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Honored Contributor
Posts: 10,892
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

@glb613 You are right so that means if I lose my internet I lose my phone. 

@hckynut I have a vtech 6. 

 

I did the modem and the background noise disappeared  at least for now. If it comes back, I'll call Comcast but I don't enjoy calling them.

 

Thanks everyone.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,823
Registered: ‎03-21-2010

@glb613 wrote:

@occasionalrain wrote:

Yesterday and today my land line phone has what sounds like a dial tone during calls. The person on the other end doesn't hear it. It get louder when I speak. I have two phones and it happens with both phones. Do you suppose it's something wrong with the phones, some interference in the neighborhood, or could it be Comcast? My tablet, computer, and tv is unaffected.


If Comcast is providing you phone service, you don't have a landline.  You have a landline if it goes through the telephone wires supplied by companies like AT&T.  You have an internet phone service with allows you to use your Cordless phones. 


@glb613  ..... I m so glad you wrote this .... I was sitting here scratching my head thinking my understanding of a “land line” was incorrect but, you verified what I know to be true .... in order for anyone to have a “land line” you have to have service on that phone through a telephone company like AT&T or Verizon & NOT a cable company like Comcast or Spectrum etc,. 

Hopefully, this sets everyone straight who thought they have land lines & they don’t.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,442
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Land Line Issue

[ Edited ]

@LilacTree wrote:

@glb613 

I don’t think so.  This phone is a Panasonic phone (John, my brother worked for Panasonic for 36 years)@hckynut. So you are probably right that it’s the brand causing the problem. I never thought to ask him!

 

@glb613 The phone has a deskset and a coiled wire from the handpiece attached to the deskset.  It is not a cordless phone. I can’t walk around with it. It sits on the deskset next to my bed.


If Comcast provides a modem and your phone service, you DON'T have a landline. 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,442
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Land Line Issue

[ Edited ]

@January121 wrote:

@glb613 wrote:

@occasionalrain wrote:

Yesterday and today my land line phone has what sounds like a dial tone during calls. The person on the other end doesn't hear it. It get louder when I speak. I have two phones and it happens with both phones. Do you suppose it's something wrong with the phones, some interference in the neighborhood, or could it be Comcast? My tablet, computer, and tv is unaffected.


If Comcast is providing you phone service, you don't have a landline.  You have a landline if it goes through the telephone wires supplied by companies like AT&T.  You have an internet phone service with allows you to use your Cordless phones. 


@glb613  ..... I m so glad you wrote this .... I was sitting here scratching my head thinking my understanding of a “land line” was incorrect but, you verified what I know to be true .... in order for anyone to have a “land line” you have to have service on that phone through a telephone company like AT&T or Verizon & NOT a cable company like Comcast or Spectrum etc,. 

Hopefully, this sets everyone straight who thought they have land lines & they don’t.


They don't but try and explain.  They have a regular handset or telephone and think it's a landline.  It isn't.  Their phone is using an internet service to make and receives calls.  If the internet is down, so is their phone service.  With a true landline, that doesn't happen. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 19,486
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

@January121 wrote:

@glb613 wrote:

@occasionalrain wrote:

Yesterday and today my land line phone has what sounds like a dial tone during calls. The person on the other end doesn't hear it. It get louder when I speak. I have two phones and it happens with both phones. Do you suppose it's something wrong with the phones, some interference in the neighborhood, or could it be Comcast? My tablet, computer, and tv is unaffected.


If Comcast is providing you phone service, you don't have a landline.  You have a landline if it goes through the telephone wires supplied by companies like AT&T.  You have an internet phone service with allows you to use your Cordless phones. 


@glb613  ..... I m so glad you wrote this .... I was sitting here scratching my head thinking my understanding of a “land line” was incorrect but, you verified what I know to be true .... in order for anyone to have a “land line” you have to have service on that phone through a telephone company like AT&T or Verizon & NOT a cable company like Comcast or Spectrum etc,. 

Hopefully, this sets everyone straight who thought they have land lines & they don’t.


