Northern Electric w/B1A ringer - wont' ring!

[paul-f]

Hi - I only have one jack in the apartment and right now the rotary is the only phone hooked up. Is that what you mean by other ringers?  As to what kind of phone service I have- hmm- not sure. It's Bell (Canada). How do I find out? In the meantime I'll check the wires to see about dirt and corrosion. But if it is the voltage of the phone line or something to do with the service itself, then I am guessing that means there's not much I can do?

Can you try the phone at a friend's or relative's house and see if it behaves the same?

Can you try a different vintage phone with bell ringer (500-series or earlier) on your phone line and see if it rings louder?

The question of POTS versus IP-based service may give an indication of where the ringing signal comes from.  POTS generally has direct wiring coming into your house that is directly hooked to the house wiring, while IP phone service generally comes in on cable or fiber (supplied with your internet service) and has a device that splits the phone signal and directs it to your house wiring or telephone.  (Some of these devices have marginal ring current, as they assume everyone uses new phones with electronic ringers.)

[AE_Collector]

As to what kind of phone service I have- hmm- not sure. It's Bell (Canada). How do I find out?

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)

Terry

[SuzB]

Funny I actually DO have another phone that a friend just gave me, also a Northern Electric, but newer, however it has no line out at the moment, so that's another project. It's  a wall phone - maybe 500-series but not sure (how do I tell? is the series number on the phone somewhere?)
Dan - yes I did try moving the spring across all three slots. Nuthin'...
Yes I can see if it behaves the same or different using it at someone else's house - if it behaves the same then the conclusion wd be that a)it has smthg to do w/the phone or b)the service/voltage issues are the same at this other person's house as mine.  If it rings differently elsewhere, then I guess the conclusion is that the low volume ringing at my house has something to do with voltage/service, right? And in that case, I assume I am kinda stuck with the low volume?