I spent the bulk of my weekend getting my phones working again, after they suddenly stopped. PacBell tech came out with his fancy orange test phone, said the problem was in my internal house wiring, which was installed back in the early '60s using fiber-sheathed cable about 3/8" thick containing about a dozen strands.
I had trouble getting a second extension (star topology) going, and was unable to get a third, although I'd had three before. So, here are some questions I've been unable to find google answers for:
1) Is there a limit to the resistance (in the form of wiring and phones themselves) that can be attached to the incoming lines? I can measure the resistance over a length of wire, but how would I find out that of the phone itself?
2) Short of spending $70-$100 on a special test set, could I use a voltmeter to test the lines for shorts, splits, opens, live voltage, etc.? Tips for doing this?
3) Can I tie 4 lines (incoming plus 3 extensions) to the single screw-down attachment at my DSL splitter's voice side? Should they be twisted together before being screwed down? Or is that too many for a single attachment?
4) My splitter box has 4 unused screws; I was thinking of using these for two of the extensions, fed by wires from the Voice connectors. The latter would then have 3 wires (incoming, 1 extension, and jumper to the 4 screws just mentioned for the other 2 extensions). Is this reduction of 4 to 3 wires per Voice post worth worrying about?
5) Is there a significant advantage to using unshielded twisted pair (i.e., CAT3 or CAT5) wiring instead of the staight-through old style stuff, given my 3 50' runs?
Would my DSL benefit from using UTP wiring instead of the regular old phone stuff (same 50' run)?
6) Can anyone recommend a good booklet on phone wiring?
Thanks!
I had trouble getting a second extension (star topology) going, and was unable to get a third, although I'd had three before. So, here are some questions I've been unable to find google answers for:
1) Is there a limit to the resistance (in the form of wiring and phones themselves) that can be attached to the incoming lines? I can measure the resistance over a length of wire, but how would I find out that of the phone itself?
2) Short of spending $70-$100 on a special test set, could I use a voltmeter to test the lines for shorts, splits, opens, live voltage, etc.? Tips for doing this?
3) Can I tie 4 lines (incoming plus 3 extensions) to the single screw-down attachment at my DSL splitter's voice side? Should they be twisted together before being screwed down? Or is that too many for a single attachment?
4) My splitter box has 4 unused screws; I was thinking of using these for two of the extensions, fed by wires from the Voice connectors. The latter would then have 3 wires (incoming, 1 extension, and jumper to the 4 screws just mentioned for the other 2 extensions). Is this reduction of 4 to 3 wires per Voice post worth worrying about?
5) Is there a significant advantage to using unshielded twisted pair (i.e., CAT3 or CAT5) wiring instead of the staight-through old style stuff, given my 3 50' runs?
Would my DSL benefit from using UTP wiring instead of the regular old phone stuff (same 50' run)?
6) Can anyone recommend a good booklet on phone wiring?
Thanks!
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