Modem never hangs up when phone line is plugged in?

[Kimber]

Hi all-

Just moved to a new place and am experiencing an odd problem with my phone
line/modem. When I plug the modem into the wall line and then plug my
phone into the modem and make a call, the phone never hangs up/terminates
the call when I hang my phone back up. When I bypass the modem and just
hook the phone directly into the wall, I don't get that problem, so I am
guessing it is not my phone that's the problem. Also, this all happens even with the computer turned off.
My modem is a US Robotics
56k winmodem, if that makes a difference. Could I have damaged it in the
move some how? Could there be something funky with the phone line itself?
Any ideas?

Many thanks!

-Kimber

[Madcap]

Do you have a Gateway? I can't really help you but when i had a gateway (for a whole 2 weeks) it would do the same thing to me. The modem just wouldn't disconnect. Even if I hit disconnect on the computer. The computer would say it was disconnected but when I picked teh phone up it was still connected. The Gateway techs said I was lying cuz they never heard of such a thing. One of the many reasons I returned it, that and it being a pile of junk.

[Kimber]

Ack that sounds bad. Nope it's not a Gateway though. Plus it worked fine until I moved...that is the odd part. Thanks for the input though

[Glynn R Harris]

Well, it COULD be your modem, or your phone, or your line (helpful, aren't I?)

When you take the phone off-hook to make a call, the switch pops up and completes a circuit, which the phone company's equipment interprets as a signal to give you a dial-tone and access to its central-office switches. When you put the phone back in the cradle, the circuit "breaks", and the phone company releases the line.

The problem you describe happens if current still flows through the circuit after you "hang-up", which can happen especially with cheapy-cheesy newer electronic phones that don't have good relay-circuits. It can also happen to a modem whose PC-board relay has "stuck", and sometimes rapping on the card with a pencil will release the relay if it is an old reed-type. I had an external modem that worked well as long as it was upside-down! But if your modem is sticking, rest assured it will continue to do so, so replace the modem if you can.

Finally, phone lines can do this (especially underground lines) if they get water in them, as the water makes a completed but lousy circuit, one that has sufficient current flow to keep a line held, but not quite sufficient to completely short the line out.

A phone repairman would be able to figure out the problem in an instant, but since this seems to be a combination of phone and modem (BTW, what happens when you use the modem alone?), I am suspicious of your phone...

If you have no problem with modem alone, get rid of that free Sports Illustrated Football phone and try an older Western Electric or Northern Telecom touchtone phone and see if the problem goes away.

If you DO have problems with the modem by itself, get your USR replacement quick... 3Com is going out of the modem business (concentrating on network hub stuff, I guess).

[This message has been edited by Glynn R Harris (edited 07-20-2000).]

[Dave_H]

You could get an adapter that plugs into the wall jack and allows 2 phone lines to be plugged into it. The phone would not go thru the modem, and when your offline, you could check to see if the modem disconnected properly.
Dave