Phone line test

[Joseph Kormos]

Does anyone have a protocol for testing a phone line, a friend is having some issues at home and wants to avoid calling out to the phone company. He has VOIP, and a splitter coming out of the cable modem, and then the lines going up to his jacks, this is how he described it to me. Do the cheapo line testers work for this, would a continuity test work, does someone know a good web site, any info would be great. Thanks in advance.

[Jae Williams]

There is information like that in the phone book..I don't remember where or if it is in the White or the Yellow Pages. I guess he'll have to read the whole thing to find it.

[ggreene]

cable modem? phone company ? that does not add up. plus you need to provide us all w/more info so we can all help you. and yes cheapo line testers work, but only on proven cable. if there is a problem w/the line (screw thru wire) no tester will do you any good, you can only check a pair at a time.

[Jae Williams]

Ahhh...there it is. It's in the front of the White Pages under the heading of "Wiring Services". A little test proceedure to conduct before calling the phone company.

[Joseph Kormos]

Comcast, cable is good coming into the home, it is ok coming out of the modem, I believe he has line issues with the exsisting wires in the house?? I did not see this, just info from a quick phone call. By the way Jae, I called him and told him to start reading I might have to stop by his place and check thing out, I guess it pays to have the line backer service

[Greg Fretwell]

The cable side is just data. If he is browsing it is working. The phone side is a doorbell circuit. Any continuity tester will work. This is audio at this point. Just be sure it is not still hooked up to the telco Dmark.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by jkormos

Does anyone have a protocol for testing a phone line, a friend is having some issues at home and wants to avoid calling out to the phone company. He has VOIP, and a splitter coming out of the cable modem, and then the lines going up to his jacks, this is how he described it to me. Do the cheapo line testers work for this, would a continuity test work, does someone know a good web site, any info would be great. Thanks in advance.

http://www.modemsite.com/56k/demarc.asp

[Greg Fretwell]

The line quality necessary for V.90 connections is far more stringent than the simple voice grade you need for the audio side of VOIP. If this is connected to a cable modem the coax is doing all the heavy lifting.
The strange thing is old V.22 2400bps might actually be more demanding of a phone line than 56kb since there was no error correction. That is certainly true of 2400 bps vs 28.0/33. Your througput may not be up to the expectation but it will get through. V.22 will simply fail at the first dropped bit.

[Joseph Kormos]

Thanks Guys