I'm having problem with my cordless phone that's driving me crazy, and I wondered whether any of the smart folks on this forum can help me solve it (or refer me elsewhere).

I have a 5.8 GHz digital cordless phone at my home that has an answering machine as well as multiple handsets (Panasonic model KX-TG5664).

Sometime during the past week or two, this phone just stopped receiving calls. It neither rings, nor does the answering machine kick in. For example, if I call this home phone from my cell phone, I can hear the line ringing in my cell phone speaker. If I make the same call within my house, I can hear the ringing in my cell phone speaker, but the cordless phone doesn't ring. It's as if there is no phone plugged into the wall.

I do know, however, that the cordless phone works and the phone line isn't dead. That's because I can make any calls I want *from* my home phone to the outside world. The only problem is receiving calls.

My first instinct is to think there's something amiss with the phone line. However, I tested the phone line with a brand new super-cheapo corded phone and the corded phone rings fine when called.

So I thought it was a problem with the Panasonic cordless phone. But then I plugged in my *previous* Panasonic cordless phone/answering machine (which happened to be lying around), and that phone refused to ring as well. This leads me to believe it's not a problem with my cordless phone, but something that affects all cordless phones.

At this point I'm totally stumped. Does anyone who understands telephony and cordless phones want to take a crack at this? Can anyone figure out why this is happening?

I would be most appreciative.

(And by the way I can assure you that (1) the phone base is plugged into an electrical outlet, (2) the ringer on the phone is set to ring, (3) the ringer volume is set to high, and (4) the answering machine is set to answer calls.)