What do I do now?...phone line question

[cally]

Can anyone explain how to fix this and if I can do it myself?

I have a phone line network for my home computers that mostly works. Recently, I lose connection on my computer frequently and have to restart several times and re-plug in all the connections several times to get up and running again. I tested my phone jack just now and the indicator says the "tip and ring wires are reversed." Huh???


Does anyone know what this means and what I need to do to fix it?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

1. That's odd

With voice service and with dsl, tip and ring polarity doesn't matter. This just means that there are 2 wires that go to your phone (or dsl equipment or home phone network) and that, typically anyway, it doesn't matter which wire goes to which pin on the jack. It sounds like the error message you're getting is saying that the positions of wires #1 and #2 should be reversed. But you say this has been working fine up until recently? I wonder if the error is in error, as it were.

I suppose you could rewire the affected jack, but unless changes have been made to your inside wiring, this shouldn't be required. Or, if you happen to have an RJ-11 crimp tool and an RJ-11 end (the little plastic clipped thing that plugs into the jack--both items available at Radio Shack or similar), you could try that.

Good luck.

[cally]

2. Thanks for the info

I have a father with almost every tool, I'll see if he has those. The phone also failed, randomly, when plugged into that jack. :shrug:

How hard is it to replace the jack?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

5. Not hard at all

Unscrew the faceplate from the wall and make note of what wire is connected to what post. Then do the same on the new jack.

And as the other poster indicated, you'll probably see 4 wires instead of 2, even though only 2 are used (most of the time).

You'll only need a small phillips screwdriver.

Side note on the origins of the term tip-and-ring: this comes from old phone company central office equipment. You may have seen something similar on the back of your TV or VCR. Actually, coaxial cable, like Cable TV, is sort of tip-and-ring-ish. The tip would be the wire sticking out of the middle. The ring is the threaded screw part around the outside. Those go to two different wires within the cable, ergo, tip-and-ring.

[cally]

6. Ok, thanks

tomorrow I'll buy a new one and try. Thanks.

[rasputin1952]

3. Or, you could go out and buy a new...

connecting wire. Just make sure that it has 4wire connections. Even if only 2 are used, ir won't hurt.

there is a possibiltiy of a minor short you can't even see in the feed wire.

Good luck!

O8)

[cally]

4. Do you mean the cord that connects the

computer to the phone jack?

Thanks for the help, I've never done this before.