500 Goes to "sleep..."

[Bustercat]

My 500 rotary seems to go into something resembling 'sleep mode' after a few minutes. Needless to say, I'm mystified.

Frequently (but not always) the line will sound dead when I pick it up from the cradle to make a call.
No dialtone, and I can't hear my own voice.

It rings just fine when someone calls me, but again, when I pick it up, I can't hear my voice through the phone. Frequently, I can't hear the person on the other end either, or they are very faint.

Jiggling the plunger doesn't do a thing.

However, it can be fixed by:

1) unplugging and replugging the cable from the back. Works 100% of the time. As I pull out the plug, the phone clicks and comes alive, when plug is replaced, phone functions perfectly.

2) unplugging the coiled receiver cord. Same as above

3) by dialing a number with numerous pulses (like 4 or more). I hear a click, then, for the second or two that the dial is spinning, I hear a dial tone behind the pulses. Then the line goes dead.

After that, I can sometimes push the plunger and hear a dial tone or a busy tone, other times nothing.

This happened before on an ATT landline. Now, I'm using my Iphone, using a DLINK. The phoneline is split and has another rotary on the line. It has no such problems with that one

Any ideas?

[Kenny C]

is it modular or hardwired

[JorgeAmely]

Bustercat:

Welcome to the forum!

Try replacing the wall mounting cord to see if that fixes your problem.

[Bustercat]

Thanks for the welcome!

The wall cord seems to be doing the trick. I also put in new jacks for the receiver and cord and soldered/insulated them. Seems to be helping.

Any clues why poor cord/jack would malfunction with the phone just sitting there, until it gets a signal from the dialer?

[Phonesrfun]

Welcome to the forum.

A cord or a modular plug that has  an intermittent high resistance wire or modular plug contact can create some strange and erratic results.  Cords are the most used and abused part of the phone.  So, it is not really surprising that the root of the problems you described were the result of a bad cord.

[bwanna]

we call that a 'dirty open' in the repair world.