Phone Not Ringing

Question

I have a 1930 phone that has been converted to work on current (Fios) systems.  I have hooked it to the wall jack, and it can get dial tone, dial out, and I can participate in calls (speaking/hearing work just fine).  What does NOT work is that the phone will not ring when a call is incoming.  The phone has been tested (outside this house and on a phone testing bench) and when proper 100 Volt AC ringing voltage is applied - it rings just fine.  Is there a way to test whether there is the correct ringing voltage coming from the pole to the house via the fiber?

pacmusicman · Accepted Answer

With Verizon Fios, there isn't any ringing voltage delivered over the fiber optical cable. The voltages & current are generated by the ONT.

Some questions to start the ball rolling. If a modern telephone is connected to the service, does it ring on incoming calls? If it does, then the ONT is generating the proper signal.

When testing the old telephone, are there any other telephones connected? If so, can they be unplugged and another test call or two made? The reason for this test is to reduce the load on the telephone line. Connecting too many telephones to a single line will cause ringers not to ring. If possible, plug the telephone directly into the ONT.

Back in predivestiture days, Ma Bell would test telephone lines periodically to see how many telephones are connected to it. If the test results indicated, say, 4 telephones, but the subscriber was only renting 2 telephones, a technician would pay an unannounced visit to investigate. To get around this, crafty people would disconnect ringer devices to make the extra telephone invisible to the line test.

Today, telephone companies don't rent out telephones anymore, so that periodic test no longer happens.

The REN is the measure of power needed to make the telephone ring. Old Western Electric telephones had an REN of "1" by default. Modern telephones with electronic ringers could have an REN as low as 0.1.

As a rule of thumb, I would keep the total REN on a single telephone line to less than 4.