Home Phone (Landline or Digital Voice)

[#1]

About 3 weeks ago we started to get noise (somewhere between hissing and buzzing) on the phone line. 

It is still possible to use the phone but it is very annoying. The noise is on all three of our phones and I

have not been able to isolate it by unplugging/moving the phones around: it's always there.

Does anybody have any clues for me before I call in Verizon and can you tell me whether I will be charged

if they come to my house and declare it to be an inside-the-house problem? Do they charge $ just for

showing up or only if they make a repair to my wiring?

I live in an 60 year old single family house that does not have a NID, just an old bakelite block where

the two (yes, two) wires come into the house. Five years ago we got Verizon DSL, which has worked

flawlessly since day one. (we have the filters on the phones) Otherwise, we haven't made any

changes to our wiring. 

FIOS is being added to our street right now.  We aren't planning on getting it for our house, but

could this have any relation to the noise that I'm hearing on my (copper) phone line?

I read the message thread "high background noise on phone lines" and

followed Verizon Troubleshooting without success.

Thanks,

--Joe

Message Edited by Josey23 on 12-04-2008 12:52 PM

Message Edited by Josey23 on 12-04-2008 12:59 PM

[#2]

You can call Verizon and have them install a NID for free because you do not have a customer access point. Once the NID is installed you will be able to determine if the noise is coming from the Verizon outside plant or your home.

[#3]

Thanks, I'll try that.  I called Verizon about the NID box but gave up after killing 30 minutes navigating the voice prompts and waiting on hold.  I sent an email - we'll see what comes of that.  Free would work for me.

[#4]

Verizon finally got out to our house last week. They wouldn't install an NID box but confirmed the noise and said that the problem was NOT inside the house.  That's good.

The guy went out to the pole and fiddled a bit. The noise remains and we put in another call this morning.  We just got FIOS in the neighborhood and there's always a Verizon truck nearby. I'm sure Verizon would like for us to just sign up for FIOS, which I would do if it wasn't so expensive.

We continue to wait.

[#5]

We've had the same problem here at our home for the past few weeks. Today it does seem a little better but Christmas Eve it was almost impossible to talk or hear during a phone conversation for the cracking and popping sounds. Several months ago we had the same thing happen and I called Verizon.It was a long ordeal to go through everything with the representative. Finally the rep said it may be interference with with our cordless phones. I knew it wasn't because several people in our community have complained also especially when the weather is rainy. I gave up trying to get Verizon to figure the problem out and suddenly the line cleared up. I'm hoping tomorrow the noise will finally be gone.  As much as we pay them monthly between internet and phone I would hope solving problems such as noise could be figured out. In this area if a storm shuts your phone service down it takes days and days almost weeks to get your service fixed. The funny thing is when you call to report your internet down or phone tore up from your cell the first thing Verizon suggests is getting online to report your problem. ha....that's the reason you're calling is because your home phone isn't working..how can I get online from here.

[#6]

Sounds like a familiar story. I have a friend in the telecom industry who told me that the phone companies are having trouble because they have fewer technicians capable of troubleshooting the old analog lines; everything new is digital and that's what the younger workers know how to fix.  My wife has the task of harrassing Verizon into coming out to our house.

[#7]

Still waiting.  The technicians come and go but nobody seems to know why we have all of this noise on my line. "Yep, your line has a lot of static on it." 

My dear wife is becoming hoarse from yelling at them on the phone.  We are beginning to consider whether to drop our service.

Oh, and our DSL has started to drop out several times a day for hours at a time.  We are assured that this has NOTHING to do with the noise on our line and NOTHING to do with all of the FIOS cabling that is going on in our neighborhood. 

{please keep your posts courteous} 

Message Edited by Josey23 on 01-20-2009 12:54 PM

Message Edited by KaLin on 01-20-2009 02:56 PM

[#8]

You can try the other approach and call Verizon DSL to send a tech out to fix the line since the DSL is dropping. Call 800-567-6789.

[#9]

Yeh, we're reporting our troubles on both fronts (DSL and voice).  We had another no-show from Verizon today.  Our experience is that we probably will not hear from them (do they hope we go away?).  In a couple days we'll call in again, waste another hour wading through the voice prompts and eventually get another ticket going. 

What works for people? Is there some secret verizon number I should be calling? Stop paying for my service? Call the state government?  

[#10]

Yoy. Verizon came out today to work on the problem of static on the line. The DSL had gotten pretty bad too.  Well, they installed an NID but now we have no dial tone and cannot make or receive calls. They said that they will try again tomorrow.  The DSL worked right after they left but has been down and up a few times in the four hours since they left.  Sigh.

I looked at the NID when I got home (after Verizon had left).  Isn't there supposed to be some way for me to plug into it?  I can open the customer side of the box but all the connections are sealed - there's no RJ11 jack.