Low volume on home phone - unable to hear caller

[Grandpa_Don]

Our home phone line frequently has low volume,  leaving us unable to understand the caller or the person we called. Technical support claims that volume is not a Bell issue.  Is anyone else having this issue?

[dks · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your question. Is this a wired or cordless phone? Do you have another receiver you can use to test your phone line? If you have a cordless phone, how old is the battery? It may need to be replaced. Without more detail that is about all that comes to my mind.

[WelshTerrier · Accepted solution]

Good Day.

Does your home phone line experience low volume on all calls or on certain calls to a specific number? If it is specific number that you are calling or receiving calls from, the low volume could be caused by the other telephone line or equipment.

Do you have more than one telephone? Are you using a cord or cordless phone? Have you checked your equipment? E.g. Damaged phones, loose connections, worn cords or faulty jacks can cause hearing & reception problems.

If you are experiencing low volume on all calls, here are a few items to check that may be of assistance to you:

1. Try turning up the volume on your phone, or if the caller is having trouble hearing you, suggest they do the same.
   
2. If you have a cordless phone, try changing the batteries in the handset. Have you checked your user manual? E.g. Panasonic cordless phones have a couple of features that may improve call clarity. E.g. Boost & Equalizer. Both of these features can be turned on or off & can be adjusted as required in the Menu settings.
   
3. Do you use a speakerphone on your handset or base unit? Any squealing, interference or background interference coming through?
4. If the problem only seems to happen on one phone, try plugging a different phone into that same jack. Then make another call. If you can hear okay, you know the problem was with the phone. If you still can't hear, there could be a problem with that jack.
   
5. How many devices do you have plugged into your phone jacks? Each line has a maximum load capacity. Unplug all your equipment and then plug in each device one by one, testing your calls after each. When the problem starts again, you've reached the full equipment capacity for that line.
   
6. Are you on copper or fibre? Were any Internet DSL filters left in place from years ago? These can cause hearing problems if left in place & not needed
7. Check for a clear dial tone on all jacks. If the dial tone on one or more of the jacks is faint, unclear or intermittent, you probably have an inside wiring problem.
8. You can arrange for a tech visit. There would be a charge if the problem is found to be in your wiring & telephone equipment.

Take care.

[Grandpa_Don]

There are 3 battery phones, each fully charged nightly, all at full volume.  The batteries are not the problem. 

The issue is intermittent.  There has been no need to adjust anything,  and every available setting seems to be correct. 

We have speaker phone capability but don't use it. No audio feedback,  but occasional intermittent voice, like a loose wire would cause.

We have 3 phones in the set, but only one is plugged into a jack, the master. Panasonic. 

We tried unplugging everything when fibe was first installed.  One older Vtec set was an issue so we got rid of it. The current problem came on suddenly. 

We never had DSL filters. 

I will try moving the master base to a different jack, but right now it is using one adjacent to the fibe modem. Since the problem is intermittent,  it may take a week or 2 to see is there is a difference. 

[Grandpa_Don]

Ah! We do have a wired phone, an old Vista 100.  I've plugged it in, it works. I will pick it up when we notice a problem.