Having copper land line phone problems with dropped calls

I have significant noise on my phones, if I call out or receive calls frequently the call can be started and in the middle of conversation the remote party is gone (dead line). In other cases the call randomly disconnects to dial tone.

Yesterday I tried to call my voice machine on the line with my cell phone and got a 'network unavailable' message.

I tried just now to call the 1800VERIZON number for help but can't get through the menu because the line drops.

Because it's random, it's hard for me to test this at the external NID. I can call someone for a long time, other times it drops the call in a few minutes. It seems to be random. There is also quite a bit of noise on the line.

I've tried removing phones to just one phone and turning off all sources of radio noise I can imagine (light dimmers, CFL lamps, etc) and it doesn't help.

Accepted answers

mark_schlegel

A tech visited today and the phone appears fixed afterward. I'm also getting DSL and have run speed tests showing

the expected speed. So it looks fixed so far.

All comments

ElizabethS

If you are having an issue with your Verizon service, you can use the Verizon Troubleshooter to fix and report issues with your Verizon Phone, FiOS TV, or Internet Service, as well as to schedule a repair, here is the link:
http://www.verizon.com/repair
You can find tools on the Verizon Residential Support page that may help you diagnose your issue:
http://www22.verizon.com/residentialhelp

mark_schlegel

The online verizon troubleshooter is no help, I've tried it and it just not useful for real problems.

It has help for really basic situations like finding a bad phone or device by unplugging devices one

by one and testing or figuring out your phones don't work because they're not plugged in.

Basically help for dummies...

My problem seems to be a general neighborhood copper line problem in Russett. When I dial to my home line from my Tmobile cell I get a 'call can not be completed due to network problems" error and it doesn't even try to ring.

Right now I'm going to go to the NID and patch in with a phone and try dialing in and out.

mark_schlegel

I've been out at the NID with a known working phone, using the phone at the NID street side port (verizon network side), I can't call out or dial into the phone from my cell (cell calls into the home phone number get a 'call can not be completed due to network problem' voice error). The phone just buzzes, I think this is line noise. I've got a tech visit scheduled for Saturday morning.

mark_schlegel

A tech visited today and the phone appears fixed afterward. I'm also getting DSL and have run speed tests showing

the expected speed. So it looks fixed so far.