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Tally

It's not working right

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Ever since I got my new modem I can't get the phone to work.

 

I plugged it through one of those broadband adapters into the phone socket and plugged in a phone as well, through the same adapter. But while the modem is plugged in, there is no dial tone on that phone, or on the other phone (also plugged in through an adapter), and it rings as engaged when people ring me. I wouldn't mind, but people keep ringing my mobile and asking me to call them back.

 

Someone told me plug the modem straight into the wall and phones through an adapter. Didn't make any difference.

 

I wondered if they'd got it the wrong way around and tried plugging phones straight into wall, modem through adapter. No difference.

 

Tried plugging modem and phones straight into wall, no adapters. No difference.

 

So unless ALL of my adapters have spontaneously broken, I don't get it.

 

I tried plugging modem and phone into same socket using separate adapters.

 

Could it be because one of my phones is quite old? Wouldn't that only mean that it wouldn't ring, but not affect the other phone, and you could still get a dial tone? No, it's not that because it didn't affect it when I unplugged it.

 

The whole point of broadband is that you can use internet and phone at the same time, but I can't make it work :wallbash:

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Hi Tally,

 

What you should be doing is plugging the broadband adaptor (aka a microfilter) directly into the phone socket in the wall. Then plug just one phone and your computer into that (i.e. no extension cables, no splitters or other adaptors). That's the most basic setup (and worth trying first - no point in overloading orover-complicating things) but I know that when I first went over to broadband I had problems similar to how you describe. Eventually BT sent a man out who did some tests and then told me that the microfilter was broken so,if you've got a spare, give that a try too.

 

Hope that helps.

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That was how I first tried it, and it didn't work. Just tried all 3 filters, and still no dial tone. One of them is the brand new one that came with the modem, but I'm going to buy a new one and see if that works.

 

So . . . you'll probably hear from me again in a few days!

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Would I be right in assuming that it works without your modem plugged in fine, the moment you plug it in it keels over ? If so, does it matter whether it is powered up or not ?

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Yes, whether modem plugged in to electricity or not, plugged into phone socket, no dial tone (on either phone), unplugged from phone socket, dial tone.

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Yes, whether modem plugged in to electricity or not, plugged into phone socket, no dial tone (on either phone), unplugged from phone socket, dial tone.

 

Little bit unclear ;-)

 

I think you are saying that it's all wired up, and the moment you plug the Modem in, irrespective of whether it's connected to anything else or even if it's not plugged into the power, it stops working - and the moment you unplug it - it starts working.

 

So your phone system is disabled by the simple plugging in of an unpowered modem ..... this makes no sense at all from a setup point of view, so I'm inclined to hazard a guess that your Modem is broken, possibly it's shorted out in the modem cable or that end of the hardware (so the wires are connected together, so when you plug the modem in it shorts the phone line to ground, for example) - IANATE (I am not a Telecoms Engineer ;-) )

 

It's a bit like when you plug in a broken piece of electrical equipment and it instantly trips the switch on your fusebox - except telephone lines don't have tripswitches.

 

Do you have a friend who has a broadband appliance of any sort you can borrow just to check it is that - a router, another modem, anything ? It doesn't matter if you don't have a subscription or not, what matters is whether you can physically connect to the phone line.

 

Either way, I don't think you've done anything wrong.

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A little bit unclear? Me? :lol:

 

So your phone system is disabled by the simple plugging in of an unpowered modem

 

Yes, that's it.

 

The thing is that the same thing happened with the previous modem. Both were brand new when first used. That would mean BOTH came broken, which I concede is not without the realms of possibility, but I think it might be something else.

 

If I borrowed a modem, could I just plug it in to test it, I wouldn't have to make my computer use it to access the internet?

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A little bit unclear? Me? :lol:

Yes, that's it.

 

The thing is that the same thing happened with the previous modem. Both were brand new when first used. That would mean BOTH came broken, which I concede is not without the realms of possibility, but I think it might be something else.

 

If I borrowed a modem, could I just plug it in to test it, I wouldn't have to make my computer use it to access the internet?

 

Really to check if this odd behaviour happens with any other modems. I've always used a router, but I can't fathom why plugging in a modem should cause the line to drop - unless it's broken.

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