Noise on the phone line

[spensib]

Ever since I had DirectTV installed a few months ago I noticed there is noise on my phone line. A buzzing sound. I have 5 receives which are all connected to the phone line. I disconnected all of the receivers from the phone and there is still some noise. I took apart my phone jacks and checked the wiring. I did just about everything. Even called the phone company and they said it was an inside wiring issue.

Any body having this problem and is there a way to correct it? Thanks….

 

[jimisham]

I can tell you from personal experience that it's going to be difficult to convince the telephone company that the problem is anything else but an "inside wiring issue". Especially if it's SBC.
It sounds like you have either a ground on on side of the line or an unbalanced cable pair. If it's a ground, the problem could be inside the house. If it's an unbalanced cable pair, it's most likely the telephone company's problem.
You may have what is called a NID (Network Interface Device) on the outside of your house. If you open it up, you will see what looks like a regular telephone jack. The purpose of the NID is to determine if a problem is inside the house or outside.
Plug one of your telephones into it and dial a digit. The dial tone will stop and you'll be able to tell if the buzz is still there.
If it is, call the telephone company again. If it's gone, then the problem is inside the house.

 

[spensib]

Thanks. I did that already with the phone guy at the NID. The problem is inside. Is there a way I can isolate which inside wires are causing the problem. Is there a tool/meter I can use. I have lots of phone jacks.

 

[jimisham]

From the NID, there should be a separate run to each telephone jack.
If you can plug a telephone into the NID jack, I would try this. Making note of where the wires are connected in the NID, I'd try lifting them all from the terminals and then hooking them back up, one pair at a time, until the noise shows up. That will be the run causing the problem. I'd leave that loose and check all the jacks and determine which one is on trouble. I'd try to trace it out unless it's in the wall. Then I'd go to Radio Shack and buy a new jack to replace the one in trouble.
The wires you'd want to unhook are the red and green ones.
It's possible that one run can split off into two or more jacks. It just depends on what kind of a job was done when the original wires were run. Try tracing each run if possible and see if there's any damage.