No dial tone - but there is!

[Merlin]

On Sunday morning, I started getting a "No dialling tone" message when connecting to the internet (dial up, windows XP, internal modem). The modem cable is plugged into an adapter in the BT socket that allows a phone to be plugged in too.
There was an electrical storm on Saturday night in SE London that was bit bigger than usual and I suspected that something got fried.
The modem seems OK. When I take off the "wait for dial tone", it dials, but there is no response.
The adapter in the BT socket seemed to be damaged, so I got a new one and that seems OK � there is a tone on the phone. But there is still no tone at the modem.
(To be continued)

[Merlin]

(Continued)

So I got a new modem cable. This is slightly different from the one that I am replacing. The old one has RJ11 plugs at each end, this new one has a RJ11 plug at the computer end and a BT plug at the other end. According to MS help and the PC World adviser, this modem cable should produce a dial tone on a phone, but it doesn�t. Nor does it produce a dial tone at the modem.
When I connect the computer to the BT socket, the phone that�s in the same socket rings continuously � and the computer is not switched on.
Now I suspect a fault in the BT equipment � is it possible for there to be a service for phones and not for internet? I shall be calling BT soon, but I would like some advice first, please.
Any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks

[Buenchico]

Everything here suggests to me that your first theory (i.e. the storm 'fried' your modem) was the correct one. I've had similar problems myself. (I also read somewhere that, after each major thunderstorm, PC World expect to sell up to an additional 200 modems in each of their stores during the following week!).

You could try asking your friends & colleagues if any of them uses an external, USB modem. If so, ask to burrow it and see if you can connect through it - I'm almost sure that you will be able to. If you can, you'll either have to replace your existing (presumably internal) modem or, easier, buy an external one. (I switched to an external modem after similar problems on a PC. I've changed my computer a couple of times since then and ended up saving money because I've not had to include an internal modem in the specifications for the PCs I've ordered).

Chris

[Merlin]

Buenchico

Thanks for that. I'm 95% sre that the modem is fried, but I didn't want to get a new modem installed just to find out that it was the BT line all along! I haven't been able to prove anything either way.

I've been to PC World and discovered that it's cheaper to get a new modem installed than to have the current one checked out!  And you're right - the guy said that they had a lot of modem work on since that storm.

So it goes in tonight to get a new modem.

That'll teach me to unplug it when I see a storm coming!

The funny thing is, though, that we got our first computer only a couple of years ago and had lived without internet access for decades. Now the family can't do without it. When I suggested that we just do without it again, they went ballistic!

Cheers.

Merlin