Installation Of Telephone Wires

Telephone wiring involves very low voltages and hence is very safe and not at all complicated to work with.

There are many standards which have been placed for the telephone wiring making it very complex due to the need of complying with given standards.

The main problem with the standards placed in telephone wiring is the presence of many standards.

When we want to add an additional wiring into an already existing telephone facility, it is best to know the wiring standards currently being used and then conform to the standard in use.

The standard which is mostly used during the installation of telephone wires to a different facility is EIA/TIA T586A.

TELEPHONE WIRING INTO OUR RESIDENCES

Since olden times, telephone wires ran above the ground via telephone poles making repair of any wire issues easy, and inaccessible to the general population. The wire is itself a source in a telco, or telephone company, central office, and therefore goes through many paths in order to get in the near vicinity of our homes.

Wiring- above the ground

Telephone wiring is above the ground in areas and neighborhoods with a high water level inside the ground. More than one telephone pole is present in the easement areas of the neighborhood which distributes the phone service using aerial way for connectivity to the residences. The breakout box attached with the pole and the residential lines coming out of one side and the main service lines entering the other. Wires then run from these breakout boxes and then to the neighborhood residences.

Wiring- underground

Today in the United States all the modern neighborhoods are having underground telephone wiring. Geographically logical points are located and breakout boxes are then installed in these points, before the starting of building of homes takes place in the neighborhood, and this is followed by lines being trenched back to each property and the primary distribution can of the neighborhood. Before the houses are built the wirings are merely stubs and these wirings may be elongated to the house after it is built with the owner’s money.

The Residential Network Interface Device

There exists a device called the Network Interface Device or NID. This is where the wire terminates no matter how telephone wires run into your house. The NID is attached to our homes. The NID is a tan or gray box approximately twelve inches long and eight inches wide with doors or a door hiding two compartments. Customer access is via a customer compartment that has a slot screw headed. Telco compartment is accessed by using a special screw head. The compartment of customer access of the NID can be opened to check the wiring connections in the NID, to trace the lines which come out of NID to our homes, and to check our lines for the dial tone. If any fault occurs in the wiring between central office and our house there isn’t any need to open TELCO compartment of NID because it is not easy to repair it. Five lines of different type can be handled by the NDI.

The line from the breakout box or the pole enters TELCO compartment then exits out of customer compartment.

If we have just one line and we have not had any maintenance over this line for quite some time then we may have the predecessor box to NID. It is a simple metal or plastic cover which has been screwed over the phone wiring box for protecting it from animals or other elements. The telephone company without asking any money comes and replaces the old NID box with a new one if any time and equipment is available and we are able to show a need like a method for testing dial tone. Sometimes the technicians of the telephone company technicians just leave in place the original box, and install in between the box and breakout box or the wires running into the pole a NID. This has an insignificant effect to the phone service hence being concerned about this is not a necessity.

CHECKING THE PHONE LINES

To test the phone line we should use a corded phone which has been tested previously. This is because the only way we are sure that we are just testing the phone lines and not our phones itself. To check whether the test phone is working fine or not, we can take it to a family members or neighbors home, and then check it with a good phone line. If a dial tone is there, then the test phone can be used for checking the line.

First pick the phone up

A phone jack is provided when the phone company installed the phone line initially into our homes, to connect our telephone to. The first and the most easiest test to check the phone service is to simply connect a phone to this jack with a proper wire, listen for a dial tone by taking the phone receiver off the hook. If you don’t understand how to take the phone off the hook, check the phone manual.

Dial tone not present

If a dial tone is not present when we pick up the receiver then probably a phone line problem exists. Test each jack of a multiple jack in our houses to check which one works and which one doesn’t. If a wiring fault exists between the specific jacks of our homes and the NID. The phone company may charge for the repairs and help us, if any such problem exists. To know more about repairs read them in ‘Repairs’ section given below. If no jack in our home is working, we may need to check at the NID our phone lines.

Testing in the NID

Usually there are many phone jacks vertically lined up when we open the NID’s customer compartment. A line is plugged into each phone jack for all the phone lines which are installed in our house. There are may be a few jacks without any line being plugged into them, it is possible that a second line was present to your house at some time, and the wiring box maybe was faulty, it is also possible that they installed wiring boxes and jacks as standards. If more than one phone lines exist, there are labels on the NID lid which tells which jack is for which number or phone line. If there are no labels given we’ll have to try all of them until we find the required one which needs to be tested. For testing, we have to remove the line and plug the corded phone in that jack. This disconnects the line from all the jacks in our house, so we might lose the dial tone in the house. The fault in the wiring is inside your house, if there is a dial tone after hooking up the phone. After this you’ll have to call for repair the people from the phone company to repair it as we can not do anything about this problem.

