I Don't Know Why It Isn't Working, Said the Phone Tech

Most of us put our main telephone in the kitchen. It's convenient, always heard, can check for missed calls easily it's just the logical place for it. That is right where a phone jack was located, in the kitchen, we wouldn't have put it by the stove but what the hey; it is where it is. Plug the phone into the jack, no dial tone, take the phone into the bedroom to the other jack, have a dial tone so the phone is fine and dandy. Hm-m-m-m wonder what the problem is. We didn't check on it because there was so much other stuff that were much higher priority than this plug. Had to call AT&T out for some other issues and had the tech check this plug. He was inside and outside several times, using his little checker doohickey thing and couldn't get a signal. There was a strong signal coming into the house, the bedroom jack checked out fine.

Finally, he pulled the plate off the wall. There are NO phone wires going to the jack! You can tell there have never been any wires to the jack because the wires are still neatly wound waiting for someone to connect them. Why would you go to the time and expense of getting a jack,putting in hollow wall anchors to screw the plate into, cutting a hole in the wall and then not run wires for a phone. The Tech had a good laugh, on their checklist taking the jack off the wall is done after all the other things have been checked off. When I told  him the other things we have found with this place he suggested always pull things off the wall before wasting our time with the obvious checks.