How to Find a Short in a Phone Line
By Neal Litherland
When your phone line shorts out, it can be a major inconvenience. Fortunately there are some steps you can take to identify the location of the short. However, if you have minimal experience with electronics, it might not be safe for you to diagnose individual lines or to replace shorts in the electrical system yourself.
Plug in a different telephone, preferably a telephone with a cord, to make sure that the short isn't just your original phone. The use of a corded telephone may also reset some systems and eliminate the problem.
Plug the telephone into other phone jacks in your house to see if the short is in just the phone jack you were using. If the problem persists then you can be assured it's beyond the single connection.
Locate the exterior test box where the line from the telephone connects to your house. Unplug the jack from the exterior line and plug it into your phone. Try to make a call from your phone. If the phone works, then the problem is inside your house. If not then the problem is external and the phone company will need to fix it.
References
Tips
- If you have access to a line tester, you can plug it up to your telephone and it will run a test on your line to see where any potential shorts are coming from. The testers will check the phone itself, the connection and the lines in your home and tell you the rough location of the short.
Writer Bio
Neal Litherland is an author, blogger and occasional ghostwriter. His experience includes comics, role playing games and a variety of other projects as well. He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Indiana University, and resides in Northwest Indiana.