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Regarding hum on phoneline.

Started by DarrenWGaransi, May 10, 2010, 08:15:18 PM

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DarrenWGaransi

Hello all,
My home is 91 years old and when I moved in 3 years ago, I had a very faint buzz on all my phones, similar to a ground loop.  The noise would become much louder and irritating whenever it rained.  I too have the porcelain junction and lightning arrestor in my basement from the 60s-esque.  I reported the trouble to Verizon who could not duplicate the issue (it wasn't raining) and then a year later the phone went completely dead.  Verizon kept telling me to do this, do that, etc.  I kept explaining to them that it doesn't rain inside my house!  They finally came out 9 days later and while the repair technician was on the pole, it started pouring.  Well, he came back in drenched and stated that the problem was between two poles and a line splicer would have to come out.  Well 3 days later, Verizon sent me a text on my cell advising me that if there were any more issues, contact them.  It turns out someone in their office cancelled the splicer.  Finally after being on hold, being disconnected, calling back 6 or 7 times and finallly getting someone, a line splicer came out spliced the line.  This worked for 2 weeks; phone went dead again.  I went through the same exact ordeal, 2nd tech, 2nd line splicer, etc.  The phone was back on-for a month.  The 3rd attempt in doing business with them resulted in endless holds, disconnections, attempts from their service reps to connect me to repair (even their hold music was broken).  Finally I lost my temper and drove to the Board of Public Utilities.  The B.P.U. is absolutely wonderful;  they jumped on the phone with Verizon and read them the riot act.  1 hour later, I was pulling in my driveway, there was all new wiring, a new outside demarcation box and new wiring from the pole outside my house and across the street to the other pole.  It turns out the wiring had dried out and was leaking to ground.  Additionally (according to them), there was some type of animal nest in their junction box somewhere down the street, killing the connections.  Verizon called me for 3 weeks straight to see if my phone was working.  I think they were happy to get my answering machine  ;).  No noise since-the line is dead silent when dial tone is broken-rain, snow, sleet, you name it.
One of the technicians told me that Verizon is investing absolutely nothing into their copper lines-they are just bandaiding things unless someone really complains.  He continued to state that their investment is in FIOS.
I wonder if the feds envisioned all of this when they broke up the phone company.
To bring things back around, I suggest that if you have noise on your telephone line and you figure that the hum or static is from outside the house, keep the demarcation, don't change it and look to your local telephone company to update it.  If they give you static of their own, talk to the utility board in your state.

Phonesrfun

Welcome to the forum, Darren.

I don't believe you are alone in the world, and it is good that you got it resolved.  What kinds of phones do you have, and how long have you been at it?

-Bill G

DarrenWGaransi

Hi there Bill,

Thanks so much for the welcome.  I've actually been reading this forum for over a year but just signed up today.  I have a fantastic W.E. 302 in the bedroom and a 354 on the wall in the kitchen.  Additionally, I have an advocado green W.E. 2500 series touch-tone on the wall in the basement and an awesome W.E. country blue touch tone princess in the guest room.  Upstairs, I broke my rule of authenticity, where my Casio Phonemate with built in answering machine sits in the office.  All of the phone jacks are wired to the demarc and transformer power is supplied on the yellow and black pair to all jacks so that I can use the Princess anywhere.  All the phones ring (except for the bedroom 302-I don't want it to wake me up);  all of them sound great.  I recently acquired an A.E. 40 that I'm repairing for a friend.

Phonesrfun

Excellent, Darren,

Well, if you've been "reading the mail" for a year or so, then you already know this is a great place.  Don't be shy to participate or ask questions.
-Bill G

Dan/Panther

Darren;
Welcome.
I had a very similar incident. I kept calling the phone company because I got static in my AM radios. I restore and collect vintage radios. Well I told them it was my phone line, and they insisted it couldn't be. Well I told them I had eliminated every other possibility. Well it continued for about 3 months.
Finally I took a transistor radio connected it to a broom stick, and started walking around my property. I live on 2.5 acres and have 4 buildings so it took some time.
I finally worked around to the junction box between them and me. The radio started to make all kinds of weird noise.
I called and the guy came out again, but this time I was ready for him. I let him go on about how AM radio is finicky, and nothing in the phone lines could cause my problem.
At that point I pulled out my transistor radio, turned it on and moved it next to the junction box. He got red and said he would find the problem. Turns out some splicing had been done to the distribution box out in the road. The splice had gotten wet, and was cause a crossover of some sorts, not enough to effect the phone line, but enough to bother the radio.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

dsk

You are too kind to the tel-co.

In the old days (1980ies  :D) we had a telephone monopoly, the just didn't want to listen to my complaints.

It ended up with quite much new - well working equipment, after i sent them some free 230V AC back on their line.   ;D

It is not much better no, outsourcing the line job. Unskilled labor etc. 3 years ago, they used a week  :o to splice a 100 pair cable! 

Several of my neighbours just closed down their landlines, and changed their mobile operators.

I complained , and complained because want to keep the landline, and I got one month for free, that's all.

I will keep the landline until they stops supporting pulse dialing.

dsk