Phones and DSL. Huh? Speak up!

September 1, 2006 6:50 PM

My phones have issues. Should I pay more for a cordless and a regular phone since I have DSL in my home?

My phones sometimes have static on them-- sometimes minor, sometimes so bad I have to hang up. I have DSL and filters on every phone jack in the house. Until now I've bought pretty basic phones from Target, nothing stellar. I don't want cordless only because I live very close to neighbors and can often pick up cordless/cell conversations. I'm also close to a power field and this makes for crappy cell reception, so I don't want to rely on a cell alone (and can't with DSL anyway). I've seen pricier phones at Office Depot and the like, claiming they will not interact with DSL. Is it worth getting these phones instead?

posted by miltoncat to Technology (12 answers total)

Do you already have a cordless phone?

If not, the problem is probably not in your phone but in your lines. Even the cheapest corded phone should be able to get you good clear sound without static.

You don't need special expensive phones not to interfere with DSL. By design, DSL does not interfere with voice service.
posted by kindall at 7:00 PM on September 1, 2006

Your neighbors cannot pickup signals from digital cordless phones (2.4ghz does NOT mean digital, especially on the cheap). The best phones are spread spectrum and should have VERY little interference.

If you want a portable phone (and can take off your tinfoil hat), get one... otherwise get a junky coarded phone.

No phone 'interacts' with DSL. If you have line noise, a new phone might not fix that. Try a better filter.
posted by SirStan at 7:00 PM on September 1, 2006

"By design, DSL does not interfere with voice service."

What on earth do you mean? If this was "by design" they wouldn't send you filters for your lines. DSL service is most certainly in the audible frequency, or atleast a harmonic is.
posted by SirStan at 7:01 PM on September 1, 2006

What on earth do you mean? If this was "by design" they wouldn't send you filters for your lines.

This is part of the design.
posted by kindall at 7:03 PM on September 1, 2006

I think you just need to go to a store with a good return policy and experiment.

I had this problem so I went to Target and got a pair of AT&T cordless phones (where you have two chargers but only one base, so it only uses one phone line). The static problem went away completely, but the buttons quit working.

Took it back, got a similar setup buy Uniden, and we have the static again.

I think trial and error is your best bet here.
posted by 4ster at 7:31 PM on September 1, 2006

I meant to say that it only uses one phone jack, not one phone line.
posted by 4ster at 7:32 PM on September 1, 2006

You can stack more filters on your phone line, if you would like. When I did tech support, we did occasionally have to recommend this option to customers. Now, whether it did any good or not (and I always felt the safety aspect was slightly dubious) I do not know, but it might be worth a try.
posted by angeline at 9:31 PM on September 1, 2006

ADSL filters get rid of the faint high-pitched whistle of the bottom of the ADSL bands. You shouldn't be getting static sounds from ADSL.

Either your line is noisy (new phone no help) or the cordless you are using has poor reception. Our cordless is fine within about 30m, after that it fades into hiss. Does it change when you walk around or get thick walls between you and the phone basestation?

Unless I'm misunderstanding you and you don't have cordless anyway because you're paranoid. In which case, the hissing could be a bad line or just a broken phone. My guess is the former; even with really audibly noisy lines, ADSL can continue to work quite well.
posted by polyglot at 4:00 AM on September 2, 2006

I had static on my lines for years and it took multiple calls to BellSouth for them to find the problem and fix it. Wiring problems can be hard to diagnose; mine showed up mainly when it was raining hard, and the technicians always seemed to come on nice, sunny days, so it was pretty hard for them to find the loose junction or whatever it was. What you describe certainly sounds like a wiring problem more than an interference problem. To make sure, unplug every device you have and see if you get a good signal at the service box (if you ave access to it). Then check the signal at each jack; this need consist of doing nothing more than taking a known good phone and listening for a clear dial tone and/or making a call to a friend with good service who has some time to help you out. Finally, try plugging in additional devices (including the DSL modem) one at a time and noting the signal quality. I had to do this once to find out that a cheap caller ID box was causing bizarre behaviour in my phone lines.
posted by TedW at 6:36 AM on September 2, 2006

Response by poster: Let me clarify...

1. I use both cord and cordless; I have one of each.

2. I get static on BOTH phones.
posted by miltoncat at 7:13 AM on September 2, 2006

I'm with most everyone else -- your problem isn't your phone, it's your phone line, and you need to get your telco to come fix it. The best thing you can do is try to get a sense of the specific conditions under which the static is worse (is it raining? is it always when the air conditioner is on?), and then pass those on to your telco.

Oh, and I second TedW's recommendation: check your phone quality at your actual junction box. (I believe that all phone lines are mandated to have a jack in the box where the telco line meets with your internal home wiring; plug into this jack and see if you still have static.) If you don't, then the problem is in your home wiring, meaning that it's your responsibility to fix the problem. (Well, unless your phone company did that wiring for you AND you have a service agreement for them to maintain it.) If you do still have static while plugged into that jack, then the problem is in the telco's wiring, and they have to come fix it.
posted by delfuego at 11:10 AM on September 2, 2006

Power off your DSL modem. If there is still noise on your phones, the problem is with the analog portion of the line, and your telco should fix it.

If the noise goes away, it could be either filters, DSL modem itself or even the filter in your telco's central office causing the interference.

If you change the filters/splitters, ask your ISP to change the modem out, and still there is noise...your ISP may find it necessary to open a ticket w/ the telco to do further investigation in this regard.
posted by effigy at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2006