For nearly 9 months I have had an annoying buzz in my home phone line. I thought it was my phone so I bought a new one yesterday. It still buzzes. It is hard to hear people talk and sometimes I fade in and out or they do. We have had two different telephone services since this has been happening. Now we have Cavalier. Could there be a problem with our wiring? Is it because we have computers? You people are so smart, I figured someone here might have an answer. Thanks in advance.

Trickie

copper phone lines are well known for their crappiness.. a good indicator of line noise is a dial-up internet connection. The lower the connection speed, the more the modem had to renegotiate the connection speed to get by excessive noise (in general).

You should call Verizon and demand they fix the problem... it's not your phone, it's them. Do your neighbors have the problem? If not, it may be anywhere from your internal wiring, on outside your house to the green box where you actually join the phone network.

In some cases I have been told that excessive electrical noise from some source or another can cause this....

Oh, and all of the above is in reference to a regular non-cordless phone wired to the rj 11 jack. If you are using cordless phones, a whole new realm of issues have to be examined. Esp. in light of the fcc's free-for-all regarding the 900Mhz spectrum...

I AM THE FBI

hmm 345 has a good point... tapping equipment can cause "line anomalies"

I knew trickie was some kind of drug dealer/ child pornographer lol

You have a ground on your line. It is more than likely an outside problem. I assume you have Verizon. Call repair and have them fix it!

Ma Bell

Phone lines are usually balanced so well that it's very rare for induced noise from external sources to be heard.

That is, till one side of the line gets grounded--then it's no longer balanced--and you get to hear all the 60Hz powerline hum being induced into the line.

It could be an outside problem, but it could be an inside problem too. Open the telephone network interface (located near the electric meter, usually, and labelled TELEPHONE NETWORK INTERFACE) and use the test jack there along with your phone to see if the noise is still present there.

There are instructions inside of the telephone network interface as to how to do this--you only need a screwdriver to open it.

If the noise goes away when you plug your phone in at the telephone network interface, it's an inside wiring problem and be prepared to pay Verizon lots of money to fix it unless you have their inside wiring maintenance plan.

If the noise is still there when your phone is plugged in at the telephone network interface, Verizon has to fix it for FREE.

If it is an inside wiring problem, you don't need to have Verizon fix it--if you know a good electrician or handyman they can fix it too.

take your new phone outside to the gray box on the side of your house. There will be a jack you can plug-into to confirm whether the noise is still present. If YES, most likely an outside problem and its on Verizon's dime. If NO, its most likely a problem with the house wiring and your going to have to pay for it unless you have the service plan that covers inside wiring too.

wow, you found a completely similar way to say the same thing that was said by Brian1703 in this same thread...

does anyone read the contents of the thread before throwing in repeat info?

oh and if they live in a condo like I do, they may not have access to that box.

If you live in a condo, and you are responsible for your inside wiring (which you probably are), then you should have access to that box, although you may have to ask the condo association or property management company or landlord (or whatever applies) to let you into the area where it is. If they refuse, then they're just being ignorant and you can either try to educate them or just make a scene at the next association meeting.. :)

That's assuming it's inside the building somewhere behind a locked door.

The last (and only) apartment building I lived in, it was a 2 foot by 2 foot white metal box on the exterior of the building and it wasn't labelled as being a telephone network interface, but indeed it was, for all of the apartments on that side of the building.

If it's not clear--the function of the telephone network interface is to be the demarcation point between the wiring that belongs to the customer and the wiring that belongs to the phone company. They are also commonly called "demarcs" for that reason. It also provides a way to test the wiring to determine where the problem is.

For this reason, denying the customer access to the network interface/demarc when it is needed to either connect an additional line or to test for phone problems is counterproductive and stupid.

In my building it's in an exterior closet, I probably could get into it if I asked

I just meant unfettered access, if you have to ask someone to let you in that just adds a hassle

I am somewhat surprised these boxes aren't more locked down, in theory you could just open someone's box and make anonymous calls from their line, right? great way to do a death threat or other phone crime.

You can put a lock on the ones that most houses have BUT anyone with the correct size hex driver can still get into it.

