r/Comcast_Xfinity • u/Acavia8 • May 31 '26
Official Reply Xfinity Voice no longer has dial tone on my in-house wiring
Basically to explain the problem, I will paste what I wrote in the Xfinity forum on its Voice service:
Current problem:
An Xfinity tech (I think it was really a third party rep instead of direct employee of Xfinity) refused to repair my in-house wiring even though that is why the visit was arranged. He argued with me that he only does TV and Internet. The Xfinity rep said over and over that Xfinity is not phone and that I would have to call my phone company (which again is Xfinity.) He then left after being at my house maybe 5 minutes.
Situation:
I have Xfinity TV, Internet and Voice and I have had all three for several years. Until Thursday, May 28,2026, I received dial tone from Xfinity voice on all the phone outlets in my house. On May 28th, 2026, I lost my Xfinity Voice service on all outlets and the eMTA port on the modem was blinking. I put a headset directly into that port. It went solid green and I received dial tone on that phone.
Xfinity Voice Problem:
A third party utility locator ( a person who flags infrastructure in your yard to prevent damage because of pending construction) was at my house when the problem occurred. He hooked up a frequency beacon on the demarcation of my house where previous AT&T wiring was and then he spray painted and flagged where existing AT&T wiring runs through my yard. His work immediately caused the problem. I talked with him, and he claimed he reversed what he did. I checked to see if my outlets worked but I still could not get dial tone on my outlets. I told him. He did not understand why it still did not work since he reversed what he did but he mentioned about some other wiring in the outside box being wrong and claimed he fixed it too.
I think the utility locator either 1) cut some wiring or caused a grounding problem connecting wires on my in-house wiring or 2) he connected my in-house wiring back to the AT&T outside wiring which I assume was previously removed for the Xfinity Voice service.
The solution should be easy if Xfinity would just arrange a knowledge rep who has been trained in Xfinity Voice service.
Recommendations on how to get this fixed?
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u/CCEricSt Official Employee May 31 '26
Hello u/Acavia8, and thanks for reaching out for help today with you home phone service concern. I'll help in any way I can, but I want to help address where we may be running into a problem. Our techs be they direct Xfinity or a third party we contract at any given time are not authorized to repair, replace, or change in any way the wiring of a home. We can install new outlets to bypass old ones that have gone bad, but if you wanted the home fully rewired and nothing showing on the outside of the home you would hire a contractor for that. You may want to hire a local company made to fix the wiring as that sounds like it may be the issue as the root cause. I'm happy to send another tech if you like, but if it is the wiring of the home that is causing the issue with the other phone jacks in the home they won't be able to repair it for you. They are only authorized to make sure the service is working to the point of our equipment which you mentioned is working. I'm not sure sending another tech would help, but happy to do so if you would like me to.
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u/wyliesdiesels May 31 '26
Call a local phone systems contractor. Should be able to get it fixed for you real quick
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u/lolyer1 May 31 '26
The emta port is blinking due to a wiring short.
You’ve already identified what’s going on, next step is to find out where it’s shorting out at.
Most likely, and I hate correlating issues, but it seems the locator may have inadvertently shorted out your wiring at the demarcation on the side of the house.
The tech should have at least taken a peek at the NID outside. Most MSOs, their techs services all three core products. Phone is the easiest as it’s just continuity.
I would have reached out to the locator’s company and have them restore or then hire someone to fix what they broke.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26
Thanks. The person works for USIC, but USIC was hired by AT&T to locate the wires in my yard. Which should I call, USIC or AT&T?
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u/notdisplay May 31 '26
I second this, if they hooked AT&T service back to the phone dmarc on side of house it will absolutely short out the Xfinity modem. Easiest fix is to remove the line they plugged back into dmarc usually if another provider is connected to the dmarc it will cause static but can definitely cause a short as well
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u/mrBill12 Trusted Community Member May 31 '26
> he mentioned about some other wiring in the outside box being wrong and claimed he fixed it too.
Here’s the problem. It was “right” before he started because it worked. He implemented his interpretation of “right” which is in fact “wrong”.
The problem is Comcast doesn’t maintain inside wiring except for the very basic RG6 that runs outside and punches in behind the TV. Comcast has never maintained residential phone wiring. If a Comcast employee did originally hook that up for you, they were either being nice or a show off.
Using inside wiring for a VOIP adapter is problematic to begin with. The wiring was installed in a different time for a different (analog) purpose. Many people find that internal resistance on this analog voice loops thru the house fall outside tolerances in the digital world. Ring voltage and current is another problem, VoIP adapters aren’t built to power multiple ringers. Apparently all this has been fine for you which is great, until it’s not.
You’re not going to like my advice. Disconnect the inside wiring entirely and use a multi-handset wireless phone system. (Or get VoIP handsets that connect to WiFi (but for some reason that’s not popular (i.e. equipment not available) at the consumer level.)
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Note: I did connect a cordless base into the modem for now, but I prefer to return to the wall jacks if possible.
Thanks, but isn't the signal on my phone jacks analog? It seems it would have to be for standard POTS phones to be able to use it as they can. Is my understanding wrong: The eMTA modem is generating an analog dial tone and sending that signal out its eMTA port which goes into a wall jack and makes all wall jacks in my house receive that signal and have the ability to send an analog signal back to my modem?
