Hyderabadghar/Do it your self/Connecting Telephones

A basic telephone system consists of a service entrance, a wire junction, telephone station cable, a surface- or flush-mounted wall jack, flat cable, and a telephone (Fig. 1)

Check with the authorities
Before you attempt to do any telephone wiring in your home, be sure to check with your state public service commission and local telephone company concerning rules and regulations that may apply to your work. National regulations, set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), also define your responsibilities with regard to system maintenance and hookup. For example, the telephone company may be responsible for central wiring to your home, while you are responsible for all of the wiring beyond the point of entrance, commonly called the point of demarcation. A modular wiring jack must also be provided that allows you to disconnect everything on your side of the demarcation point from everything on the other, public side of the telephone network.

Fig. 1

Telephone wiring
Telephone wiring is commonly available as four-conductor line cord and telephone station cable (Fig. 2). Line cord is the flat cord that connects your telephone or data transmission equipment to a telephone jack. It should not be used for anything else. Use telephone station cable between wire junctions and modular telephone jacks.

Telephone station cable for residential use typically consists of D-station wire that is color-coded for easy identification. Most home telephone systems require only four conducting wires (two-pair wire), with one pair for the phone and the remaining pair for a secondary line for a fax machine or modem.

How to wire a telephone jack
Up to three jacks may be wired to one wire junction. You can route telephone wires from the network junction box, independently to each jack, in a straight line connecting the jacks in an open loop, or in a closed loop that returns to the junction box. A wire break to an independent jack will only cut service to the phone on that one line. A break in an open-loop system cuts service to any phones beyond the break. But a break in a closed-loop system won't stop a signal from traveling to the break point from either direction.

Below are guidelines on how to connect one modular jack to a wire junction, and a telephone to the modular jack.

Fig. 2

PROJECT BASICS

Project: Moderate
Estimated Project Time: Varies with the number of jacks and phones on the system
Start Tips: Check with authorities about regulations that may apply to your work.
Safety Tips: When cutting holes in walls and ceilings for fishing cable, be sure not to cut into existing electrical cable or pipes.
Recommendation: Do-it-Yourself

TOOLS & MATERIALS

Telephone wire junction	Cable staples, as needed
D-station telephone cable	Wire stripper
Long-nose pliers	Insulated screwdrivers
Fish tape (nonmetallic), as needed	Telephone jack
Utility knife or other tools, as needed to cut holes in walls and ceiling for fishing cable	Telephone line tester
Measuring tape

Fig. 3

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Wire the telephone junction
Remove 2 inches of sheathing from the end of a length of D-station telephone cable, exposing the insulated wires inside. Be sure that the cable is long enough to reach the location of your new telephone jack. No jack should be more than 200 feet from the telephone service entrance. If your wire junction, or connecting block, has color-coded screw terminals, then strip the cable wires, and connect them to the appropriately colored terminals in the wire junction. (Fig. 3)

Newer phone systems, instead of screw-terminal junction blocks, use punch-down, or connection, blocks. They are also known as insulation displacement connectors (IDCs). A standard M, or 66, block has connections for 25 pairs of wires. Additional blocks can be added if needed. A special punch-down tool presses the telephone wires into a 66 block, eliminating the need to strip the wires before connecting them to the block.

2) Run the telephone station cable
Fish the telephone station cable through the wall, or run it along the wall and secure with non-pinch staples, from the wire junction to the location of your new telephone jack. Be careful not to run telephone wiring within 6 inches of parallel circuit wiring or within 5 feet of any bare wiring. Also, avoid running telephone wire near receptacles or other potential causes of electrical interference.

Fig. 7

4) Test the jack
After the outlet has been mounted, the jack is ready for testing. Insert the plug end of a telephone line tester into the jack (Fig. 7). If the jack is correctly wired, then the LED on the box will glow green; if not, it will glow red. The line tester will not light if no connection has been made.

Fig. 8

5) Test the telephone
Plug the telephone into the jack; then listen for a dial tone (Fig. 8). If there is no tone, disassemble the jack and recheck the wiring. If there is a dial tone, then try dialing a number. The dial tone should cease after you begin to dial. If it does not, then the wires must be reversed. Reconnect the wires in the proper sequence.