Even then, you can also use th correct size hex driver to open just about any phone pedestal/cabinet anywhere and use a phone with alligator clips to do the same thing. (This is known as "beigeboxing", but that t3xtph1le was written back in the days when Home Depot didn't sell test sets for $89)

"For nearly 9 months I have had an annoying buzz in my home phone line"

Thats about how long Homeland Security has been tapping peoples phone without a court order. Remember its for the good of the country.

Yeah the box thing they talked about is the way to check it out. I have to remove a screw to open my cutsomer access portion and have a hex driver to take off the verizon part. Then there are a couple of jacks (rj-11...normal phone size) that you plug your corded phone into and make a call. If buzzing is still there, verizon comes and determines that it's still your fault. You call agian. Then take another look an determine that it is there fault, and go find a box 1 mile up the street that was grounded inproperly. All becomes well.

That happened to me. There was "some piece of metal" that came into contact with my phone line a mile up the street and was causing interference to the point that my service was intermittent.

If you hear buzzing or voices like "one adam 12 - disturbance at 7-eleven respond code 2"... use your cell phone for the drug deals.

brianl703 Wrote:
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> but that t3xtph1le was

Ah, the textfile days. Also the old BBS and fido days.

All that wacking off with the headset during phone sex with your mother.

Ah, the textfile days. Also the old BBS and fido days.

I miss that shit, I remember coming across all those 2600 phreak textfilez on some board back in the 80's, I was real intrigued with that stuff growing up.

My friends and I probably wrote half of them. It wasn't only phreaking back then with the textfiles... we had other writeups and howtos like one I loved called Locker Docs. It was a primer on how to take over lockers, "pennying" lockers, trade out locks, all kinds of great ideas and techniques.

Was anyone into the BBSs from the Atari/Commodore days like Merlin's Litterbox and Gallifrey?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2006 08:03PM by pgens.

pgens- if you still have those, can you post them somewhere? I'd love to re-read them for nostalgia's sake; as a bored kid in the early 80s those things helped me keep my sanity.

Get Cox phone service. We had verizon but now have Cox and it's a lot better.

totse.com for lots of files of stuff.

There's textfiles.com also.

I remember defeating the call-back verification on a BBS by picking up the phone just as it disconnected me, then humming into the phone simulate a dialtone, then I heard it dial so I typed "ATA" in Telix and...well, it worked. I couldn't believe it.

and then have brian703 come over to your MPOP (minimum point of presence), get his butt set and listen to see if the ground is going back to the Central Office or prove it to the house. If it is going to the house, let Brian fit it!

My gut tells me it is an outside Verizon problem, especially if it gets worse with rain.

Unless someone ran phone cable on the exterior of the house against aluminum siding and it cut into the cable..

Thank you all so much for your advice. I am pretty sure my phone is not being tapped. Although I was guilty of tapping our phone when my son was a teen. I think I may need a filter for the new phone. I will check the telephone box too. You people are so helpful.
Hugs, Trickie

You may want to "mix-n-match your phones, by that I mean use your home phone for unimportant matters, while using your cell phone (if you have one), for more sensitive business. Believe it or not, the cell phone nowadays has much better security than your home phone. I knew of one neighbor of mine who had interference (humming noise) on his phone, and he ignored it. Then, about four months later, his house was raided by the fuzz. Never saw it coming.

No, they don't. GSM, in particular, there's no requirement for the cell base to authenticate to the handset, so someone could set up a rogue cell base...

Well I am sure no one is planning to raid my house. I don't have anything illegal here except these dirty rings a truck driver gave as a tip in college when I worked as a waitress. The rings are of two people doing something pretty explicit which I won't get into on here. I pay all my taxes too and I do not use illicit drugs. Thanks for the advice.

trickie

While that may be true for GSM technology, it still takes more technical savvy than connecting into your neighborhood pedestal. Also remember that GSM technology is not implemented by all cellular phone companies!

true, but non-gsm service tends to be total crap, at least around here..

you can get gsm burners, so the police will always be one step behind if you change burners frequently. cellular is def the way to go for the sensitive stuff, I agree with janz on that. Buzzing on the phone line from a tap just indicates a poorly installed tap. A correctly installed one won't telltale like that in this day and age. Only a fool would do sensitive shit over a landline.

