Land line phone help

[abunaitoo]

Got a handicap phone for my Mom.
Volume control, memory dial, speaker, real big numbers. No batteries needed.
Cord is about 10' long.
Digital coming into the house.
Hooked it up and having a problem.
If not used for a day or so, it goes dead.
I unplug and plug it in, and it works fine.
Old house so taped into a line with, another phone, alarm, answering machine.
They all work fine.
Old main line has only three wires. red, green, black.
I peeled back to see if there was a yellow, but it's not there.
Any suggestions?????

[JimB..]

I assume that you had a standard phone plugged in the same way and it worked fine?

My only guess is that you’re getting some voltage drop from the IAD to the phone, probably because you’ve got more stuff on the system that it is designed for. The voltage drop causes to phone to lose connectivity to the IAD. When you unplug it and replug it everything resets.

Don’t have a good suggestion to address this but to test it unplug whatever you can, especially things with ringers.

[Tazlaw]

You may not have enough voltage on the line. Maybe too many things on that wire. Can you run a cable out to Dmarc (where ph company comes in) and put it in parallel with the existing cables? You should be able to get phone/data cable at homedepot/Lowe’s ...

[Winger Ed.]

Try unplugging anything else on the line that Mom doesn't use anyway.

[abunaitoo]

Didn't think about to many phones on the line.
Even if it's digital?????
The alarm and answering machine have external power.
The wall phone is just a basic phone.
Mom's phone, having no batteries, uses the phone line power to power the phone.
That might be the problem.
So, I'd have to run another line from the main box. Correct????
Is there such a thing as a line signal amplifier????

[Mal Paso]

Standard phone voltage is 52V DC. You can look to see what the voltage drop is when you plug the phone in. Warning, the "ringer" is 110V DC.

Every phone or machine adds a load to your phone circuit. Only 2 wires for phone, red/green is usually the primary circuit.

[Tazlaw]

You “should” be able to have at least four devices on a line, I would think. I know I have had in the past. But as things get more complicated (digital) they require more power. Thus reducing the availability on the line. Thinking back, running another line might help but theoretically it shouldn’t matter. If the old line is really old, then it may be deteriorating to the point you could be “leaking” voltage so to speak. It’s actually called more like indirect short to ground, but “leaking” makes sense! Of course we can’t leave out the phone company not supplying the required voltage to the house.
Try and remove anything not needed, then maybe run a temporary cable and see if that helps. If not, call the phone company.

[abunaitoo]

Thank you for all the suggestions.
People these days don't have land line phones anymore.
They kind of laugh when I tell them I still do.
I'll check the DC volt and see that I get.

[JimB..]

You have landline phone service, but with digital service the power is provided by the IAD.
Running a second line probably won’t help.
Can you move the phone to a new location for a week? If you plug it in to a new connection close to the IAD (just use a splitter and patch cord at the IAD) and it works for a week then it’s worth replacing the line to the jack you want to use. All the testing can be helpful, but the problems are often intermittent.
Each device on the network inside your house draws power, the analog phone network used to provide that power, now the IAD provides that power. The really old phones with mechanical ringers would draw a lot, newer devices draw little. Not knowing what the draw is for each of your devices or what IAD you have makes it hard to tell if this is a problem. But, if you have problems with only this phone installed near the IAD on a new wire then the problem is likely with the IAD and likely all you can do is call the phone provider and explain the problem to them.
So, unplug what you can live without and move the phone if you can, if that solves the problem for a week move the phone back. If the problem returns replace the line inside the house to that jack, if it does not then start adding devices back to see which one creates the problem.

Just occurred to me, one other potential problem. When they install the service they connect it to the wires inside your house, this happens at the demarc. It’s usually a gray box, you can open one side but the left side is closed with a security fastener. If the installer failed to disconnect your wiring from the old analog service line that would cause problems. Not sure what exactly, service might not work at all. Unfortunately you need a torx security driver to check.

Because the problems are only with this one device I’m assuming that the internet service is good.

Good luck, I have employees that do this work everyday and remote troubleshooting is frustrating for everyone involved. We often just roll a truck. If the problem is with your wiring you may be charged for that truck roll, so ask in advance.

[abunaitoo]

We have a total of 4 phones, 1 answering machine and the alarm.
2 phones, answering machine and alarm are connected together.
Other two phones have their own line.
All basic phones except Mom's.
It has a phone number directory.

[MrWolf]

May not be feasible but what about cordless phones? Only one gets plugged into the phone line and the extensions and the main unit are are plugged in so no power loss. I have four and they have some decent range. I know you use handicap ones but maybe they make cordless. Good luck.

[abunaitoo]

Don't know about the newer cordless phones, but the one I had, was not very secure.
I once had the main unplugged, picked up the remote and heard my neighbors daughter talking to her friend.
Don't know if she could hear me, so I didn't say anything into it.
15yo girls sure talk about things you'd never think they would.
Next day cordless phones went.

[abunaitoo]

I think I finally got it fixed.
A few wires, up high, were corroded.
Repaired two of them.
Need to run another one, but it's in the attic.
Have to wait until it gets cooler.
What a pain.

[dbosman]

One of the joys of owning your home. You own the wiring even if you have no idea there is wiring.
Are you ready to install internet cable too?

[abunaitoo]

Internet is working fine........so far.
It is the same line as the phone.

[abunaitoo]

Problem is back again.
Mom cannot hear well, so I have to be on the other line to answer questions.
The phone I got for her has all kinds of features.
Auto dial, speaker, amplified handset.
When it works, it works fine.
What happens is sometimes Mom's phone will not work at all.
Sometimes it comes on and fades out, then dies.
Sometimes even when trying to use just that phone, when you pick up, it fades out.
It is on a long plug in extension, 15 feet, that I just bought.
I also changed the splitter with a new one.
I'm starting to think the phone maybe the problem.
Could it be the extension, being so long, has to much resistance????
Would running a solid wire to a box closer to the phone help???
The solid wire from outside is original to the house.
Maybe to old?????
We were having nothing but problems with the old copper lines to the house, so they changed us to fiber optic.
That was done years ago.
This is very frustrating.
HELP!!!!!

[Winger Ed.]

Sounds like a loose wire, bad terminal, or connector sort of thing.

If it ever works fine, that sort of tells ya the phone company's stuff is OK.

Not a phone, but I've got a couple of things on the car and the truck that act goofy just because of a bad or cold solder joint.

[abunaitoo]

Thanks
I'll go and try to check the wire connections again.

[abunaitoo]

Checked all the terminals.
All good.
Ordered a new phone and that mush have been the problem.
I hope.

[oneofsix]

Abunitoo, you said that the internet is on the same line? Is it a DSL line from the phone company or digital phone service through the cable TV company?

ETA: scratch that, read everything again and you said fiber to the home.
Going to have to go with either more bad spots in the wiring or the phone itself. Let us know if the new phone resolved it.

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