My home phone has no dial tone — how do I fix it?

Worldline home phone runs over your internet connection, so the first rule is: if your internet is down, fix that first — the phone almost always comes back with it (see "My internet stopped working").

There are two ways your phone can be hooked up. Pick the path that matches your home.

First, which setup do you have?

• Path A: your phone plugs into a small separate box (a phone adapter, such as the Grandstream HT801 or Linksys PAP2T), which connects to your modem.
• Path B: your phone plugs straight into a phone port on the modem itself (some SmartRG and Kasda models).

Path A — phone adapter

1. Is the phone light on the adapter lit?
2. Light ON but no dial tone:
3. • Check the phone cord runs from your phone's base into the adapter's Phone port and is snug at both ends.
   • Still nothing? Reboot both the modem and the adapter: unplug both, wait 30 seconds, plug back in, and give them 2–3 minutes.
   • Still nothing? Try a different telephone handset if you have one — handsets do fail.
   • No luck: contact support.
3. Light OFF — check which lights ARE on:
4. • No power light: check the adapter's power plug and outlet.
   • Power light only: reseat the ethernet cable — firmly into the adapter's Internet port, with the other end in a numbered LAN port on the modem (NOT the WAN/Internet port).
   • Power + internet lit, phone light still off: reboot the modem and adapter.
   • Phone light still off after the reboot: contact support — the service may need to be re-registered on our end.

Path B — phone plugs into the modem

1. Is the telephone (Tel1/Phone1) light lit on the modem?
2. Light ON but no dial tone: check the phone cord is in the Phone 1 port and snug, reboot the modem, then try another handset. Still nothing — contact support.
3. Light OFF: reboot the modem so the phone service can re-register. If the phone light stays off after the reboot while the internet works, contact support — that's a provisioning issue we fix on our end, and no amount of cable-checking will change it.

Special cases

• Dial tone present, but calls won't complete (beeping/odd tones when dialing): after one modem reboot, don't keep troubleshooting — contact support. This points to a network-side issue that needs a technician.
• Just signed up and transferring your number? Number transfers can take up to 7 days — contact support to check your port status.
• Don't have an adapter and your modem has no phone port? Contact support — you may need a phone adapter shipped to you.

Good to know

• VoIP phone service needs power and internet — during a power or internet outage, 911 will not work; use a cell phone.
• If you move, update your 911 address with us — 911 dispatches to the registered address.

Contact us

support@worldline.ca or 1-855-299-0025 (Mon–Fri 9am–9pm, Sat–Sun 9am–5pm Eastern).

Updated on: 13/08/2026