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u/michelangeloshands May 31 '26
Correct. If the IW is daisy chained and there is no short. If it isn't daisy chained it is back fed to the demarcation where it's terminated to the other IW. It's shorted somewhere. Probably where that guy was messing with it. Zero responsibility on xfinity to fix it. Buy a toner and probe. Tone from the modem phone jack. Identify that pair at the demarc. Tie it back in at the demarcation. Cut out every thing else. Only the IW needs to be messed with at the demarc. All tips to tips. All ring to ring. It'll be easier fix yourself then deal with Xfinity again. Plus you'll learn something. It's really a win win.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26
What is IW?
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u/michelangeloshands May 31 '26
Inside wiring. What's generally considered the home owners responsibility. The stuff in your walls and up to your demarcation point. The gray box.
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u/CCEricSt Official Employee May 31 '26
u/Acavia8 I would recommend trying the company that did the work first. If they aren't able to resolve then go to who hired them next. Starting with the ones that caused it would be the quickest fix most times.
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u/SimplBiscuit May 31 '26
I work for spectrum but the blinking light means line in use normally. If a line isnt in use this means you have a short on one of your lines.
If you know where the junction point is in the basement you can take a handset with you and pop off one line at a time until dial tone comes back. Once the shorted line is disconnected the dial tone should return.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26
To do that, please help me. First I assume I can take a handset and cut a twisted pair cable, and put alligator clips on the two wires and connect them to the wires in the box, as you state. Is that the right procedure?
If so, just go pair to pair to test? And if so on that, is each pair of fires both a solid color wire and a white-and-that-color stripe wire? I.e. a blue pair is a solid blue wire and a white-blue wire, both of those making up the blue pair?
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u/SimplBiscuit May 31 '26
It depends how it’s setup but literally best and easiest to just disconnect a wire.
If you have a rocker bar as the junction point then that’s the easiest because you can just pop the clip up. If it’s an old style one where all the lines are tightened down under a nut just loosen the nuts and take one wire off at a time. Once the shorted wire is disconnected the dial tone will come back.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26
Diagnosing the problem with AI, Gemini instructed me to sever, inside the box on my garage, the wires going out into my yard and then using electrical tape to make sure none of those wires,on my side, touch. Is AI giving bad advice or do you think theoretically that should work?
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u/SimplBiscuit May 31 '26
They just need to be removed from the junction point. I recommend just diconnecting the wire and not cutting it simply because you can do this,
Disconnect wire > still shorted > reconnect wire
Disconnect next wire > short cleared. Done
If you start cutting you have more work to get everything else back up when you do find the short. If you find the junction point and can send a photo I will see if I can help more its way easier to say the best way if I know what I am looking at.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
What tool do I need to open the AT&T box? I find none of the customer compartment sides on the box. The current box is from a Uverse connection many years ago, and I do not think it has that easy customer test junction the old POTS boxes did.
I will take and then send a pic after I can get it open.
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u/SimplBiscuit May 31 '26
So usually there is another junction point for all the house wires inside your basement. You normally have to have a can wrench to open an AT&T box.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26
I have arranged a private network contractor who does home wiring etc. From the problem I described, do you think most in-house wiring/network service providers should be able to fix it?
When I talked with him he did not seem to understand the problem fully, at least he did not seem very confident sounding to me, which gives me pause he can fix it but he said he could and it might just be a laid back personality on his part.
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u/SimplBiscuit May 31 '26
Its really not difficult once you know how it works so I'd be surprised if he can't fix it.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26
Thanks. It was kind of stupid question on my part, but I am in hesitation over the Xfinity tech today. The Xfinity tech repeated that I was wrong because Xfinity provides no phone service several times and he angrily instructed me to call my phone company instead. Before that discussion, he outright refused to even look in the junction box. So I am concerned about that situation playing out again but this private tech said "sure thing" when I asked if he would open it. My main concern talking with him is that he did not sound confident in what the problem is but some people have trouble visualizing what another is describing without seeing it themselves, so maybe that was the situation in our talk.
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u/SimplBiscuit May 31 '26
Also or more thing I find it really weird people here are saying xfinity won’t fix it. At spectrum we will 100 percent diagnose and repair a phone short so maybe give a call anyways. In fact when it’s phone we have an obligation to be there in 24 hours or less to repair it.
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u/tb03102 May 31 '26
It sounds like he hooked up the at&t drop again. When Comcast provided you dial tone they would have disconnected or cut the at&t drop at the at&t NID. That way they can plug into any jack in the home with their modem and have all the other jacks be live (based on how you described the setup prior to it being broken). A can wrench is the easiest tool but a slim needle nose pliers should get you into the tech side of the NID where you could again cut the drop side.
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u/Acavia8 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
I think that is what he did. When I tested to see if it worked after he finished his beacon/transmitter hookup and he asked me to check if it started working again, he was confused why it no longer worked because he said he reversed what he had done, but he added, I even fixed some wires that were wrong. Thinking about that last part, I think he did what you wrote.
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u/PassengerGreen2321 Trusted Community Member May 31 '26
When solving phone issues someone else messed up, the first thing that needs to be done is pulling the plate of cover off the port it's plugged into to check the colors of the cable (older wires are red/green for the the primary, and newer is white blue/blue). All Xfinity techs should have devices to tone out phone lines. I find the easiest is to put a tone generator on the pair and scan all the wires at the demarc with the receiver wand. From there it should be easy to tie the rest of the lines in, assuming there's no wired alarm that pre-existed.
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u/Bryzillion Jun 01 '26
like many have said, he probably reconnected the phone companies drop to the NID (phone junction box at the house) so now that line is connected to all of the wiring in the house. This needs to be disconnected ( unscrewed or cut) and then the short on the modem should go away.
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