TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC!

Re: Dead Phone at New House, Short Circuits Say SBC!

HorneTD (hornetd@mindspring.com)
Wed, 09 Mar 2005 17:21:02 GMT

Japple wrote:

> Hello,

> I just moved to a new house and I tried getting the phone line set up,
> and no dialtone. So SBC sent someone out and they said that of the
> four jacks in the house, three were shorted out ... it's an older
> house and he couldn't figure out where the short was. (except at $55
> per 20 minutes)

> The three lines ran into the crawl space, and I don't know how they
> were spliced. He was able to get one line working, but the other three
> are dead. Now, I'm stuck, either trying to figure out where the
> shorts are or rewiring the other three jacks ...

> I just don't understand how three lines were shorted when the previous
> owners just moved out. Because they did previously have service!
> What's the best way to figure out where the short is?

> Any ideas?

> If I do rewire the other jacks, and run new cable, the SBC guy
> recommended running all new wires, one wire per jack to get the best
> connection ... what do you think about this? And how do I connect four
> wires to the phone box? connect them each directly, or splice them
> right to the main two wires that are already connected?

> Thanks.

There is no easy way to find these shorts without special equipment.
You will have to trace the lines physically. The most likely culprit
is a common point on the wires that serve all three jacks. If the
three jacks are connected from one to the other, called daisy chained,
or they are served by a common splice a single fault at any jack will
down them all.

The advice to run new lines is sound. I would suggest that you use a
66M block to do your splicing. The reason for that is that you use
readily removable bridging clips to connect each jacks line to your
network interface device. Removing the bridging clips isolates the
associated jack for trouble shooting and repair.

Do you have a place to mount your telephone splicing block that will
be out of the way and yet reasonably convenient? There are weather
proof housings available that are designed to protect 66 blocks. One
of these can be mounted on the outside of the home adjacent to your
Network Interface Device (NID) if you do not have a convenient place
indoors. http://www3.sympatico.ca/bparker/index1.html#03 is a pretty
good sight for telephone basics.

http://www.homephonewiring.com/ is an excellent sight for techniques and
tools. It also has supplies available for purchase.

http://www.siemon.com/int/installation_instructions/pdf/S66_Field-Terminated_M_Series_Blocks.pdf is a manufacturers site on wiring 66 blocks.

Tom H

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