AboutSpencer Holcombe Expertise I have been in the telecommunications arena for several years. I've worked in traffic,installation,repair,customer service,fraud,national and major accounts. I Started with Pacific Telephone,went to American Bell, AT&T Information Systems, AT&T Communications, Pacific Bell-SBC - AT&T. I can answer most questions of a service or equipment nature-excluding cellular. From jacks, wiring, phones, to custom calling services, local to long distance.
Experience Bell System and post divesture work for AT&T and Local operating companies. Service rep-to Fraud desk.
Organizations Telephone Pioneers of America
Publications PTM mag. Connections, Update, and other company publications. Also have expert status at AskME.com
Expert: Spencer Holcombe Date: 10/17/2006 Subject: Cordless handset not ringing or displaying cid
Question Hi Spencer,
Just a few days ago my wireless handsets began acting up. I have a Panasonic KX-TG5439 5.8 ghz phone/answering machine with two handsets. All DSL filters are in place, and everything has been working perfectly for over a year.
A day ago I noticed that when an incoming call was made, my handsets would not ring. I could tell there was an incoming call because my DirecTV receivers are also hooked up to phone lines, and I could see the caller id info displayed.
The phones do not ring, however, if I pick up the phone I can talk to the other party. I can also pick up the phone, hear dial tone, and dial out. Aside from not ringing, the caller id info is not displayed on the handset, and the answering machine (contained w/the base) does not pick up.
I thought maybe my Panasonic took a dump, so I dug out my old 900mhz Sony phone. It has the same problem. Going farther back in time, I dug out corded phone that has caller id. This phone works perfectly and displays the caller id info as expected.
My provider is SBC/AT&T, and I also have DSL through them. As said before, all of my filters are where they are supposed to be. As per AT&T tech support suggestion, I unhooked everything for 5 minutes, then plugged in only one phone and tried again. This did not fix the problem. Accordingly, they have said they will send out a technician tomorrow to check the line. I do not really have any faith in that, so I wanted to see if there was anything else on my end that I could try.
I have also repeated all of these tests and permutations on different phone jacks throughout the house. Have you ever heard of something like this? Is there anything sent or not sent through the phone lines that would cause a cordless configuration to behave this way? Again, corded phones and devices (DirecTV receiver) seem to work perfectly fine. Thanks in advance, I appreciate your time.
Answer Will,
You can't see me but I'm grinning, only because I HAVE heard of this before. You're not going to like the answer though. Try disconnecting your Direct tv unit from both the phone and power outlets. Plug your cordless base in it's normal jack and make sure the handsets are charged. Have someone call your number, Do the handsets ring? Does your caller id display? If so, GREAT! IF not, CHANGE the dsl filter on that jack with one from another location and try agian. Working? Ah! you found the problem, now tell the repair tech what you discovered. If you have your direct tv thru SBC/at&t even better. The tech can report it to that division for repair/(replacement). If your handets still do not ring and your caller id doesnt work, have the tech check the dsl filters that came when you signed up for dsl service. THEY are a KNOWN cause of phone problems, and mine have been replaced twice already. Good luck, and let me know if they replace your filters, and if it solves the problem. (so far it's been a filter or the direct tv unit itself causing the problems on cordless phones, that i've been made aware of) Spencer
