what tester do you have?

if it is a fox and hound, the tone generator has 2 clip leads and a RJ-11 plug on it. plug that in the in jack and if the green light comes on the jack is good. if not, flip the switch to tone and using the hound see if you get tone at the next jack.

you can remove the red/green wires from teh back of a jack and twist them together. then at another jack plug in the fox and flip the switch to continuity. if it reads good, then the wiring is good from the point you shorted, to the current jack. you then check the next jack the same way.

have you tried replacing the jack that is not working, or at least pulling it and checking the connecitons? red to red, green to green. if your wall wiring is blue/white, orange/white, then the white with blue stripe goes to red, blue with white stripe goes to green. this is assuming tha tyou only have 1 phone line and it is internally wired using standard colors.

also check for the NID. this is the point where the telco line enters your home. in an apartment there is usually a box in a closet somewhere. you open this and on one side is the telco wires, the other has your internal wiring. if you have a home run setup, each jack wires all the way back to the NID. in a series setup the wire goes fromt eh NID to the first jack, then on to the second and finally to the third. neither configuration is difficult to troubleshoot.

"have you tried replacing the jack that is not working, or at least pulling it and checking the connecitons? red to red, green to green. if your wall wiring is blue/white, orange/white, then the white with blue stripe goes to red, blue with white stripe goes to green. this is assuming tha tyou only have 1 phone line and it is internally wired using standard colors."

That should be blue/white stripe to red, white/blue stripe to green.

oops, did write that backwards.

of course with any phones made since the late 80's/early 90's it does not matter. but if you have a good old phone with a real ringer then it does.

OK, guess we can do this here then.
I have 3 original jacks in my condo. 3 pairs coming into my unit, but only 2 pairs that are terminated in the utility room. There is only one wire coming into each jack, so I assume this means there is a secondary termination block somewhere. Making things a bit more difficult is that I have no attic to be able to access things from above.

I replaced all 3 jacks once I moved in and I do believe I tested all 3 and they all worked. However, since I only used one jack, that didn't really matter. I previously had service through AT&T and just recently switched to Comcast's Digital Voice service, which is essentially voip. I want to be able to use more than one jack and to do so, I need to take the output of the modem and go into this one jack in the living room that is not working.

I have checked the connections at all jacks and they are all fine. I also switched the jacks and there is nothing wrong with any of them, it is this one line in the living room having a problem.

I have tried switching pairs on all the jacks and that didn't work. Also, when I have the telephone output of the modem connected to this one line that doesn't work and plug the tester into another jack, the tester is picking up voltage. So, I would assume this means there isn't a break in this bad line, but some other problem.

The tester I have is a Test-Um Resi-Tester TP300 which I have linked on the bottom. The brief instruction manual is linked on that page as well. It doesn't explain much and I'm not sure what types of tests to run or what the results of the tests tell me. I thought i'd be able to fine generic guidelines for running tests somewhere online, but I haven't been able to find anything.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: TP300

Lets see if I can provide any help.

The telephone company will provide 1 pair of wires for each telephone number that you have. As described above, most likely your telephone service is on the white/blue pair of wires. The fact that the phone company provides 2 or 3 pairs is just for supporting additional phone numbers if you purchase them.

In many houses/condos, multiple jacks are daisy-chained, meaning the wires run from one jack to the next. They're all connected in parallel, but with a cable that runs from one to another instead of all going back to the utility room (we would call that "home runs").

Also as mentioned above, lots of household telephone wiring uses a different color code scheme, so the green and red wires are considered the "first pair".

So if the phone works at one jack, but not all of them, then you need to determine how the wires are run. Open up all of the jacks, including the one that's working, and check all of the connections. Each jack (except the last one) should have a cable in and a cable out. The last jack will only have a cable in. Inside each cable will likely be 4 wires. Make sure the red wire from both cables are connected together, and also to the jack. The green wires should be connected in a similar fashion.

Cable modems are a different topic, and I'd take that to www.dslreports.com.

Thanks for the info kurto, but maybe you didn't completely read my last post (yep, I know its kind of long). Or, maybe I didn't explain things properly.

At all three jacks, I only have a line in. Also, there is only one line that runs down to the utility room. Thats why I said above that I thought this indicates that there is a secondary termination block somewhere. One that runs the one line down the utility room and then branches off into three lines to supply the three jacks. I'm only guessing on this one. So, I know where this line ends at the jack, but I have no idea where it begins. Besides, I probably can't gain access to it because I don't have an attic.
As well, the connections to all the jacks, including the one that doesn't work are good. Also, all the jacks have been tested and are in good working order. This seems to only leave a problem with this one line that goes from this one jack in the living room to who knows where.
If the directions that came with this tester/toner were a little more explanatory, I could figure out how to test the line and what the results tell me. But its not and I can't. Can't find anything anywhere online either.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again!!! :)

ok, i have a similar tester. you plug the main unit into a working phone jack. then you go to the next jack to test and plug in the little remote unit. run the test mode and it will tell you if the wires are open or good. fairly simple to use. if you ONLY have 2 wires hooked up at each jack, then only pins 3 and 4 will read good.

make sure that at all jacks the incoming wires are connected to the red/green pair. if the non-working jack is wired for the yellow/black pair, then it works but on the wrong "line" position.

if you have 1 line coming from teh demarc, and only 1 line at each jack, then yes there likely is a secondary termination point. it could be a punch block, or it could simply be a splice point in the wall or one of the boxes.

since this is a condo/apartment, the building manager should be able to tell you how the wires run. replacing telco wiring is not too hard usually. if the wire is bad, you simply tape on a new piece and use the old wire to pull it back to the connection point. telco wires are not usually stapled in the walls, but if they are you may just have to fish it.

