ACM Communications

HELP SECTION This page is a work in progress, please check back frequently…….

 How to do your own troubleshooting. Use these suggestions at your own risk, if in doubt call ACM Communications or a local telecommunications professional. ACM Communications assumes absolutely NO liability of ANY type for problems caused by the suggestions below. If you have any questions about your phone(s) do not hesitate to call qualified help. Damage caused to your phones, wiring, phone company equipment, loss of income, personal or financial hardship or any other legal mumbo jumbo is your own fault and you assume all personal liability if you don't understand what you are doing. This information is provided free of charge and you assume all responsibility for your own actions.

Scroll down till you find the closest description of the problem or need you have, use caution if you do not find the exact problem you are experiencing. Do not touch the bare copper phone wires as you could receive a shock at anytime without warning. Use protective insulated gloves and common sense to help reduce the chance of shock.

Broadcast Questions

Telecom Questions

 Static on your Home Phone

Really loud static

Phone doesn't ring

Check your forwarding?

Office Phones - Static

 Common Problems and their solutions, Transmitter systems, and getting a signal into and out a difficult or remote location, and why you can't always hear your favorite radio station…… (coming soon)

Static on one phone in your home - Check the handset cable as well as the cable to the wall jack. Try a different phone or cable at that same location, if it works the problem is the phone or cable if not, your wiring and/or the phone jack itself may need to be repaired or replaced. Carefully inspect the jack and the cable look for cuts, moisture, black or green mildew on the connectors. If you don't find it call a licensed, qualified professional to fix the problem for you.

Static on every phone in your home - Is it or has it rained outside in the last week. If it has, then it could be the local phone companies problem, or you could have some wires/jacks getting wet. Do you have any outside phone jacks? If they were not properly installed that could be your problem. Disconnect your inside wiring from the phone company at the protector outside. Now connect a phone directly to the phone companies test jack. If the static is gone the problem is in your home, if the static is still there call your local telephone company.

Really loud static on one phone - Do you have a cordless phone? Unplug it, and try another phone in that jack. If you still have noise, have the wiring serviced.

Really loud static on every phone - Do you have a cordless phone, or a modem? Unplug it. If the problem goes away, repair or replace the phone you just unplugged, if not look for other cordless phones that may still be connected. Next step unplug all phones in the house. Try one phone in several jacks if the problem is still there, go outside to your telephone protector and unplug all inside house phone wires and plug a phone in there, if the problem still exists call the local phone company if not. Do you have an alarm? Call a professional for service

Phone rings only half a ring or only once and no one is there just dial tone or static. Either you phone jack(s) got wet. Have you had your carpets cleaned recently, or you have call forwarding and forgot to turn it off.

Static on one phone in your office - Try a different phone if the problem goes away have that phone repaired or replaced. You can also try replacing just the handset, coilcord, or wall cord. If every phone plugged into that jack has static see the section above titled "static on one phone line in your home" and try that, or have the wiring/jacks serviced.

Static on some phones in your office but not all - Have the carpets in those rooms been cleaned within the last 3 months? Has there been any carpet laying or construction anywhere in the office? Are all those phones connected to the same section of your office phone system or are the intercom/extension numbers all within one or two numbers of each other? You may need to have the system service or have the control card for that group of phones serviced. Talk to anyone that was working near the area for unusual events, chairs snagged on wires, etc.

Static on every phone in your office (check detailed questions below)

Static one phone line button in your office that shows up on every phone - That phone line may have problems, make sure it is properly connected to your phone system. Call it, if it only rings once and then you get either a busy signal or get disconnected, it is probably a phone company problem or a phone jack in the building has gotten wet.

Static every phone line button in your office on one phone - see static on one phone in your office.

Static on every phone line button in your office on every phone - If there is static on the intercom line you are having a phone system failure, call your vendor quick. If the problem is only on outside phone lines, or only on some outside lines you may have a line card going out in your phone system or the phone company could be having a major problem. You will know the phone company is having a major problem if you call repair service and are told it will be a long wait before someone can talk to you.

Only some phones and some phones work in the office - Depending on the type of phone system you have and how it was installed. Some phone systems will switch lines and phones around during a failure or loss of power so you can at least call for help even though not everything is working. Make sure the system didn't get unplugged, or see next item.

Phones stop working when the power goes out - Call ACM Communications to have a backup power source installed to keep your phones running during a power outage. Talk to us if you absolutely can not be without phone service EVER for ideas and suggestion on preventing failures. Charges will apply for this service.

Fax Machine Problems - Do you hear fax sounds on your regular phone lines whenever your fax machine is in use? Poor quality wiring, crossed wires, or older wiring in your home or office is usually the cause. A seperate medium to high quality wire run to the machine will stop the problem and speed up sending and receiving of faxes which will actually lower your phone bill.

Modem Problems, and how to speed up your connection speed - Do you have a 56k modem but are luck if you can connect at 33.6 or slower? Do you get disconnected frequently. The most common causes are either incorrect setup of your modem (ask you computer vendor to solve this one) or phone line related. Fixes can be as simple as unplugging phones that do not need to be on the same line to as complex as a new phone line with high quality wiring run directly to the modem. The fewer phones/jacks on the same line as your computer, and the better the wiring, the faster your modem will connect and web pages will load. Note: Sometimes the problem may be in the local phone company wiring, that can be tested, but you may be stuck if they don't want to fix a phone line that works great for voice calls but not for modem connections.

Weather and Storm related problems. How to make sure your phone keeps working. See Phones stop working when the power goes out above or have a backup power supply (UPS, Battery Backup, Backup Generator) or have one or more phones connected that do not need utility power to operate.

 Additional ways to keep your phones ringing should a crisis happen - What would happen if you were no longer able to answer the phones in your office due to a fire, flood, earthquake, terrorist act, or someone dug up the phone lines to your office with a backhoe. Order remote call forwarding or busy/no answer transfer forwarding to send your calls to a cell phone or other location if the phones stop ringing at your location. Note this only works if you order this before the problem starts and the problem is not drastically worse. Be sure to talk to a Telecommunications professional to make sure that you order the proper services as done incorrectly you will lose more calls during a normal business day then you will save during a disaster.

Call a consultant at ACM Communications for detailed answers to these and other questions at 530-477-0880. Our offices are open Monday through Thursday from 7am till 4pm and Fridays by appointment.

 Email | Contact Us | Rates & Service Areas | Home Page (Additional Help sections coming soon)