Telephone Wiring Technology and the Electrician (Link Roundup)
Phone technology has greatly changed in the past years. This rise in cell phone popularity has created a constant communication power that has never been had in the past. These days, no matter where you are, you are already reachable. Even home phones have become more complex compared to their predecessors. Homeowners now have more options for phone service that were deemed impossible in the past.
The Beginnings
Many residential phone wiring systems were set up in 1950 till 2000. These were made of two-pair cables – the red and black pair and the green and yellow pair which were insulated 22 or 24-gauge copper conductors. Both pairs were twisted together to form the outer jacket. Beyond 2000, a lot of the telephones were installed with the use of CAT-5 cable that had as many as six twisted pairs.
Basic Troubleshooting for Dead Telephone
It is common to encounter breaks in telephone wires especially the two-pair cables of the past. These solid conductors are very fragile and so breaks are not uncommon. Finding the breaks is not always easy, though. You need to have a probe set and a tone generator. Are these not available in your home? Then your only recourse is to call a local electrician.
The electrician can test using Fluke 3000 tone generator and a probe set. This test set is easy to use even for beginners. Just plug the tobe generator at the NID then run the receiver/probe back till the tone is already lost. The location where the tone signal is lost is supposed to be the spot where the short or break is located. The tone generator output is supposed to have enough power and the probe/receiver is supposed to be sensitive enough in picking up signals even from cables inside a wall cavity.
When your home phone is problematic, it is important to tell the servicing electrician where the equipment is. He must also be able to gain access of the equipment. He is likely to ask information such as whether the equipment has been moved lately; the bad circuits’ IDs; or whether you have reconfigured the phone system in any way. This expert will also create a timetable of symptoms which led to the eventual failure.
Resolving phone failures is sometimes as easy as examining the PBX logs and other indicators. It is important to find out the scope and cause of the phone failure. Also, you need to answer whether the problem exists inside or outside the telephone wiring. Outside of it, you are ascertained that the problem is the responsibility of the telephone company; internal wiring problems, however, are supposed to be taken care of by the homeowner.
The first thing that you need to do when the phone goes kaput is to plug your phone to a jack situated at a different area. If you find out that all the jacks in your home are malfunctional, then it is likely that the problem is the wiring that leads to your home. If you discovered that only one jack is causing the problem, then the issue is right inside your home. Try plugging a different phone into the problematic jack and see what happens. This is a good idea to make sure that the problem is not just the phone itself.
If the concern is the outside wiring, you will need to call an electrician to assist you with it. He or any staff from the phone company needs to record the circuit ID. If the number cannot be found, then tracking it can be a lengthy and expensive project.
If the wiring problem started from within your home, then a handyman service may fix the issue. Let the electrician bring all the proper equipment in his visit. Hiring him will save you money and time so just allow him to take care of this electrical job.
Useful Reference Links
Wire-to-Wire Connector Product Roundup
How much does it cost to install a phone jack?
Five Common Problems With Wiring and Connections