When the colors of the wires don’t match

To keep the installs of business and residential type in line with one another most of the phone companies use Cat 5 cable to update the color standards. The usually used red, yellow, black or green wires are replaced by blue/white, orange/white, white/blue and white/orange. Identifying the color of the wire is very simple. The wire is of a single primary color with stripes of another secondary color. For example, if the primary color of the wire is blue with stripes of white then the color is blue/white. The following table helps to understand which colors match. The components of telephone wiring which we have purchased have all the original colors and the labels of NID most probably have the older coloring scheme.

INSTALLATION OF TELEPHONE JACKS

A few basic hardware and tools are required to do the installing of new jacks in our homes which is pretty simple.

Tools:

DRILL – To drill holes in remote places it is best to make use of a cordless drill for such types of installs. To drill through the thick wooden boards and masonry enough power is produced by 18V or some general variation. We need drills if we want to hide wiring inside the wall, or through attics or crawlspaces, or we when we have to run some new lines in between the house floors. These are available for about $30 at any hardware store nearby.

DRILL BITS – An appropriate drill bit is needed for performing the job. A masonry bit should be purchased if we need to drill through a stone or brick, else a wood bit is sufficient. If we have to drill through small spaces or through some rough material we should buy a pilot bit which is smaller bit so that we can drill straight easily through it. Always protect your eyes while drilling. For more questions on drill bits ask your hardware store manager.

FLATHEAD SCREWDRIVER – Slotted screws are used by the wiring blocks for all mounts of the jack box and for all wire connections. To put jacks in locations which are not normally visible, it is better to use a stubby and short screwdriver. A flathead screwdriver is easily available in any discount and department store and hardware store. Screwdrivers are available in the range from $1 to $1000 depending on the quality, type and style of screwdriver.

FISH TAPE – To make wires run through attics, crawl spaces or walls we require a fish tape. It is a boon for any wiring project, if the furnishing of the house is already complete. Reasonable price fish tapes of different lengths are carried by the HARD FREIGHT TOOLS. This can be purchased online here or from one of the local stores at the same price.

CABLE TEST EQUIPMENT – To check the line after having the new jack installed and not getting any dial tone we need something to check it. A few methods are present for doing anything. These items will be covered in repair section.

Hardware

All the items which are needed to complete the install are available in many electronic stores, department stores, hardware stores and grocery stores. There is a large selection available at the hardware store even though the prices are a little higher than usual but we get all the wire lengths and exact components we will need.

WIRING BOX AND MODULAR JACK BOX – There are two types of modular jack boxes one with a wiring box and another without it. A jack box with a wiring box is needed if a new jack is being installed. If the wiring box is intact and only the damaged jack box is being replaced, a no wiring box jack box is needed. Four and six modular contact jacks are available. A six contact modular jack is needed for special reasons so it is always better to buy a four contact modular jack. Each new jack being installed needs a new jack box.

EIGHT, SIX OR FOUR STRAND PHONE WIRE – For any new jack being installed in our homes we should buy a four satin flat silver telephone wire. A little money can be saved if we buy single wires without any silver sheath, though for future sake, the sheath saves a lot of frustration and time. It keeps the wire together and they are flexible and also stripped off from where they are required and hence can be easily fished wherever we want it to go.

Six to eight conductor phone wires are used if we want the more than two lines in our homes and we want that all the jacks are in one location, it is just important to know there are three pairs of orange pair, green pair, and a blue pair in the six conductor wire. A brown pair is added to the eight conductor wire, rest is just like the six conductor wire. As long as the posts are connected properly to the wiring block, there shouldn’t be any problem.

CORDED PHONE FOR THE SAKE OF EMERGENCIES

If you have a cordless phone, phone which has an integrated answering machine, or with some other feature then it is required to be plugged in a phone base of your house power. The normal corded phones get all the power from the line itself hence no extra power is required. Hence it is always good to have corded phones during emergencies in case of some issues occur with the device or in case of power failures.

REFERENCE INFORMATION

The following information given will help you understand the wire plans and standards in your home. These are just reference materials which can assist you in diagnostic and planning.

TELEPHONE WIRING STANDARD FOR HALLOWEEN ABD CHRISTMAS

Most of the homes today have just 4 wire (2 pairs)of telephone wiring.

The first line is plugged in to the Christmas pair. In this one wire is red and the other is green and hence this pair is called the Christmas pair.

The red wire is the ring and the green is the tip in this Christmas pair.

