Thread: Anyone know anything about phone wiring?

Hey everyone, have not posted in awhile, just relocated back to Florida from Colorado. My question is, in my house, there are no phone jacks in guest bedrooms. My only good internet option available where I am was DSL through the phone company. Do I need to "home run" the phone wires from the box outside directly to the jacks that I need to add in the guest bedrooms, or can I come tap off a jack inside the house that is closer than all the way to the outside box. Keeping in mind a clean signal for the high speed internet.

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Paul
Either way is acceptable, however you will most times get better bandwith with a homerun.
The phone company is able to make the homerun for you (at some cost).
I would prefer to use a wireless router.
Ask the phone company about one.

Daisy chaining phone lines has been outdated for years. Newer standards call for all homeruns to either a central location with a distribution hub or the NID.

I would run a home run. I believe that phone hooked up before the computer/router can interfere. or visa versa.

Jim
"Daisy chaining phone lines has been outdated for years. Newer standards call for all homeruns to either a central location with a distribution hub or the NID."

Not compleatly accurate, most houses are not homerun.
Homeruns are needed for business because of phone systems.
Very few houses have need for a phone system, therefore no need for homeruns.

Steven
"I would run a home run. I believe that phone hooked up before the computer/router can interfere. or visa versa."
The router will operate just as well before or after a phone. Does not matter, what does matter is the quality of the line the router is connected to.

If phones are hooked up before the router, when you pick up a phone will you hear the router.

or, if you are on the phone line before the router will it prevent the router from getting on line?

I would definitely go wireless, unless you are doing something out of the norm. Running Cat 5 to all of the bedrooms ended up being a waste of time and wire for the most part.

If it's for computer use I'm with Jim. Connect the router to the closest and bestest phone line and go wireless.

If you have a stand alone PC you can hook it up to the router direct and then laptops or even other PC's can run off the wireless router.

High speed internet does not like to share it's feed line.
Homerun all your lines.
Every tap of a "daisy chain" is like using a splitter on coax cable, you lose some signal strength every "split"

In my area it is as Jim Port said. Home running everything. The latest and greatest is the multimedia type of cable. One large cable with 2 - RG-6 & 2 cat 6 phone / data lines in it. Even the "base" model units ( Gov't mandated Affordable housing units) have homeruns for everything.

Daisy chaining phones,data & tv is old school big time. There is a multitude of reasons to do home runs, with todays technology

Originally Posted by Steven Turetsky

If phones are hooked up before the router, when you pick up a phone will you hear the router.

or, if you are on the phone line before the router will it prevent the router from getting on line?

No that's just not true, if you have DSL on the line you'll get "noise" however its located or wired. You use a FILTER for each phone jack you plug in a PHONE or FAX into the PHONE port of the FILTER, and plug a router or modem into the DATA or DSL port of the FILTER. There are also DSL FILTERS designed to fit on WALL PLATES (such as the kitchen phone).

I can tell you that it will make you jump if someone rings you while working on bare wires.

According to AT&T, the ringing signal is an 88v 20Hz A.C. signal superimposed on 48v nominal D.C. supervisory voltage. However, the actual ringing signal used can and does vary greatly from one location to another.

I can state from experience, if you don't hook the wires up properly you can get a local radio station broadcast on your phone. I don't have a clue how I did it , I just know from then on, if I need a phone line, I call the phone company

DSL signals are carried on a band separate from the 53KHz wide band used for voice calls. Most phones, however, are simple devices and do not discriminate between bands. As such, they will transmit any and all noise they hear on the line, including the DSL signal.

To prevent this, there must be a filter between each phone and the service line from the phone company. This can be accomplished in many ways. The easiest by far is to place a filter device (your DSL service provider will likely provide you with several) between each phone and its jack. This device filters out the DSL band, leaving only the voice band for the phone to register.

This is true whether you daisy chain or home run your phone lines. I chose to home-run my phone lines using Cat 5 cable for two reasons. First, it allows me to locate networking or phone equipment in whatever room makes the most sense. I can have a wireless router in the basement and one on the second floor to provide solid reception to the rest of the house. Second, it provides a quality low-noise line less susceptible to interference (say from a nearby high-power AM radio transmitter). Cat 5 isn't all that expensive (riser-rated was less than $50 for a 500 ft box) and I already had all of the tools so why not?

At my distribution panel, all of the cables are terminated so I can simply move patch cables to switch which outlet is for data and which is for voice. This proved handy when changing from DSL to cable modem, and again when switching from POTS to VOIP.

Thanks for all the responses. I do have a router, however I was going to use one of the bedrooms with no phone jack as my office. I still have a stand alone PC there, so thats where the router has to be, I figured, therefore a phone jack is needed there. I cant believe this "custom" house has no phone jacks in the guest bedrooms (circa 2005.) The inspector (me) missed that during the inspection.

Originally Posted by Paul Kondzich

Thanks for all the responses. I do have a router, however I was going to use one of the bedrooms with no phone jack as my office. I still have a stand alone PC there, so thats where the router has to be, I figured, therefore a phone jack is needed there. I cant believe this "custom" house has no phone jacks in the guest bedrooms (circa 2005.) The inspector (me) missed that during the inspection.

You can get a cheap wireless adapter for your standalone PC. Head to your local Staples or OfficeMax and pick one up for a few bucks - much cheaper than running wire.

As for whether a room is wired or not, I'd suggest everything is wireless these days (phones, internet) so it doesn't really matter.

Thanks Corn, I didnt think about any options for making the standalone desktop wireless, but I will check it out. I really didnt want to go crawling through the attic and fishing wires down walls by myself. Is the part for the desktop like installing a video card or something similar, or is it an external install. I can find out, but just curious whether anyone has used one.

Paul
Your DSL provider will have a wireless modem.

Originally Posted by Paul Kondzich

Thanks Corn, I didnt think about any options for making the standalone desktop wireless, but I will check it out. I really didnt want to go crawling through the attic and fishing wires down walls by myself. Is the part for the desktop like installing a video card or something similar, or is it an external install. I can find out, but just curious whether anyone has used one.

The USB versions are the easiest - simply plug it into an open USB port. There are others that are like installing a video card, and still others that plug into your ethernet port (if you have one).