Incoming calls ring twice and then stop

[kensmiles1]

All calls ring twice.  The ringing stops.  But the call can still be picked up even though the ringing stopped.

I have copper wire.  No answering machine.  No Verizon VM.  Single phone.  Verizon supposedly fixed this in January.  Now the problem is back.

Very strange problem.

[smith6612]

Sounds like an issue with the line card or the physical copper loop itself causing a short, perhaps. I had a similar issue with my phone line several years ago. Took a neighbor of mine who is a Verizon Field Tech the next morning to pop in a new card for us to fix it. In my case, the calls would only ring for a quarter of the first ring's duration. This ring was enough to make the hardwired phones in the house "Chirp." but not enough to make the cordless phones ring. If you heard the ring, the call could be answered. If not, then the person on the other end would be stuck with silence, and it would sound like we picked up the phone.

[kensmiles1]

Thanks for that info.  One of the strange things about this problem is that I can still answer the call, even after the phone stops ringing.

[smith6612]

That's exactly what the issue was with my line back when our line card went bad. See if you can get voice repair out to get the problem fixed. It's probably nothing that a tech can't fix in 10 minutes at the CO/RT, should it be a bad card.

[kensmiles1 · Accepted solution]

I did have a tech visit.  He determined that I had a short in my inside wiring.  I was skeptical.  But when I removed a line splitter, the problem was solved!

[smith6612]

A short would cause similar issues if it's something that is triggered only when the phone rings (increasing voltage on the line). Glad to hear the problem was solved 🙂