Why is my phone flashing "in use"?

reply to post by jennybee35


Have you gone to the manufacturers website? They should have a troubleshooting page / tips.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I'll tell you what I did last week. I decided that I would hold the cordless phone on my shoulder and watch late nite t.v. and just see if I could catch anything odd going on on the line when the light flashed 'inuse'. It flashed at 11:08 p.m. for 8 counts and the line was open! I could not hear a click on the line when the light flashed, but I could detect the 'open' line, a kind of electronic hum, know what I mean? But I expected that if it were the phone company 'opening' the line for routine reasons.

Does AT&T not do some sort of routine checks, several times a day? I feel like an idiot....... but it is weird.

I do have a corded phone for when I lose electricity, but I haven't thought about doing that. I will have to figure out a way to be tricky enough to do this!!

Originally posted by jennybee35
reply to post by Tardacus

 

I can't find anything that indicates that I can change the channel on these cheapy phones.

I have a V-tech wireless phone and on the handset where the number pad is there is a button at the bottom left corner that says "chan" I think that is the button to change the frequency channel.

I have the model with an answering machine # cs5121-2, maybe all of them don`t have the "chan" button.

reply to post by Tardacus


Here is the link to the phones that I have: vtech elcheapo

Maybe you will see something that I haven't.....

Mods, is there any way I can get this thread moved to the technology forum? I don't know why I didn't put it there to begin with. I might get an answer to my question there, perhaps. Who better to ask than those who visit 'techie' forums??

Thanks to all who have tried to help me figure this out!

reply to post by jennybee35


Well, you bring up a fair point and having been through the two lanes of Louisiana more than a little, I'm imagining what your location on the Mini-profile could cover. How rural is your area? It wasn't until about 6 years ago my Mom got off having a literal 'party line' where she's at. The lines where the neighbors and you share the same physical line and have to coordinate. lol.... I couldn't believe it myself, but VERY rural areas still have the oddest equipment I guess. Museum stuff...

Anyway, I can't see any modern system causing this from the Telephone Co. side of things. There wouldn't be a reason. They can tell your line status in seconds with a simple indicator and no invasive line pulse required, to my knowledge? An OLD system? Who knows.... Are you on old equipment?

I looked at the user manual online for this phone and you are right it doesn`t seem to have any way to change the frequency.

Here`s the link for the user manual:
www.vtechcanada.com...

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Yes, we are very rural, but not ancient!! LOL My equipment is up-to-date. Our lines are all up-to-date and yes, I assumed that AT&T wouldn't need to run 'line checks' anymore, but..... it was a simple answer!

I live about 4 miles from the nearest town (pop. 2,800) but my wireless connection is all modern because my brother owns my ISP!! He serves about 14 parishes and I don't know how many thousands of customers here. So even tho I am rural, I am not archaic!

No more party lines here, but I remember having to wait for our nosey neighbor to hang up when we took a a call. She always beat us to the phone when my sisters were teenagers and tried to eavesdrop!!

I just don't know what to think. I am on ATS, and I do believe in some 'conspiracies' but as you can see from my years long history here I don't go ape-kaka over anything. Just very very curious as to what the answer is to my riddle!

reply to post by Tardacus


Yeah, they are the cheapest 'good' phone I could get! My kids are hard on them, so I ain't paying much! I hope to find out it is something mundane soon! Thanks for your help!

I tried calling a relative down the street and got a busy signal. Drove to her house and she wasn't using the phone. Then she blamed me saying I must not have turned off the phone after I set it back in the charger. I thought the phone would automatically turn off and disconnect. Apparently not. I don't know if your issue is related or not.

reply to post by orionthehunter


No, this is not a one-time busy signal kinda deal. This is an ongoing 'in use' line deal, several times every day and night. Weirdness!

Ours was doing the exact same thing last month.....Line in Use. We called our phone company and they came out and fixed it. I don't know what they did, but when they left, the "Line in Use" was gone.

reply to post by queenofswords


Were you able to use your phone at all? Mine doesn't say 'line in use' all the time. It flashes the 'line in use' signal 8 counts at intermittent times, day and night.

My mom has a set of 3 vtech cordless phones, all the same each with their own base..
2 have small bases and one has the larger base with an answering machine.
Last time I was at her house she asked me about the same thing.
"line in use".. and when picked up there is a slight static sound but nothing else. no dial tone, cant press the talk button. It seems to happen only sometimes. I guess she can go weeks without it happening and out of the blue it just happens. She has DSL so her internet goes through it , but I work on stuff like this all the time and I cant find a connection. lol

Question:
If you unplug your phone line from the wall and look at both the connector and the inside of the phone jack..
do you notice any blackness or what looks like corrosion of some kind?
I noticed this on my moms phone line and jack (the main one) ... er, the only one, I guess. lol
Im not sure what thats about.

