Phone line in house from another address, any advice?

Question

I moved into an apt. in a house a year ago. I had a cell phone and didn't need a phone, so we didn't bother to hook phone service up. My landlord lives on the first floor apt. in the house. We discovered that there was a live phone line coming into the apt. and assumed it was the landlords. We had tried to call the line and it went directly to a fax machine, so I again assumed the landlord had a dedicated fax line.

I told my kids never to use it except in an emergency. Now, a year later we are getting a phone line in the house. making a long story short - Verizon has no record of a line coming into the house and the landlord told us she does not have a phone line! So, I am wondering... whose phone is this?

Answer 1

Why don't you try calling someone you know that has caller id from this line.  Ask them to tell you what the caller id number is.  Do a reverse number look up at 411.com.

Answer 2

The phone cable has like 50 phone pairs or more in it. Sometimes a person mores out & that phone line does not get disconnected, but is taken of the phone company's records. That creates a "left in station", that would be your house. That causes a "others on line report", which is very hard to find. When they connect some one else up within the same cable on that cable pair it turns your phone on. If you are getting a phone line in the house they will disconnect that cable pair & will connect you to a different cable pair that is not in use. The problem will solve its self. If you have the phone # & call Verizon they will disconnect it from your house, providing better service for the paying customer. If you don't have the phone # Verizon can find that out & disconnect it for you.

Answer 3

Call the phone company that owns the line. You can find this out by going to the box on the outside of the apartment (if you can find it) and seeing the name on the box.

Tell them whats going on, give them your addresss. They will send a tech to disconnect the line, or they will fix it in house.

Either way, they'll fix it.