I live in an apt. no access to outside wiriing?

Question

home telephone has no dial tone. cannot make calls since thurs. 5/l5/08

Answer 1

There are a few things that you may wish to  do before calling your phone company.

1. Make sure your phone works. Take it to a neighbors or friends home and try it.

2. Make sure that nothing else in your home is causing a short or problem.  Unplug EVERYTHING from phone jacks ALL modems, filters,extension cords,splitters,spare phones,satellite tv boxes and then try the working phone in several different jacks.

Phone and phone equipment is made so cheaply today that it is more likely for the problem to be something in your place. Eliminate the problem and you've just saved a service call.

3. If all else fails, call your phone company .

Some companies will check to the "Demarcation point" for no charge. (the place where the phone company's wire stops and your building's wiring begins.

My local company let me sign up for" inside wire maintenance" eliminating service call charges.  They found MY problem ,charged me 2 or 3 bucks for the monthly plan  and I dropped the plan  shortly after.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Depending on where you live, often the serving phone company is required to provide service into the apartment.  That is dependent on the governmental authority for your area as to what they require of your phone company.

Contact the repair department of the phone company you are using.  They can tell you to what extent their area of responsibility includes.  Even if they do not include troubleshooting the internal wiring of the apartment, or charge extra to do so, they can show you where the wiring comes in your apartment, or to the building if the problem is not within their area of responsibility.

Caution:  There may be a charge for the phone company to send a technician to your residence if the problem is not in their facilities or area of responsibility.

Look in your local 'yellow pages' under the heading of 'telephone service' in a sub-heading of 'repair' if you need to arrange for an independent contractor.  You may have to call many before you find one that does residential service.  They will troubleshoot from where the "phone company ends" and identify any cause by wiring or equipment in your apartment.