You said 2 terminated in the Util room, I assume you have one line coming into the Util room and 2 lines to leaving. Is this correct?

Have you looked outside for a external demarcation box?

Thanks davidnadkassie. I can now start playing with that tester.
Chris8796, by 2, I was referring to 2 pairs that are terminated in the utility room. Looks like thats just about the same for all eight units in the building. There is no obvious external demarcation box in the usual places like on the side of the wall next to the gas and electrical meters. Unless there is something hidden on the roof or another spot, all I have to work with is the one termination in the utility room.
Unfortunately, I had my walls open a few weeks ago when I had some electrical work done. However, at the time, I just assumed that this one incoming line worked and didn't think to test it. I'm not going to make any more holes in the walls to try and make this work.
I also spoke to a couple of members on the Board, and it appears that no one knows what happens between where the telephone lines terminate in the utility room and where they come out of the walls at the jacks. They're also unable to obtain the original plans from the City. This is something they've been trying to do for a while and apparently, the City has 'lost' the plans.
I'll start playing with this tester and see if I can figure anything out.
Thanks!!! :)

So, I did some playing around with my new-found testing ability. It appears that the first primary line is fine in the two jacks that work and is open in the third non-working jack. However, the secondary and tertiary lines in all three jacks are open. I assume this means that only the the primaty line is terminated on the two good jacks and the non-working jack is either not terminated or broken somewhere in between. Which means, if I am going to get much further with this, I have to figure out where that secondary termination spot is. Can anyone confirm if I am atleast headed in the correct direction here?

One thing I don't understand though, is when I had the telephone output of the modem connected to this one jack that doesn't work and the tester was connected to another jack, the tester detected voltage. As soon as I disconnected the modem, the voltage warning disappered on the tester. So, this must mean that that non-working jack is somehow terminated somewhere. Anyone have any ideas of where to go with this?

Thanks again!!!

So, I did some playing around with my new-found testing ability. It appears that the first primary line is fine in the two jacks that work and is open in the third non-working jack. However, the secondary and tertiary lines in all three jacks are open. I assume this means that only the the primaty line is terminated on the two good jacks and the non-working jack is either not terminated or broken somewhere in between. Which means, if I am going to get much further with this, I have to figure out where that secondary termination spot is. Can anyone confirm if I am atleast headed in the correct direction here?

One thing I don't understand though, is when I had the telephone output of the modem connected to this one jack that doesn't work and the tester was connected to another jack, the tester detected voltage. As soon as I disconnected the modem, the voltage warning disappered on the tester. So, this must mean that that non-working jack is somehow terminated somewhere. Anyone have any ideas of where to go with this?

Thanks again!!!

did the tester find ANY wires good to the 3 rd jack? if you had voltage from the modem, then something is connected. maybe the wrong pair, but something.

if you internal wiring has 4 pairs in each cable, hook the orange/white pair (or yellow/black) to the red/green of the 2nd working jack but leave the other blue white hooked up as well. at the 3rd, nonworking jack, disconnect the blue/white pair from the jack and hook up the orange white. if the jack now works, you just had a bad pair. most likely a high open, the wires only breakdown under load.

If I'm using the tester correctly and reading the results correctly, all 3 pairs at the 3rd jack are open. The primary pair is good on jacks 1 and 2.

I'll try what you suggest about changing the pairs around davidandkasie and see what happens.

Thanks!!!

OK, I got it working, thanks to davidandkassie for leading me in the right direction.
Theres something going which I don't understand. If I connect the primary (blue) pairs to all three jacks, jacks one and two work but not three. If I connect the secondary (orange) pairs to all three jacks, none of them work. If I connect the primary AND secondary pairs at jacks one and two and the secondary pairs at jack three, they all work. Thats what I did and it works for me so I'm going to leave it alone.
Thanks again everyone that helped with this. Now I can put my living room together and put away the 50' phone cord that I've been running back and forth between my modem and different jacks for the past two weeks!!! :)

the blue/white pair is bad going to jack 3. not an uncommon thing. sometimes when installed they are put too close to points that will settle. when the building settles, it cuts the wire and breaks one or two of them. or it just got pulled on too hard and broke. any number of things when dealing with 22-26 guage wire.

glad you got it going! i would make sure tha tat the primary conneciton point the orange/white wires are NOT hooked up. this will prevent future problems if you ever hook up a second line.