🚀 go-pugleaf

The problem is simply stated; my apartment has two extensions,
one a plastic drugstore fone and one a GTE touch-tone. For long
periods of time (but intermittantly and unpredictably) callers
from outside trying to reach us get a busy signal, when the extensions
are solidly hung up. The corollary of this from inside seems to be
an event where, for long periods of time etc., we can't get a dial tone.
This has been going on since last April, when we moved in. 
C & P says they can't find any problem (we've never been able to get them
to monitor the line for a 24-hour period). 

Does anyone have any good insights into this? Any possibility that it's
an "outside" problem? What prompts that question is that the telco junction
boxes or whatever they're called for the apt bldgs appear to be very
poorly secured; often I'll see one with the door hanging open.

Thanks for all info,
Pat Sullivan
Reston, VA.