@January121 

 

I thought the same thing and was thoroughly confused!  My landline has nothing to do with my internet.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 35,600
Registered: ‎05-22-2016

Re: Land Line Issue

[ Edited ]

@occasionalrain wrote:

Yesterday and today my land line phone has what sounds like a dial tone during calls. The person on the other end doesn't hear it. It get louder when I speak. I have two phones and it happens with both phones. Do you suppose it's something wrong with the phones, some interference in the neighborhood, or could it be Comcast? My tablet, computer, and tv is unaffected.


 

 

 

What you are hearing might be what is referred to as 'DTMF talk off'. Simply put, it has something to do with the electronic tones being communicated between devices and the communication centers (phone company 'switch boards'). It is most likely not your phone but an inherent problem with the electronic tone language and voice interpretation of that. When you speak into a phone, your voice is electronically interpreted so that it can be delivered through the network and onward to the receiving end. What the listener on the other end hears is not your actual voice but an electronic interpretation of it. So sometimes this network of tone interpretation gets messed up and delivers the wrong tones, dial tones can be one of them.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,737
Registered: ‎06-06-2012

Re: Land Line Issue

[ Edited ]

@glb613 wrote:

@LilacTree wrote:

@glb613 

I don’t think so.  This phone is a Panasonic phone (John, my brother worked for Panasonic for 36 years)@hckynut. So you are probably right that it’s the brand causing the problem. I never thought to ask him!

 

@glb613 The phone has a deskset and a coiled wire from the handpiece attached to the deskset.  It is not a cordless phone. I can’t walk around with it. It sits on the deskset next to my bed.


If Comcast provides a modem and your phone service, you DON'T have a landline. 


@glb613 you are correct. Comcast provides VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). It is NOT a landline. Comcast calls it Xfinity Voice.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,913
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Land Line Issue

[ Edited ]

 

I made the copper wires that were used for only telephone communication. These still exists in my home, and most others, at least those built prior to the 1990's. There was no internet/VOIP/WiFi or even Fiber Optics at that time. Heck my job at Western Electric wasn't even manufacturing Fiber Optics until the later part of the 1980's!

 

There seems to be a lot of confusion over what method one's land line phone connects to their 2nd party. Just because a phone looks like a regular telephone does not mean it's connections are via any type of cable, not in this era of telecommunication.

 

Sure, my DSL connection is not via a satellite or other type of beaming device. My DSL operates strictly off of the copper insulated(24 gauge) wires I made for over 25 years for WE and later, AT&T. If my phone line is down, were it run through the exact copper wires as my DSL? My Internet would also be down.

 

However, when the phone tech came to install my DSL I asked him to wire it directly from a different pair of copper wires, from the power box to my home, thus making it independent/faster and not reliant on my telephone pair of copper wires. Should my DSL be down, my true land line, will still be fully functional.

 

Electronics can be very confusing even for those that have above the basic knowledge of it's many differences. Land Line, by my definition, means it has a direct connection to ones home via some type of cable.

 

 

 

hckynut

 

 

hckynut(john)
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,823
Registered: ‎03-21-2010

@geezerette wrote:

@January121 wrote:

@glb613 wrote:

@occasionalrain wrote:

Yesterday and today my land line phone has what sounds like a dial tone during calls. The person on the other end doesn't hear it. It get louder when I speak. I have two phones and it happens with both phones. Do you suppose it's something wrong with the phones, some interference in the neighborhood, or could it be Comcast? My tablet, computer, and tv is unaffected.


If Comcast is providing you phone service, you don't have a landline.  You have a landline if it goes through the telephone wires supplied by companies like AT&T.  You have an internet phone service with allows you to use your Cordless phones. 


@glb613  ..... I m so glad you wrote this .... I was sitting here scratching my head thinking my understanding of a “land line” was incorrect but, you verified what I know to be true .... in order for anyone to have a “land line” you have to have service on that phone through a telephone company like AT&T or Verizon & NOT a cable company like Comcast or Spectrum etc,. 

Hopefully, this sets everyone straight who thought they have land lines & they don’t.


@January121 

 

I thought the same thing and was thoroughly confused!  My landline has nothing to do with my internet.

 

@geezerette  correct .... the land line is completely separate from the internet .... if you have a land line you get a bill for the land line from the telephone provider  & a separate bill from your internet provider for your cable & internet.