Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Flashed"
jackiel1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Gear:
Old Phone - Panasonic easa phone kx-t3175
New Phone - AT&T CL2909
Radio shack answering machine (old) 43-3801
Verizon ONT box- motorola ONT1000G 4
Note:
When I have phone issues, my FIOS TV and Internet services seem to be working just fine.

THE PROBLEMS:
Intermittent problems since FIOS digital voice was installed in late May - happens approximately 20% of the time, about once a day (the rest of the time - most of the time - the phone service works just as it should):
1. no dial tone when I pick up receiver to make a call. Repeated hang-ups and pick-ups eventually "wake-up" the dial tone. ONT POTS light lights Orange when I pick up the receiver even when there is no dial tone.

2. incoming calls don't ring my phone and go to verizon voicemail. I have a local answering machine that should pick up the calls after 4 rings - this works fine about 80% of the time. Verizon voicemail is set to 6 rings - calls only go to voicemail if I have no dial tone. Callers say they hear the phone ring six times, and then get to voicemail. I hear nothing as the phone does not ring, and my local answering machine does not pick up.

3. incoming calls - phone rings, but when I pick up - no one there (no dial tone either) - but then if I hit the Flash button I do receive the call. I noticed this problem and solution more recently.

I have a very simple set-up. I live in a small apartment, the ONT and battery backup are two black boxes that sit on my desk. ( I have un-stacked them and done my best to keep them cool during this hot summer.)
I started with the telephone setup I was using with Optimum, that was working fine - I had no problems with my original equipment with Optimum.
With Verizon the setup is as follows:
On my desk, ONT box - Line 1 - a splitter - one 25 foot phone line goes to corded Panasonic telephone, and a second 5 foot phone line goes to the corded answering machine.    

That is all.

I know to just change one variable at a time, so over the last 9 weeks I have changed - one by one - each time waiting until the problems happened again before I changed the next thing...
-the splitter (3 different ones, one new)
-the phone cord to the telephone (a shorter new 9 foot cord, in case the 25 foot length was too long)
-took the answering machine off the system (could not change answering machine phone cord - it is hard wired)
-2 different borrowed telephones (both wired).
-Verizon has replaced the ONT box
-a brand new telephone I purchased - the AT&T CL2909. Pretty simple phone, wired, no answering machine. I thought maybe the old phone had a glitchy receiver "pick-up" (or is the right term on-hook, off-hook? hookflash?) - but the same thing (problem #3) has now happened with the new phone as well.

The problems are still happening, about once a day that I know of.

Verizon wants me to call "when the problem is happening". So, if I pick up the line and have no dial tone I try calling Verizon on my cell phone. But it takes so long to get through to their tech support (45 minutes typically) that usually by the time I get them, the phone line shows "off the hook" - then they tell me to hang up the phone - which seems to "wake up" the dial tone - so to them it is working - problem fixed. Plus I have to call using my emergency pre-paid cell phone - so adding insult to injury I am paying a lot for all those minutes on hold. When I hear no ringing and the call goes to voicemail - I do not know there is a problem - so I can't call Verizon then. It is not until later in the day when I pick up and have no dial tone - OR have the "voicemail waiting" dial tone - that I know the problem #2 has occurred. By now I have missed some very important calls. I know I can get a different cell phone and plan and use that - but this Verizon product is supposed to work properly. Last I talked to verizon they offered to replace the ONT box again. I doubt that will work and I get to waste another workday afternoon staying home waiting for Verizon.

Thought I'd post here before I go for a third ONT box.  I asked Verizon if they could "trace my line", say for a week, with my permission, just to debug the issues - but they said it was not possible with digital voice.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas - or if anyone is having similar problems. I wonder if there is an issue with these smaller apartment set-ups? Several of my friends and family members nearby have Verizon at their houses - but with bigger ONTs in their basements - and they have not had any problems similar to mine.

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
Anthony_VZ
Master - Level 3

Sorry to hear about the problems you are having with the phone service. We can definitely help out with this. I have copied this post to our private support board to get more information. Please discontinue making any posts here and put them on the new message thread.

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
OverAtlantic
Newbie

Anthony,

I am experiencing exactly the same condition, with the support dilemma of having to call in when I observe a problem. Can you PM me to start a new message thread on your private support board?

Thanks,

Vlad

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
danhummel
Newbie

We have a problem where the phone will not ring, and the call would go to verizon voicemail.  We stopped Verizon voice mail, and now it will ring about ten times for the caller, but only once or twice until the caller hangs up.  Very intermittent, and frustrtating.  Did they fix your problem?

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
Noscreen
Newbie

I amexperiencing thisexact same problem. Customer support has been ho help.

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
khugz
Newbie

I am having this exact same issue.  Makes no sense when you can't depend on your home phone.

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
shipsales
Newbie

Same (or similar) problem here.  Intermittent outages on a daily basis.  Incoming call displays properly on TV caller ID, but phone doesn't ring, and all phones display "No Line" message.  No real way to monitor unless we are watching TV when a call comes in at the time the line is down, so I don't know how often it occurs.  Pretty frustrating.

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
shipsales
Newbie

You can add this Fairfax VA FIOS customer to the list as well.  Have been experiencing the same problem for nearly a year.  ONT replaced, switched from port 1 to port 2 at the head, switched phones.

My indicator is the caller ID feature on my FIOS TV.  I can see the call coming in, but the phone doesn't ring.  Phone displays "no line" on the cordless.  If I pick it up, the line is dead.  Flashing the hook doesn't make the connection.  Added a corded phone to the mix to rule out the cordless.... no change.

I've never had a no-dial-tone issue when attempting to make an outbound call.

Waiting today on the 3rd visit by the tech team (and they are still not here an hour and a half after the appointment time).

Glad I'm not alone, but absolutely amazed that the Verizon tech team has "never heard of this problem before...." 

Hope someone comes up with a solution!  If not, it's back to Cox....

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
MarcNJ
Newbie

Please add me to the private list on this issue.  I've been experiencing the same problems - intermittent loss of dial tone, POTS light on for no apparent reason, no change based on telephone hardware changes.  Central NJ location.  Everything started going wonky about two weeks ago, for no apparent reason.

0 Likes
Re: Digital voice, Intermittent problems, no dial tone, phone doesn't ring, incoming calls "Fla
kh-taylarie
Khoros Partner
Khoros Partner

Due to the age of this thread, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

0 Likes