Changing the SIM card of a GSM phone does not change it's identifier.

Verizon doesn't have GSM so my coverage and phone sux ass. The verizon razr is much worse than cingular razr. Cingular also has GSM too. But I would call the telco on that phone line. And if it looks to you like its gonna be you shelling out the greens for it, go cut the line in on of their boxes.

yes, commit a felony so you don't have to pay for the repair lol

I wasn't implying changing the sim, I was talking baout the entire phone, like on "the wire"

DO it at night with a shovel and theres no fingerprints or DNA to conntect it to you.

Heh the gov can just as easily tap a cell phone as a land line though that is more on a federal level. Cell phone encryption can be broken on the fly and some gov agenice have their own satellites specifically to intercept other satellite communications.

Just cut up a phone cord and put a 120V plug on one end. The phone line killer.

Then plug it into the test jack at the network interface and into a wall outlet at the other end.

This is inspired by the BOFH's "etherkiller".

Of course the gov't can tap a cell line. They don't even have to "break encryption", the cell companies have to let them put in listening software or equipment at the point on the process before that happens.

The problem is burners. You can't tap a person who changes physical phones and phone numbers faster than you can get the warrant, unless you find a way to sell the person pre-tapped phones, which may be a tv fantasy unless terrorism is involved (probably pretty easy for the feds to place this into the warrant, but still). This is why the feds went after those dudes who were hitting walmart and buying 500 at a time to resell. They wanted to stop the use of burners by terrorists before they could be used, and they failed. I don't believe even one of those arrests recently stood up to scrutiny.

Trickie,
   to figure out if it is a wiring problem in your house or coming from outside, you can test a phone at your phone box. the gray outside box is closed with a simple screw, unscrew it and you will see there is a line plugged in that goes to the rest of your house. simply unplug this and plug in a simple corded phone and test it out. my guess is you have bad wiring in your house. if you try this out, tell me how it goes and i can offer additional steps. ive dealt with this issue personally, i know it's really annoying.

oh... and way to throw off the feds like that, it was really convincing. :)

---

dear overreacters,
   seriously, what is with you and your band of retards with your "the government wants to hear all my calls!" bullshit? i dont care if the gov. hears me talking to friends. hell, the government doesnt want to hear what i have to say or you either. the gov. cant listen to everyone all the time as some fools claim. storing that info would seriously be a massive problem. additionally, how are they going to listen to everyone? lets say they have a million people that listen to everyone's calls 24/7. this means each person has to listen to 300 people's conversations. im sure each of you know of someone who seems to have a phone permanently attached to their head and with a handful out of 300 people were like this, it would take more time than there is in a day to listen to it. personally, i hope the government is tapping my phone so they can hear my complaints.

ps... i heard drain-o tastes really great, try it out and tell me how you like it.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

compressed 11khz audio? Not that big of a storage problem...

the gov. cant listen to everyone all the time as some fools claim.

As much as I really hate to change the subject from Tricki's problemsome phone line...

Gravis, the NSA uses software to sift thru all the audio they record. It's alot more realistic than you think.

call ur service providor and have them run a line test
i use to do this all the time when i was playin on my 56k

TheMeeper Wrote:
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> Gravis, the NSA uses software to sift thru all the
> audio they record.

this was my point, they arent really listening to you. most ISPs do spam filtering which is just software that checks for certain patterns but i dont claim they are reading my email and get all up in a hissy.



RESton Peace Wrote:
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> compressed 11khz audio? Not that big of a storage
> problem...

what about after a month?


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

You guys sound like the manager who asked me to pull a month's worth of data from a SIM.

No concept of how much data it is, or what they're really asking.

All cell phone towers in Fairfax are equipped with radiation shields. Whenever these shields come ungrounded, all transmissions occur accompanied by a detectable hiss.

You should check your room for listening devices, but your phone is probably okay.

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