What should I do first when I have problems making or receiving calls?

Try these steps first:

1. Make sure all of your phones are properly hung up.
2. Check your equipment (e.g., cordless phone, answering machine, or fax) by disconnecting it from the phone jack and power source and then reconnecting it. Sometimes resetting your equipment will restore service.
3. Do a visual inspection of all exposed wiring and connections for damage or loose connections.
4. If you have more than one outlet, check the equipment (phone, fax, modem, etc.) at each outlet to determine whether operation can be obtained from all outlets.
5. To isolate jack or house wiring problems, move a working telephone to each jack in the house to find which location is causing the trouble.

This problem can result from a defective handset cord, check the handset cord by switching it with a good one. If that solves the problem, replace the cord.

Or you and/or the caller may have a long distance issue.

RURAL CALL COMPLETION ISSUES (Click here to learn more)
Have you ever found out a friend or family member tried to reach you by long distance but the call didn’t complete? Maybe it rang on your end, but you couldn’t hear the caller’s voice once you picked up. Maybe the calling party heard it ringing on their end, but your phone was silent the whole time. If the call did go through, maybe you both struggled with poor voice quality. If you’ve experienced any of these frustrating situations, you’re not alone. In fact, rural consumers in 36 states have experienced the problem.

The issue is referred to in the telecommunications industry as “call completion” or “call termination” problems. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports that nationwide, there was a staggering 2,000 percent increase in the number of these complaints between April 2010 and March 2011. We want you to know that the issue does not reside with TCA. However, we would like to help shed light on the problem behind dropped and delayed calls, as well as help our customers get resolution.

Why does the problem exist?
Because less populated rural areas traditionally are more expensive to serve, it can cost carriers who help route long distance calls more to complete the calls. Certain providers do not want to incur these higher charges and therefore they route/pass the call in a “hot potato” fashion in order to minimize the cost. “Least-cost routing” may be cheaper for the carrier routing the call, but it may also lead to poorer service quality for you. Calls may be dropped as these upstream providers try to avoid the payment of per-minute inter-carrier compensation. In the process of passing these “hot potato” calls, TCA may never receive them on our network.

What we are doing:
We are taking every opportunity through our national association to help bring resolution for our customers. Ultimately, the FCC has regulatory authority over these long-distance telephone service providers and has implemented penalties for non-compliance.

What you can do:
Report the problem. As a consumer, your best action is to report each “call completion” incident. For incoming call problems, talk to the party originating the call and encourage them to report it. On the other hand, if you have had problems with outgoing calls, please contact us and we will walk through a set of questions to help report the problem. We will then work to find out why this call failed and try to correct the problem.

If one phone doesn't work, check all other phones on the same line to isolate the location of the problem.

No Dial Tone/Static...
Make sure all phones are on-hook. If not, hang up the phone. Wait a few seconds and then try to make a phone call. If that doesn’t work, to try plug-in each phone by itself and attempt to call. If dial tone returns, you “may” have a bad phone or a bad outlet.

This may happen with cordless phone. If you have a cordless phone, change the channel of the phone by hitting the “Channel” button on the headset.

Make sure you are dialing correctly. All calls to a TCA “9” prefix and all calls in your town are considered local calls. Just dial the 7-digit number to make the call. Also, all Long Lines cell phones with a “630” prefix are considered local calls.

All other calls are considered long distance. To dial these numbers, dial 1-(area code) then phone number. If you receive a recording after dialing your number, hang up and try again using these instructions. If after double checking you dial your dialing according to these instructions you care not able to dial long distance a not complete the call.

Please call TCA with the following information: 712.930.5593

Time of the Call
Phone Number you Dialed From
Phone Number You Tried
Dialing From If Multiple Lines

If the phone has a dial tone, adjust the ringer loudness (this adjustment is on the bottom of some phones). Also check to see if there is a switch for turning off the ringer, and turn it on. In some cases, if you connect more than five phones to a given line, they won't ring properly. If this is your situation, you may have to disconnect one or more phones, or at least turn their ringers off.