Phones ring once then nothing...

[jfuller45]

I am writing on behalf of my father who recently cut the cord from Comcast, and had his number ported from Comcast to Ooma.
He has had this new Ooma device for about 3 weeks now.
His phones ring just once in the house, and then he hears nothing else.
I had his Ooma VM disabled as he has an answering machine hooked up to his house phones that he wants to use, and was previously using with Xfinity.
If I call him, his number will ring about 8 times before a message saying his mailbox has not been setup will come on. His answering machine will never actually pick up. His number will just ring 8 times before that outgoing message will come on. According to my mom, the phones will ring 1 time and unless she is there to pick it up, she will never know somebody called or somebody called them because the phones will stop ringing.
He actually has about 6 POTS line type analog phones hooked up to his house wiring. I thought I read somewhere that there might be a limit as to how many he can use in his house.
I personally have been using Ooma myself at my house for over 3 years now, and I've never had these kind of issues like he has. Then again, I am not using analog phones from the 80's either.
Starting to get disillusioned about Ooma after recommending this solution for them. And I don't have the time to babysit their constant phone issues as I have my own work to do. Someone please help or advise me before I rip this phone solution out of my parents' house. Many thanks.

[murphy]

The limit for phones is 5 REN. (Ringer equivalency number)
If those old phones have real bells with clappers you are way over the limit.
Disconnect all but one and see if it continues to ring.

Buy your parents some modern phones that have a REN of less than 1.

The REN number is on the label of the phone. If it isn't there, the phones were built before REN was invented.

[jfuller45]

Funny thing is that I did buy my parents a modern digital landline phone system about 2-3 years ago with one base and several extensions fed off of the base. I have the same AT+T phone system in my house with 2 cordless extensions. I also have another digital Panasonic base with 3 cordless handsets fed off of it. So my guess is my house has a REN level of 2 for the 2 base units plugged directly into the wall jacks.

I've never had the same issues as he was having, and I have Ooma as well with no issues. The problem is that he is from the Baby Boomer generation that does not like change and struggles with new technology.

He insists on using AT+T Trimline analog phones (i.e. POTS line) from the 80's where the buttons light up after you pick up the handset and hear a dial tone.

So you can imagine the drama I have had to endure to bring him into the 21st century.

Nevertheless, all of his phones are working now with the limit of 5. I told him I could get him more extensions or handsets if he uses phones like I have. Well, he said he was fine with his current setup.

Go figure.

[murphy]

My Panasonic cordless base has a REN of 0.2. It's on the label on the bottom of the base.

If those trimline phones do not have a separate power supply and are stealing power from the phone line to light the buttons that makes it even worse.

There used to be a device, with its own power supply, that could be connected in series with the phone line to generate the ring voltage needed by those old phones.

There are trimline phones with modern electronics available.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=modern+triml ... nb_sb_noss