My friend recently bought a house and just got her landline set up.

She purchased a Telstra cordless phone and has hooked it up but can't get a dial tone. She says the phone rings but when she picks it up there is no dial tone.

When I phone the number I hear it ringing and then it goes to messgaebak 101 after about 8 rings.

My friend says that there is no adapter to plug her phone into (the 3 point plug) but only the small hole where the plastic bit goes in. Should there be one of the adapters in every Austraslian House?

Help please!

The 3 point plug you refer to is old school 610, 611 sockets - now days we use modular sockets (or as you call them .... the small hole where the plastic bit goes in).

I'd hazard a guess that her line set-up is not complete - most likely the calls are being re-directed to message bank because the line is not set-up correctly. Telstra are responsible for service up to the 1st point in MOST (but not all) cases.

She needs to speak with Telstra to get this fixed or perhaps it's still in the process.

horsehorse writes...

My friend says that there is no adapter to plug her phone into (the 3 point plug) but only the small hole where the plastic bit goes in.

I'm still confused with this comment - you say earlier that she hears the phone ringing ..... has she plugged another phone in or did she end up getting the phone to plug into the modular jack? Some phones come with a modular cord and a 610 adapter in case your house has the old 610 sockets in them....that 3 prong plug as you refer to it is probably only an adapter which she can unplug form to fit into her modular wall socket.

bypass the cordless first , get her to try a real phone ,then failing that report it to Telstra

might be a faulty card in the Exchange , you DON'T need dial tone to allow ring voltage to occur .

As Alf said, try a regular, corded handset... Perhaps borrow from a neighbour.

If you can get a dial tone and make calls with this, then speak with the manufacturer of the phone

If possible also try other phone sockets in your house, another phone cable, or sacrifice a goat or pig.

fungalduck writes...

As Alf said, try a regular, corded handset... Perhaps borrow from a neighbour.

Yes absolutely , with that cup of sugar ;-)

Had the exact same problem with mine (now fixed thanks Ross)

Check the phone first on a known good line or use a known good phone.

If that fails log a fault as the line is not properly connected.

For those who don't "get it" it is possible for the phone to have no dial tone yet it will ring when called, however picking up the phone when ringing wont actually answer the call as it is not fully connected to the exchange. Essentially you have a phone that rings and does nothing else.

horsehorse writes...

When I phone the number I hear it ringing and then it goes to messgaebak 101 after about 8 rings.

All that is that you are calling is that device in the exchange and is indicating that it is free and your call has gone through to the network connected to that service.The indication is a call signal.It really doesnt mean a phone is ringing,just you calling that line.Also a lot of people do not know Call Divert Tone(a long constant
sound),Message Bank(a stutter tone).
Very often the line is activated but no Truck Roll initiated to jumper the device(the one that ring tone is on )to the customers Network cable.Err this means your friend has a big gap between A the exchange and E the property.
I hope you understand?

Thanks for your posts guys.

My friend tried another phone and it still wouldn't work She phoned Telstra and they said they would need to get a technician out and this would cost over $200.

I reckon Telstra are ripping her off and should set the phone line up correctly in the first place!

What do you think?

horsehorse writes...

My friend tried another phone and it still wouldn't work She phoned Telstra and they said they would need to get a technician out and this would cost over $200.

They will need to get a technician out by the sounds of it but unless the problem is on the property somewhere then its not going to cost anything extra.

Michael James writes...

Essentially you have a phone that rings and does nothing else.

In any case, the 'ringing' actually takes place in the exchange, I think?

Cheers

drekkus writes...

unless the problem is on the property somewhere

What do you mean by this?

Don't get confused with "ringing"!! If a line is correctly active (maybe with a fault somewhere on it), a ringing TONE will be heard by a caller ringing the number. You just get an RVA for an inactive line. It does NOT indicate that the phone is actually ringing at the destination. This has been an old wives' tale for at least 50 years. It is simply a confidence tone to indicate to a caller that a call path has been set up through the exchange network to the desired number.

I prefer to call the signal that actually "rattles the bells" in the premises as RINGER. This is the one that will roll your eyes if you get a tickle from it. It is what will cause a phone to ring, providing that the line is physically intact. This is best determined simply by listening for dial tone. That's a start. Then ID the line (dial 12722123) to see if the dial tone is really yours.

horsehorse writes...

My friend tried another phone and it still wouldn't work She phoned Telstra and they said they would need to get a technician out and this would cost over $200.

Don't worry about the cost, if you have no dialtone at the first socket in the house, then it's Telstra responsibility to get dialtone to there, in a residential house. They (Telstra) own the service upto the first point.

Cheers JA-II

horsehorse writes...

When I phone the number I hear it ringing and then it goes to messgaebak 101 after about 8 rings.

this does not mean a thing in the world of telephony .

try this for yourself ,unplug every handset in your house or dwelling and ring your house number from your mobile, the mobile will have ring tone , but nothing will make a tinker at the the will it .

So the Exchange line may NOT even be a completed job as far as running a jumper etc .
the provisioning team have basically found a spare number within the network and provided that to your friend , and there is most likely a job somewhere in the network for a liney to do some physical connection stuff

Rusty_Gold writes...

All that is that you are calling is that device in the exchange and is indicating that it is free and your call has gone through to the network connected to that service.The indication is a call signal.It really doesnt mean a phone is ringing,just you calling

Didnt anyone read this?

Rusty_Gold writes...

Very often the line is activated but no Truck Roll initiated to jumper the device(the one that ring tone is on )to the customers Network cable.Err this means your friend has a big gap between A the exchange and E the property.
I hope you understand?

Or this?

Yeah, I did -

/forum-replies.cfm?t=978471#r10

Cheers