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Landline phone says "Line in Use"....but it's not? HELP.

M

missyrcrews

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I've unplugged/replugged...swapped phones around..,,,swapped out cordless for an old corded phone...nothing seems to fix it. No dial tone. Cordless handset says "line in use." It's not. When calling in, line is busy.

Ideas?

If I ever marry again....only mechanics, plumbers, and general handymen need apply.... :)
 
There isn't another extension in the house that might be off the hook?
 
missyrcrews said:
I've unplugged/replugged...swapped phones around..,,,swapped out cordless for an old corded phone...nothing seems to fix it. No dial tone. Cordless handset says "line in use." It's not. When calling in, line is busy.

Ideas?

If I ever marry again....only mechanics, plumbers, and general handymen need apply.... :)
Click to expand...
The building phone wiring may have an issue
 
missyrcrews said:
I've unplugged/replugged...swapped phones around..,,,swapped out cordless for an old corded phone...nothing seems to fix it. No dial tone. Cordless handset says "line in use." It's not. When calling in, line is busy.

Ideas?

If I ever marry again....only mechanics, plumbers, and general handymen need apply.... :)
Click to expand...

Did you try unplugging it from the power and phone jack the re-plugging it all back in after a minute ?

Bill
 
Our land line has a disconnect at the main box where you can disconnect the house and then plug in a non powered hand set to test the line to the house, Wait a couple of minutes after you disconnect the house and then plug in the hand set to test. If you get a dial tone, then the problem is the wiring inside the house. No dial tone, then there is an issue with the cable to the service box and the phone company should trouble-shoot it and fix it for free.

If it is a phone company issue, it could be at the CO (Central Office) or a short in the copper between the CO and your service box.

(I are engineer :giggle: )
 
Last edited:
DrQ said:
Our land line has a disconnect at the main box where you can disconnect the house and then plug in a non powered hand set to test the line to the house, Wait a couple of minutes after you disconnect the house and then plug in the hand set to test. If you get a dial tone, then the problem is the wiring inside the house. No dial tone, then there is an issue with the cable to the service box and the phone company should trouble-shoot it and fix it for free.

If it is a phone company issue, it could be at the CO (Central Office) or a short in the copper between the CO and your service box.

(I are engineer :giggle: )
Click to expand...
This is this afternoon's project. If I don't come back online...I'm stuck trying to get to this box....send help. :)
 
easyrider said:
Did you try unplugging it from the power and phone jack the re-plugging it all back in after a minute ?

Bill
Click to expand...
Several times. This isn't it. I think it's in the outside wiring.
 
Are you sure you have copper land line from the telco? Or do you have VOIP Voice over IP?
 
DrQ said:
Our land line has a disconnect at the main box where you can disconnect the house and then plug in a non powered hand set to test the line to the house, Wait a couple of minutes after you disconnect the house and then plug in the hand set to test. If you get a dial tone, then the problem is the wiring inside the house. No dial tone, then there is an issue with the cable to the service box and the phone company should trouble-shoot it and fix it for free.

If it is a phone company issue, it could be at the CO (Central Office) or a short in the copper between the CO and your service box.

(I
Click to expand...
aka network interface
DrQ said:
he network interface.
Click to expand...
 
What happens when you call that number from a cell phone?

I would unplug your land line. Make sure there are no other phones or devices plugged in to phone jacks in the house. Sometimes people have TV or utility connections to wired lines.

Call the house.

Do you hear ringing or do you get a busy signal?

If you get ringing it's probably the phone.

If you get a busy signal there is probably a short in the line somewhere. You can always call the phone company and have them test the line.
 
I have a garden variety landline phone. No voip. Provider is consolidated/fidium. They are thinking it's outside the house, since problem is also present at the box. (That was a sight....me getting behind the shrubs!) Anyhow, now we wait to see!
 
The companies are not maintaining their old landline systems because very few people subscribe to the service anymore. They are losing money on them.
 
TolmiePeak said:
The companies are not maintaining their old landline systems because very few people subscribe to the service anymore. They are losing money on them.
Click to expand...
My parents are having this problem. Though they are in Canada. They live in a rural area and their connection is terrible. Any time it rains it gets worse. The problem is the copper line from the pole at the road to the house. At times the phone company has been able to fix it by using a different pair of wires in the cable. It's also been retrenched a couple times in the 50+ years they lived in the house but they don't seem to be willing to do it again.
 
There are still millions of land lines in use in the US
But as a percentage of residences, probably not very high
The cost of maintaining the lines, switches, etc is growing as age takes its toll
We have a friends who still have landlines, want them at their residences forever
The have cell phones, fiber internet, but they still want their landline
They will probably see the service age out in the future
Another wonder technology in its day that has been lost to time
 
We have a landline and will continue to have one as cell service at our house is spotty.
 
jorcus said:
If you get ringing it's probably the phone.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. The problem could be between the CO (Central Office) and the house. A person dialing the out of order number would hear it ringing as far as the CO.
Often a new or tired/frustrated repair person will steal a pair (line) to fix another line instead of waiting for the office folks to give him/her the proper unused line to use.


~Diane (former Bell Canada repair clerk)
 
The problem in our area is that the technicians who are familiar with the technology are retiring and it is foreign to the new generation of technicians. I bet the problems at the CO.
 
TolmiePeak said:
The companies are not maintaining their old landline systems because very few people subscribe to the service anymore. They are losing money on them.
Click to expand...

The only reason we have a landline is for DSL. Same with all my neighbors.

Bill
 
If somebody want a landline just because he wants a residential phone number then he should move his residential phone number to a VoIP service (much cheaper).
There are many VoIP services. Many internet provider offer it but selecting a third-party maybe a better option (no need to change the VoIP service each time we change the internet provider and it could be cheaper).

With VoIP, we just need to disconnect the phone line entering the house (important), plug the VoIP adapter box to any phone jack in the house and also to the ethernet router (wire or wifi depending of the model bought). After that, all existing land phones of the house work as usual (no need to buy a special phone).
Some has a mobile application for cellphones/tablets where we can receive/make calls using the residential phone number when we are not at home when our cellphone/tablets is connected to the internet (mobile data or wifi).
Most provide message recording in the cloud (no need to have a physical answering machine).
 
Not every residence in the country has great or even good internet
As mentioned by someone else, they are still using DSL over copper phone wires
Not everybody will pay for Starlink Internet
Does Starlink even support VOIP
 
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