WTH happened to the home phone?

[PA DETAILER]

i NEVER heard of this one??? i get home yesterday eve and the better half tells me the home phone is out? she was cleaning, and unplugged one (we have 2) of the phones out to clean under, around it. we have verizon. no dial tone. but yet the internet works? same line. little black phone line modem. she called verizon, but cant come till next friday? they told her there is a re-set button somewhere in the actic? WHAT? i never heard of a thing. i looked up there and popped open the outside box, and saw nothing. the only reset i know of is the modem reset? i never heard of such a issue? either a phone line is live or not. now i did check how the phone was plugged back in with the filters etc, and even plugged it in directly to the jack. no difference. the phone that was unpugged was in one of the bedrooms. any ideas? i am at a total loss!

thanks.

we do have cells to get by on, but i would rather fix this now!

[BobbyG]

Turn off the power to the modem
Remove the battery backup
Wait 1 to 2 full minutes
Insert the battery
Plug the modem back in
Wait for the modem to boot
Try the phone

[Flash Gordon]

Take a hard lined phone outside and plug it into the box and see if it works there

[BillyJack]

Welcome to a potential world of grief. I had the same problem repeatedly. Our housing plan has underground utilities and they're now 35 years old. Some of the connection issues you can experience with copper lines will allow data to be transmitted, but no voice.
the techs kept hooking me up to unused lines over the years, until there were no more unused lines in the neighborhood. My only choice for a permanent fix was to switch to FIOS once it became available.
Good Luck. I hope your repair experiences are better than mine.

Bill

[PA DETAILER]

Take a hard lined phone outside and plug it into the box and see if it works there

thats the next step. re booting the modem did nothing.

[davidc]

$2.00 convenience fee for having a home phone:)
Pay up and the phone will be reactivated.

Dave

[SubieTrav]

I got rid of the home phone and got Magic Jack. It's cheap and works for me.

[oldmodman]

I still have three wire lines for the business and alarm.

And have had two week long (or longer) failures in the last two years.

Same fault cause each time.

Squirrels. I guess they need some rubber and copper in their diets.

[PA DETAILER]

:confused: WTH??? a few days ago i did check the outside box, but saw nowhere to plug in. now today, just for kicks, i pick it up and get a dial tone!!?? made and received a call. they are set to come out friday, but i want some answers to what happened?

[SkateForGirl]

Sorry to hear about that. That's very strange though.

A lot of friends of mine don't even have home phones anymore. I guess it saves a couple bucks a month just to have a cell phone

[mwoolfso]

Data and voice use two different frequencies on the same wire so it is common to have Voice but no Internet. Secondly, the "modem" is actually two devices in one now. An always-on phone connection (however using your house's power rather than Verizon's central office), and a "modem" that pretty much works like their old DSL/ADSL/ISDN modems of days long gone. The data connection probably has a "dialing sequence" that is automated, and it's likely that part of the data portion of the modem is defective. Best of luck to you.

[PA DETAILER]

verizon did call as i was leaving for work. apparently a line outside was cut/hit. so some were without a phone for 4/5 days. they will be crediting the loss of days. glad to have home service back! guess i am the miniority, but i still believe in a home phone. it was just the perfect storm. guess when she unplugged the phone friday afternoon, the same time the line was hit.

[TS656577]

I don't ever use the home phone anymore. Heck i dont even answer it unless my mom tells me to. Nobody calls the home phone for me anymore, just my cell. My mom uses the home phone a lot though. I think the last time I got a home phone call was a few years ago when recruiters were calling me only to say they wont take me because I'm partially color blind (red/green, blue/purple, blue/black just depends on the shade).

[Flash Gordon]

verizon did call as i was leaving for work. apparently a line outside was cut/hit. so some were without a phone for 4/5 days. they will be crediting the loss of days. glad to have home service back! guess i am the miniority, but i still believe in a home phone. it was just the perfect storm. guess when she unplugged the phone friday afternoon, the same time the line was hit.

Wonder if her unplugging the phone caused the line to split?

[Scott DeBrun]

What probably happened is that the voice portion is carried over a separate loop than the dsl. It happens when the dialtone is carried over a repeater span line and the dsl over a fiber ring so the voice ring got cut and dsl ring was untouched.