The Mysterious Problem Of The Missing Dial Tone

Nov 5, 2008 at 6:20 PM
5 comments

Old British telephones, originally uploaded by givepeasachance.

I have been trying to swap our old wireless DECT land line phone for a newer model. Easy I thought, just plug it in. Unfortunately that didn't work, the new phone had no dial tone, the old one did.

I gave up.

I came back and tried a few other things: changed the dialling mode, did resets, tried the master socket etc. Still no joy.

Eventually hidden in the depths of the manufacturers website I found a knowledge base and this tip:

Check that you have connected your phone using the supplied line cable and not the one from any previous phone (they are often differently wired).

So I changed the connecting cable from the one that came with the old phone, to the one that came with the new phone, and it worked. That'g logic for you, what possible reason could there be to wire up the cables differently apart from to confuse people?

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Marketing.....marketing and money making........

There are no need for car engines to be so inaccessible under the bonnet for maintainance and repair, but they are.....for what reason? So they can ensure there is a large chance you will go to the dealer to get things sorted, thereby spending a fortune again...........the principle is pretty much the same. No need, but hey, why not if there is a few more quid in it?

Don't you remember I had exactly the same problem when we bought our new wireless phones.!! I did the same as you and tried to use the old cable with the same result.

Yeah, but every phone has a wire included, so it doesn't gain anyone. It's just stupid.

Hi James. I haven't read your blog or anything for a ridiculously yonky interlude but I happen to know this one. It's because of a historical lack of international standards. When I worked in Ireland we would occasionally have this problem with modems not working because people had a US/EU/Japan(I think) phone cable bundled with their UK computer or maybe it was because it was a actual American US Robotics modem rather than a UK one and we would just send them the other cable and all was well. I think it's a straight bananas issue and unfortunately we've caught up with the rest of the world rather than them doing the sensible thing. So the real answer is economy of scale - it's easier to send another cable than produce two versions of something.
Well, that's my small victory for the month. Thanks for staying awake.

I see. Easy == stupid.

The Mysterious Problem Of The Missing Dial Tone

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