Originally posted by jennybee35
reply to post by queenofswords

 

Were you able to use your phone at all? Mine doesn't say 'line in use' all the time. It flashes the 'line in use' signal 8 counts at intermittent times, day and night.

No, we were not able to use it at all. The "Line in Use" stayed on...it was not intermittent. You should probably call your phone company.

reply to post by Ahmose


No, I checked all 3 connections (two cordless, one wall phone) and they are still shiny looking in there! I am just waiting for someone to come along and tell me what an idjit I am!

i have read that having cordless equitment so close to you is not good for your health .

i would move them away from your bed and computer

reply to post by jennybee35

It flashed at 11:08 p.m. for 8 counts and the line was open! I could not hear a click on the line when the light flashed, but I could detect the 'open' line, a kind of electronic hum, know what I mean? But I expected that if it were the phone company 'opening' the line for routine reasons.

I have read the thread an it seems everyone has been giving you good input to try and sort this out. What is really weird is how it does this at the same time. What else is weird its only for 8 seconds or so... and you say multiple times a day. Always at the same times, just wondering?

The base units do receive a signal from the handsets to open a dial tone. Thats why your phones flash, line in use. Since its only for 8 seconds nobody is hacking your phone to save money while dialing overseas or something. Since it happens at the same time everyday it must be related to interference in the cable trunking either on the phone lines on your property or out at the telephone poles (if you have them, you said you live "remotely").

This sounds best handled by what another member said, call the company and have them come out. Their techs can run tests on your phone line and see if it is being affected by other lines or power lines, shorts, moisture or whatever.

If you have internet on your phone line you might have little filters you plug in the wall and one of those could be causing interference (why at 11:08 is beyond me). If you have a spare, switch out one at a time on your phones. If you have a fax/printer it can also cause problems. Unplug it and see.

No dial tone when you listened, huh? Depending how far you want to go with this, you can eliminate the problem with your Vtech equipment by turning off one hand set in turn each time 11:08 comes up. See if the problem goes away with one of the headset and bases unplugged. Remove the phone battery, too. Sometimes old worn down batteries can be interfering. Even though they are rechargeable, they get old and can produce weird little problems...

If you have all but one phone unplugged and it still flashes in use, pick it up and this time, say, "Hello?" Maybe a long lost relative or friend that died is trying to talk to you from beyond (insert Twilight Zone theme).

Why 11:08? Thats freakydeaky. Call the phone company, they should debug your stuff for free. They won't fix your phones but can tell if one of them is creating the problem They can also guarantee your lines continuity. Make sure you tell them about the times it happens.

Good luck!

It is possible that it is time to call the phone company. I think that the lightning/surge arrestors in your point of entry (demarcation block) have been stressed that they may have some capacitance to them now.

The way the phone line works is that it has 48 Volts DC supplying it from the phone companies Central Office. In the old days, before electronic switching came around, the wires supplying your home would run through a relay coil called the A-Relay. This was done as a fancy way of using the relay's coil inductance to help "condition" the line. Anyhow, when your phone goes "off-hook" or is said to be "in-use" the line is not actually opened but almost acts like a shorted connection. There is a current loop of approximately 25 milliamperes and the phone Central Office equipment then "senses" that you are using the phone. Older rotary style phones would actually make and break shorts of various lengths to send the desired digits and the phone company would collect them until there were enough to commence dialing. Newer phones send DTMF tones over the wires to indicate the digits they desire to connect with.

My guess is that your line is drawing borderline current to simulate an "in-use" condition and it is either a short developing in the wiring (note: if you short together the wires anywhere in your phone circuit, with your phone base unit connected, you will see the in-use light come on.) or a problem with the arrestors.

The fact that it happens around the same times is a little strange but stray capacitance building up and then discharging could happen on a somewhat predictable schedule, if the line conditions don't change much.

This may happen with or without the presence of static on the line, too.

Let me know if the phone company needs to get involved and what they find and, of course, good luck!

reply to post by evc1shop

The fact that it happens around the same times is a little strange but stray capacitance building up and then discharging could happen on a somewhat predictable schedule, if the line conditions don't change much.

Thats the part that stumps me. Just my opinion, but even static doesn't keep a "schedule". Has to be "man made" intervention of some sort?