Technical > Home Improvement > Telephone wiring - Me or the Cable Co?

Telephone wiring - Me or the Cable Co?

reply to neonhomer
Unless you have an alarm system phone dialer you can hook up the voice pair practically anywhere inside the house and back-feed everything from that point.
Just make sure to cut off the house-side wiring from the TELCO NID, you don't want any stray voltage hitting your eMTA.
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reply to neonhomer

reply to neonhomer
Never, ever let the cable company into your house. They can't even do coax right. Now they want to do telephone? Puhleeeease. I've seen the cable company sabotage the Bell lines countless times (just in case you decide to switch back).

Don't get me wrong. I like that they f--- stuff up so bad...it's more work for me.

This isn't just a dig at the cable company either. The phone company has let quality go down the toilet as well. But, I've never seen a U-Verse guy sabotage the cableco's coax.

Just pull the plug on the existing NID test jack and continue to use it.
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Looks like Reverend Wright got his wish - God Damn America.
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reply to neonhomer
A lot of the time around here, they install a small enclosure outside with a splice inside it.
They run a wire inside to the EMTA and a wire inside to the rest of the phone wiring. The splice box is just a disconnect point for them. I don't really like it but then again, I do a lot of re-wiring.

reply to neonhomer
yes you can find small NID boxes online at numerous places, or go to a local electrical supply store and pick one up. You usually can find one that has the nice push down and terminate connections inside. Depending on the Cable company, most will do this, of course if they use contractors the job will not be good at all. I would also suggest, not tying the line into an existing outlet and back feeding, when i worked for a small cable company in Arizona, I would get alot of service calls about poor phone service on the VoIP usually i would find it was back feed through an existing outlet i would run a direct line and no more problems. Im sure it has something to do with the amount of voltage the eMTA puts out but really who knows. Also how has your cable internet been? Constant up time, do you have to reset your modem often? If so, request that they dedicate a line to your MTA, i found with both Arris and motorola MTA's they are extremely picky with power levels, if you have had issues open a web browser and surf to 192.168.100.1 and look at your power levels, the downstream isn't a huge worry, but the upstream you want to be in the 40's (42 was always ideal for me) However, anything below 36 and above 50 are trouble areas and need to be fixed. If your over the 50 marker make sure to tell the tech that you want it dedicated, that coax to the modem on the first spiltter from the drop, i would use a 2 way to another splitter for tvs and the other leg on the 2 way for the modem. This will give you the best service. Technically the NID provided by the TELCO is there property, so the cable company should be putting there own up. feel free to pm me if you have any questions if you plan to do it your self, i spent 5 years fixing crappy techs and contractor work so I'm pretty knowledgeable about eMTA's and the best way to get the best service.

On another note, to nonya, don't bash the companies ie telco's and cable co's a lot of them, like the one i worked for spent a lot of time and money training us to do these jobs correctly, depending on where you live/work dictates what you can and cannot do, ie in Arizona, only licensed electricians can wall fish, which led to a lot of post wiring. I can remember an 8 hour course with the cable company i worked for, that was all about wiring phone lines, the best ways to wire coax to eMTA's as to not cause issues, proper termination, etc. If the company provides this type of training, its the workers job to use the knowledge and alot of cable companies go and check work and if it is done half ass'd, techs get sent back to fix it. I personally have a strict rules for myself when doing this type of work, and i have worked with the IBEW so my ways are pretty well set in stone, but stereotyping everyone that works at a cable co or telco is wrong because maybe you will get a tech that does his job correctly.

If you'll look under my profile, you'll see my claims to expertise in the field. I stand by my assertion that, in general, you are going to get crappy work from telco or cable - as I have "been there and done that".

As for the 8 hour course, LMFAO. When I started at the phone company, we weren't allowed to run wire in a customers home without a 3 weeks course - BITS. When I started at the cable company, I was "slinging" wire the first day.
Things have definitely degraded.
--
Looks like Reverend Wright got his wish - God Damn America.
Nancy Pelosi - House Minority Leader 2010
Harry Reid - Senate Minority Leader 2010

reply to neonhomer
I'm not a fan of wiring so instead when I went to VOIP I went with a broadband phone. The receiver plugs into your VOIP adapter then you can put the phone(s) where ever you want. Sound is crystal clear.

reply to jeffmoss26
That is pretty standard for all TWC Digital Phone installs. Unless you live in an apartment and share one of those old connection boxes at the end of the building.
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reply to valvoj

reply to neonhomer
Welcome to VoIP.

You may want to visit the VoIP forum of this website as well.

»VOIP Tech Chat

reply to neonhomer
»www.yourbroadbandstore.com/produ···d=720116

Those are decent outdoor telephone wire terminal blocks. No wire stripping required. Easy to install. You simply push in the Tip and Ring wires into each connector and push down the lever. Wires are also embedded into weather resistant/corrosion resistant gel. One downside is if the wire is of a thick gauge, like 22, 20, 18, etc, those wires won't snap into the connectors easily.