Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!netsys!vector!nobody From: wendyt@pyrps5.pyramid.com (Wendy Thrash) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Answering maching vs. wiring Message-ID: Date: 12 Oct 88 00:29:50 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 22 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 161, message 5 X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu (TELECOM Digest Coordinator) X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) I'm the formerly happy owner of a Panasonic answering machine similar to one described in a recent article here. A week ago I moved to San Francisco. My phone line is the third one in the apartment, and the wires were apparently run by a friend of my roommates rather than by Pac Bell. My phone works OK in the new apartment, but my answering machine will not work; it answers the phone, jiggles its tapes a couple of times, and hangs up. I think the machine believes that another extension has been taken off hook, and courteously relinquishes the line. This would be a feature if, in fact, another extension had been taken off hook, but there is no other extension on the line. My answering machine works fine on my roommates' lines. Their answering machines work on my line. Short of trading machines or lines with one of my roommates, what can I do? Is my off-hook guess plausible? If so, how does the machine decide that another extension is off-hook; is there a possible wiring error that could confuse it? Is this a problem I'm likely to be able to fix (with some guidance from someone on this list)? Is it a problem the phone company is likely to be able to fix? (or willing, since they aren't doing interior wiring)? Thanks for any information/advice.