There is not much that you can fix on a telephone yourself, but there are some things you can do to troubleshoot in your home. These tips can help before you make a service call to your phone company. It's a good idea to maintain a wiring contract with your phone company. For a nominal charge, the phone company takes care of any wiring problems that might develop.
Instructions
1. Check to make sure the phone is back in its cradle. This is the most common cause of telephone problems--and the easiest to fix.
2. Confirm that wiring follows standard conventions. This especially applies to work done by do-it-yourselfers.
3. Make sure you didn't accidentally set it on a phone line. This may have broken the wire.
4. Troubleshoot loose connections. Check both the handset and the phone jack. Also, inspect the phone cord for damage or exposed wires. If you live in an older home, trace all visible wires. Look for breaks.
5. Watch for mice. They chew on wiring.
6. Try to remember if there have been any electrical storms lately. Also, try to recall if the power has been off. Electrical surges can fry one phone or a jack and not take out all your phones. The only thing you know then is that your telephones are not working.
7. Troubleshoot new electronic telephones as well as older phones. Unfortunately, some new products are defective right out of the box. This may cause all your telephones to not function.
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