My phone lines have suddenly lost their dial tone. I checked each
phone and jack. The jacks all glow green. But not sure if a way to
check a faulty telephone? On one line there is a lot of static. Most
lines are just silent. Can it be the cords, the telephone company
outside lines, or what is it? I have seven phone connected and one
modem. I disconnected all of the 3 caller ids from their outlets. No
luck.

Sounds like a dead short or  bad dammel (a digitial switch that splits
one line into two at your service connection) If there is static I
would work the short angle. a tech woudl probably disconnect each pair
at the service entry until the short disappears then work the length
of the shorted line once isolated. If you have more than one phone
spliced into a pair then check the splices. Also, it might be
worthwhile to check the plug boxes in each room for dust etc. that
might cuase the short. Disconnecting each phone until DT returns might
also aide in diagnosis.  This is what tech might do, if you do not
understand or do not feel competent then call the phone company.

We once had this problem in my house and the culprit was that one of
the wires had gotten underneath the leg of a bed and this caused all
of the phones to have no dial tone.  Once we picked up the bed and
moved the wire over, all service came back immediately.

Have you recently added a new phone? If so, try disconnecting it and
trying again with less phones attached.

Each individual device you attach to a phone line has a REN (Ringer
Equivalence Number). When more than one device is connected you can
find the total load on the line by adding their RENs together. Most
standard telephone lines support a total REN of four. If you exceed
this load you may lose dial tone or incoming calls.

Howdy ward1!

You might be able to see if it is the telephone company's lines
by going to where the lines enter your house (usually called the
demarcation point or demarc) and see if there is a newer (usually)
plastic box there.  If there is one there, it might have a section
marked "consumer access" or such with a screw or nut holding the
cover down.  Open this area (if you have one there, it is designed
specifically for you to access this section, so don't worry about
the "phone cops") and inside you will usually find a short phone
type cable with phone type plug on the end.

Unplug this plug and plug a phone in there and see if you have tone.
You should as generic (not wireless, etc.) as phone as possible.
If you have tone there, then the problem is in the house someplace.
If that is the case, then disconnect all of the phones and try them
in their usual outlets one at a time until you find the problem.

If you do not get tone at the demarc, try another phone there and
if still no tone, call your telco provider, report the problem, and
tell them exactly this: "I tried to working phones at the demarc
and there was no tone there."  This will tell them you know the
basics of telco work.

Looking Forward, denco-ga

You might want to buy a new phone wire that goes from the jack to the
phone and a new cord that goes from the phone to the handset - test
that.  Sometimes the cords or wires will go bad for no reason.

tlspiegel