Home Phone Jacks stopped working!

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 4

I have had a strange problem last night. I have had Vonage for some time now with a similar set up. I just moved into a new home but I have a similar setup in both places.

I have a home networking hub by the builder. That controls the phone/cable, etc. The cable modem goes to my Belkin Router which ties to my Motorola MTA. I have them all attached to an UPS. I have no traditional phone service (Verizon hasn't even come to setup my phone and the line is just dangling outside). A few days ago I moved in and got the internet connection running. I simply powered up everything and plugged the MTA into a phone jack. The whole house had a dial tone within 3 minutes.

Last night for some reason it stopped working. The MTA was blinking but the internet was fine. After calling Vonage and rebooting everything I can get a dial tone if I plug the phone directly into the MTA, but not if I plug the MTA into the jack and try it.

This is of concern because I need the dial tone for my home security system as well as my TiVos. Anyone have any idea why it would just stop working like that? Do you think its because of a bad MTA?

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!!!!

Posts: 497 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Apr 29, 2005 Posts: 497

Did Verizon plug the line in without you noticing?

Posts: 134 · Vonage Representative Joined: Apr 15, 2005 Posts: 134

If the MTA is still blinking, how many blinks is it doing?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 4

You got me thinking, so I checked again. No, the Verizon line is still not hooked up. Its still not working, but I think I am making a little progress.

I put a splitter on the phone jack and ran the MTA and a handset to the splitter. It didn't work. So, I went to the basement and unplugged all the ports. When I cleared the port to my study the handset came alive. Further testing revealed that the rest of the jacks are still not functional and I repeated my steps. Still no luck.

I am at a loss now. Any thoughts?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 4

MTA is not blinking its solid green. I get a dial tone when I plug the handset into the MTA. I am wondering if it is broken and doesn't have enough power to light up the rest of the house.

Posts: 244 · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 12:57 pm Post subject:

You either have an offhook phone or a wiring issue. Any offhook phone in my house results in port 1 status showing invalid.

Unplug every unit you have in your jacks and then re connect the MTA to the house wiring.

Connect them back one at a time until you either find the faulty equipment or bad wiring location.

Posts: 134 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 23, 2005 Posts: 134

How many phones do you have connected to the MTA? I can only have four connected to the line before it starts having issues.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 4

I found out the problem. It rained last night. The Verizon line is just dangling outside (not connected to Verizon) but it is connected to my house. So, once I took apart my hub I found the location of the connection and removed it. All is well now. Thank you for all your help!!!!