On Sat, 26 Aug 2017 03:29:10 -0400, Paul
wrote:

wrote:
I have a dual core XP machine and my dial up connection stopped
working. I have tried 3 different Win Modems. The modems install OK
and the diagnostics say it is connecting OK but when I try dialing
out, I get the message that there is no dial tone. That phone wire
works in a phone (same wire that plugs into the modem) I can also plug
a phone into the other port on the modem and dial out through it. I
tried swapping ports to be sure it wasn't just labeled wrong.
There is no activity on the line when I listen from another phone.
Any ideas?

You only get dial tone, when a circuit goes "Off Hook".

"The POTS phone line, with all phones on-hook, should measure around
48 volts DC. Taking a phone off-hook creates a DC signal path across
the pair, which is detected as loop current back at the central office.
This drops the voltage measured at the phone down to about 3 to 9 volts.
"

So if that loop current isn't flowing, then the CO may not notice you are there.
There's a tolerance on that, and if your device is out of spec,
you might not get recognized properly.

Generally, you want to review what is plugged into your phone circuits.
Back home, someone plugged in a strobe light which functions as a visual
ringer for the basement, and that device caused a problem with hook state.
The phone line has a limit on the number of loads. You start unplugging
toys your family has added, until the phone works again :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringer_equivalence_number

"Subscriber telephone lines are usually limited to support
a load of 5 REN or less."

It's possible that's just for ringing issues. (I.e. Connect
6 REN, and nothing is ringing, because the ringing generator
is overloaded at the CO line drawer.)

*******

See the table here for a possible explanation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_connector

"The pins of the 6P6C connector are numbered 1 to 6"

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1 --- circuit one, is the middle pair
2 2 --- circuit two, is outside that
3 3 --- circuit three

Normally, the installer is going to put the circuit
on pins 3,4. But just in case the circuit is moved to the
other pair at the punchdown block, then you could use an adapter
like this.

https://www.amazon.ca/Steren-4-Condu.../dp/B000E9U9MG

If all the phones are "line 1 phones", then they will be
sampling 3,4 when plugged in. To get the other circuits
to one of those phones, the adapter does the passive
re-wiring so a signal shows up.

3,4 2,5 1,6 Wall (one connector, all six wires)

3,4 3,4 3,4 Holes on output

(L1) (L2) (L3)

Then, all these phones that work off the 3,4 pins,
they can be plugged into some hole and they work.
And that's because the lineX output, is wired to
one of the various line pairs on the input side.

Those adapters aren't worth more than a buck or two,
so please don't tell me you paid $50 for a sample :-)
Even Radio Shack would have given you a better price
than the ones on that Amazon page.

And while the article details three lines being on
an RJ11 six pin, in practice I think the neighborhood
wiring is designed to run two lines per household easily.
If they run a four wire cable to your six pin RJ11, there
might be a Line1 and Line2. Maybe you ordered a line for
the phone, and one for the fax machine or something.
It would be more unusual for a house to have Line1, Line2,
Line3. If every house did that, there might not be enough
wires on the pole out in back of the house for it.

I think I have one of those wall adapters here somewhere. But
it's a Line1/Line2 two-holer. I only own the thing, for
the situation you're in, namely, seeing if the active pair
has been moved to the wrong pins, via a wiring change at
the punchdown block at the corner of your street. Normally
the installers don't do stuff like that by accident, but
I did have a dude out back of my house one day "stealing
my pair" for an order, and giving me some other pair.
I wasn't doing a download at the time, and I caught him in
the yard, before he'd cut anything.

Paul

Thanks Paul but if I plug this cable into a regular phone it goes off
hook and I can dial so I am pretty sure it is wired OK. Also this used
to work.