in following my initial post, i have moved devices, plugged/unplugged phones and am in the process of doing other tricks and tips i have scavenged. one thing i have noticed is that the the line crackle occurs in the evening. a couple ?'s: would my modem/system setup bother the phone line solo? when my system is shut down, i still receive noise over the phone line. this be an inline thing, not associated with my pc, or a combo of factors? this problem just started a couple days ago. finally, is an USB modem worth it, and how in the hell does anyone keep the phone line 3-5 inches away from all other computer/power cables? it seems physically impossible. thanks much, again.

Get your phone company to check the line for noise, and ask them to fix it... Daniel Morcombe... Missing Since December 7th, 2003

This is a post I copied to a folder I have on how to troubleshoot probs. This post deals with phone line probs read on > A little easy trouble-shooting for you. Can you try your computer at someone else's house? If they have a computer, you only need to take your tower, not the monitor and keyboard. Or, can you borrow a different computer to try on your phone line ? Another tip. Pick up your phone and dial 1 then listen. Can you hear a noticeable hum, buzz, or other noise? Yes? You Have a bad line. Now take your phone outside to the box where the phone line connects to your house. Inside that box there should be a phone jack, probably with a little phone cord plugged in. Plug in your phone instead and dial 1 again. If there is still noise then the problem is OUTSIDE your house and the phone company will repair it for free. If the noise is gone then the problem is INSIDE your home and a repairman will cost money. Go back inside and unplug all phones. Now, plug in one phone at a time and dial 1. If only one phone is noisy, remove it and the problem is solved. If you don't hear any noise when dialling 1 indoors then test again by plugging a phone into the same phone jack you use for internet connection and listen for noise. Noise? It's that phone outlet. No noise? It must be either your computer or your ISP. Two years ago we got DSL service. Disconnects and other problems were frequent. Six weeks of calls to Tech Support didn't cure the problem. I finally threw a tantrum and insisted they stop telling us the same old garbage and that they should check THEIR EQUIPMENT. Guess what? They replaced a plug-in board at their central office and all our problems were cured. But we had to literally yell at them to get any results. < Good Luck Nick

Did you fix your problem? I noticed you said the noise occurs in the evening. Lamps with dimmers are notorious for emitting noise. Mainly, a loud buzz. Take a battery powered AM radio and tune it at the low end (530) and walk around your house. Hold the radio near a dimmer or florescent light. You'll be amazed at all the things that cause EMI (electro-magnetic interference).

I also have noise on the phone line whenever DSL is on. I've tried switching filters, phone jacks and the DSL modem to no avail. The phone company wants me to do the test someone described connecting directly to the phone network box outside the house which I will try this evening. The Verizon rep said conencting to the box disconnects service to the house (If I understood her correctly). If so that would seem to eliminate the DSL modem from the mix? The nost likely cause of the problem I understand is when the DSL modem requests the DSLAM from the central office. Won't connecting to the outside box disconnect the DSL connection from my house to the central office? In that case the test will prove nothing