists.lugod.org -----
>
> Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 08:21:04 -0400
> From: "Tod Tyler" <todt2 at bellsouth.net>
> Subject: suspected telelphone line breaks
> To: <vox-tech at lists.lugod.org>
>
> Hi, I keep losing my DSL connection AND sometimes when on the phone I
> hear things like another person has picked up an extension
(impossible).
> This house is 50 years old. Could I have breaks within the telephone
> wiring of the house?
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>

It's more likely a problem on the phone company's end if you are
actually hearing voices. It might also be a poorly configured AM radio
station that you have the misfortune of being within range of. I've had
both issues in the past. 

To rule out a radio station, try to listen and see if there's a call
sign or compare the conversation to various AM radio stations. You'll
also sometimes be able to hear the radio even when you don't have an
ongoing call (depending on the volume compared to the dial tone). If it
is a station, you'll have to call up the station and get filters tuned
for their frequencies. Not sure how that will work with DSL though, as
I only had this issue back in my dial-up days. It was a common problem
in my neighborhood too. My dad serviced the computers at an office
complex nearby and said one of the employees always made a "call" at
3pm to listen to some specific radio broadcast then. 

The other possibility is some sort of line crossing or such issue with
the phone company wiring. Since you said you live at a house, I'll
assume your phone junction serves just you and not several units. I had
this problem constantly in Woodland and the phone company always said
they could do nothing to track it down unless I called them when it was
happening. My manager also did not do her part to ensure the
apartment's wiring was not the issue (could have been a problem in the
apartment's wiring for example). I didn't pursue it much because I knew
I was only living in Woodland temporarily. The one time it happened in
Davis, the phone company was far more responsive (of course, this was
before the AT&T merger) and traced it down to rain damage in one of
their junctions. I was without phone service for a day or two while
they repaired the damage, but had no problems after that. If you think
it's the wiring, you will need to push this with the phone company. If
you don't have Wire Pro service, they will try to scare you away by
threatening huge service charges for sending out a technician. If the
issue is in their lines, they are not supposed charge you. They can
only charge if the issue is the wiring in the house and if you have
Wire Pro (or whatever they call it these days), they won't charge then
either.