The second line is plugged in to the Halloween pair. In this one wire is yellow ad the other is black hence this pair is called Halloween pair.

The yellow wire is the ring and the black is the tip in this Halloween pair.

The EIA/TIA 568B Standard for Telephone Wiring

The EIA/TIA 568A Standard for Telephone Wiring

The USOC (Universal Service Order Code) 8 Wire Standard for Telephone Wiring

The USOC (Universal Service Order Code) 6 Wire Standard for Telephone Wiring

The 25 pair Telephone Wiring Standard

ORIENTATION OF PIN NUMBER IN TELEPHONE WIRING

Pin numbers are always with tab down.

The left most pin while looking at telephone jack is PIN-1

The right most pin while looking at telephone jack is PIN-8

JACKS AND PLUGS IN TELEPHONE WIRING

The plug of a telephone cable is the male end and the jack in the wall is the female receptacle in a telephone wiring.

TIP AND RING OF TELEPHONE WIRING

Tip and Ring are the terms used extensively while discussing about telephone wiring.

Ring is electrically negative and Tip is electrically positive side of the wire.

BOOKS ABOUT TELEPHONE WIRING

Telephone Installation Handbook

This book has all the necessary information for all those who are interested to install telephone systems and extensions whether you have any prior experience or knowledge for some small business or home.

Data, Voice and Video Cabling

This book tells about all the latest updates and developments in the areas of cabling with wireless networks, cabling is the fastest developing technologies of today. The hands on procedures used for installing voice, video and data cabling are seen using very less theory and a lot of practical advice. It is a logical format separating key concepts in specific sections minimizing the confusion between specific installation practices amongst all different technologies. The first one discussed is copper cabling, along with telephone, coax and Cat 5 and Cat 3 LAN cabling. Then a section about fiber optics follows. All sections follow a similar pattern going from basics then to components, then comes the installation, and then testing which helps in the development of skills of individual.

Mike’s Basic Guide to Cabling Computers and Telephones

This book contains everything about telephone and computer cable installation required for multi-mode and copper fiber optic cable. It begins with Site survey, then installation techniques, followed by project management, and then termination, troubleshooting, which is followed by writing RFP’s, then compiling a cable bid. This book is in a large easy to read format with cartoons making understanding very easy.

Telecommunications Cabling Installation

The leaders of today’s industry i.e. BICSI and McGraw-Hill have provided a reliable manual for cable installation and training because there is a very dire need for qualified and trained cable installers. BICSI’s Telecommunications Cabling Installation is the number 1 choice for all those who need clear guidelines for cable installation, codes, acronyms, parameters, terms. It is the most complete and clear guide book to all the ins and outs of cable installation. It breaks all tasks into bulleted steps and Provides to-the-point views about each task’s place in “the big picture”. It focuses on the spaces, structured cabling, pathways and associated hardware systems to enable link/channel testing inside the buildings. It gives guidelines for the installation of pulling cables, grounding, firestopping, splicing, terminating, connecting, troubleshooting, safety, testing, transmission covers LANs, retrofitting, fiber, twisted pair, Gigabit Ethernet, supporting structures –all the system installers should know Helps reduce the errors with the handy checklists.

Telecommunications Wiring

This is the industry’s best wiring reference which is completely updated.

Bidding, installation, planning, testing, documentation, management and troubleshooting.

Shows the latest NEC (National Fire Code) wiring standards.

Power line networking, DSL wiring and more.

Complete coverage of twisted-pair and fiber.

This is the number 1 reference which is fully updated with all the latest wiring standards of NEC.

This is the best source for all the wiring professionals and has been updated to show all the wiring schemes, techniques, latest media and products- and also the new critical safety and fire requirements according to the NEC (National Fire Code). The third edition of Telecommunications Wiring gives industry’s most end-to-end and coherent approach for implementing and designing cabling systems. It tells about every skill that is required for the complete system lifecycle: selecting architectures, making successful RFP’s, planning, choosing vendors, defining architectures, testing, installation, maintenance and documentation. The coverage includes:

New NEC (National Fire Code) regulations: fire code labeling, wiring certification, room layouts for equipments, EMI, environmental concerns, bonding, grounding, and more.

DSL: Line connection, servicing, key terminology and wiring.

All the latest up-to-date troubleshooting and installation techniques.

Standardizing and documenting cabling systems- which includes step by step database design for telecommunications.

Wiring management: measurement, security, tracking, retrofitting, and more.

Whether you are a datacom/telecom manger, technician, wiring specialist, contractor, or instructor, consultant, you can depend upon third edition of Telecommunications Wiring – today, tomorrow, and for years to come.