 unknvoipRIP goosePremium
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY
kudos:1
 ·ViaTalk
| reply to mfoam99
Re: should I go and check my house wiring? The ATA acts like a local Central Office in the POTS world, sort of. It powers the phone line in your home. When your phone is on-hook, the voltage level of the two wires for you phone is 48 volts, and essentially the same as not having a phone on the line. When a phone is taken off hook, it places a load on the line (allows current to flow) and the voltage will drop. It has been a long time since I worked with these details, but I believe it drops to somewhere around 20 volts. That current flow is how the ATA or a central office detects a subscriber has gone off-hook and then a dial tone will be placed on the line.
If you have a voltage meter that you are able to check the voltage level on the line from the ATA you should see 48 volts when it is not connected to the wall. If you can monitor that when you plug into the wall and see that the voltage level drops (you would probably have to jury-rig a phone chord to do this) you will know there is a short somewhere in your home wiring, or something plugged into a wall outlet. Now we are all assuming there is not a phone or other device (answering machine, modem, fax) somewhere plugged into another outlet that could be the problem. I once had a combo phone/answering machine causing an issue I thought to be a VT problem. So double check to make sure you have no other device plugged into any phone outlets - they may have been fried, as well.
Now if the voltage at the ATA remains 48 volts when plugged into the wall, you will need to check other outlets. Any that don't have 48 volts indicate there is an open circuit between your outlet with that ATA and that one. If the open circuit is in the phone outlet your ATA was plugged into, a wire could have been fried in the event that took out your ATA and router, but the outlets without devices connected would likely be unaffected. The most likely place where the wiring could be fried would be where wires are connected to other wires or connectors.
Now I don't believe you will need to have your LAN connection to the ATA to do this troubleshooting. I think it will supply 48 volts to the line even if not registered. All you need is power. You need to check to verify this, but I believe it to be the case.
If I had to bet, my first guess would be there is another device connected in your home affecting the line. My second suspicion would be that a connection opened up in the phone outlet your ATA connects to, or somewhere in the path from your central wiring block to that outlet. My last guess would be a short. For a short, there would have to be an electrical arc that burned through the insulation of the pair of wires causing the two conductors to be touching.
Good luck and keep us posted as to your progress. I'm curious how this works out for you and what may have happened. |
