Pinpointing Service Problems

Pinpointing Service Problems

Many people panic when they realize they don’t have phone service. Your service "outage" could be the result of a simple accident, and may be easier to fix than you think. Before calling to report trouble with your telephone service or line, please review these simple items:

Have you checked to be sure all handsets are properly replaced?
Have you checked to make sure your telephone is plugged into the jack?
Have you checked to see if the trouble is on all phones, or just one phone?
Have you unplugged your cordless telephone, answering machine, and modem to see if any of these items are causing the problem?
Have you checked the service at the NID (Network Interface Device — the gray box on the outside of your house)? (For instructions on how to check the NID, please see "Testing your service at the NID" below.)

Telephone lines do carry electrical current. Please use CAUTION when testing lines.

Lackawaxen offers these guidelines to help customers pinpoint and possibly fix their own service outage. If you experience trouble with your telephone service, please review the following instructions before contacting us. By diagnosing the problem, you may be able to quickly restore the service yourself, and alleviate the need for a service call. Pinpointing the problem will also help you describe it to our repair office.

Is the problem in one phone?

1. If only one telephone is not working, unplug it and plug a working phone in its jack. If that phone works, the problem is the non-working phone. Contact the store or company where you purchased the phone. *If you have only one phone, borrow a phone from a neighbor or Lackawaxen and plug it into the jack to try this test.

Telephone lines do carry electrical current. Please use CAUTION when testing lines.

2. At the Network Interface Device (NID), (the gray box where the outside line is attached to your house), plug a working phone into the NID (see "Testing your service at the NID" below). If there is no dial tone at the NID, the problem is most likely in the outside line. Contact the Lackawaxen office for repair.

3. If you have a normal dial tone at the NID, the problem is most likely in the wiring or jacks inside your home, or in your telephone equipment, not Lackawaxen’s outside line.

Is the problem in more than one phone?

Be aware that a single faulty piece of telephone equipment can cause a problem or outage in all of your telephones. If you do not have a dial tone, can not call in or out, or hear noise on all of your telephones, it may be a good idea to check all of your equipment before contacting the Lackawaxen office.

Telephone lines do carry electrical current. Please use CAUTION when testing lines.

1. At the NID outside your home, plug a working phone into the NID (see "Testing your service at the NID" below.) If there is no dial tone at the NID, the problem is in the outside line. Contact Lackawaxen for repair.

2. If you have a normal dial tone at the NID, the problem is not in Lackawaxen’s outside line, but either in the wiring or jacks inside your home, or in your telephone equipment.

3. Unplug every piece of telephone equipment (cordless phones, answering machines, fax machines, computers, etc.) in your house. Plug a working phone into an outlet. If that phone works, then a piece of your equipment is faulty. Plug in each piece of equipment (with the phone) one at a time until the problem re-occurs. This will determine which piece of equipment is not working. If the phone does not work when you plug it into the jack, but you have dial tone at the NID, the problem is in your inside wiring or jacks.

Please Note:

If you have a cordless telephone or answering machine, you may lose your dial tone after a storm. Before contacting the Lackawaxen office, try unplugging this equipment for 15 minutes and then reconnecting it. If you still do not have dial tone, please follow the instructions for testing your service at the NID (below).

Testing your service at the NID:

The NID allows you to determine where the problem is. Advance testing by you may eliminate unnecessary repair trips by Lackawaxen Telecommunications Services.

Telephone lines do carry electrical current. Please use CAUTION when testing lines.

1. Unscrew the cover of the NID with a screwdriver and open it.

2. Disconnect the modular plug from the test jack inside the NID. Wait one minute and plug in a telephone you know is working.

3. Try the telephone. If the problem persists, the trouble is probably with Lackawaxen’s outside line. Please contact our repair office. If the problem has cleared, the trouble is within your inside wiring, jacks, or telephone equipment. Please contact the business office or someone else to make the repairs.

If you have any additional questions, please call us at 570-685-7111, or 1-800-647-7781. You can also email us at ltis@ltis.net.