drears@pica.army.mil (Dennis G. Rears (FSAC)) (08/25/90)
I recently decided to checkout fully all the telephone wiring in my
house. All the extensions are wired directly to the unit in the
basement. I found many things that were wierd. First I have five
rooms with active connections. I had nine pairs of wire attached to
the unit though. Four of them led to various places in the basement
and were then cut. I removed them.
The interesting thing is that all the cables except for one was
"standard" cable with red, green, black, and yellow wires. The one that
wasn't I had never seen before. It consisted of three individual cables
jacketed with a string like material and twisted together. Only two
of the wires were used. It was as thick as thin wire ethernet. Has
anyone ever seen such cable.
BTW, John H. suggested I get Quad E jacketed wire to replace some of
my broken wiring. I haven't been able to find any. I went to the
AT&T phone store at the local mall and they had no idea what I wanted.
They did try to sell me a Merlin system when they found out I had
lines (really!).
My phone service goes out when it rains hard. I have two lines, a 989
and 361 exchange. It seems as if the 989 will go out everytime it
rains and the 361 about 50% of the time. The 361 will never go out
unless the 989 goes out. When the service is out parties calling get
a busy signal.
I have service with NJ Bell. I have a relatively new (eight months)
Network Interface Unit on the side of the house. Two black wires
about the size of coax come from the NIU to the unit in the basement
about a distance of ten feet. In the basement I have two units (one
for each line) that takes one wire and splits it into the red and green
component. I have tested that unit and found that it is dead or
nothing but static when it rains. Current is getting there but no
dial tone.
Two other wires come from the NIU on the side of the house. One is
grounded to the metal spike on the ground. The other goes two inches into
the basement and is cut off. NJ Bell has come out and stated the problem
is not with their stuff. Any idea what I should do? BTW, is there a
name for what I call the unit that takes the wire from the NIU and breaks
it into two components?
Dennis
[Moderator's Note: Judging from your comments about antique wiring, I
suggest you have a problem with water getting into something. The next
time this happens, why don't you try to isolate exactly where the
problem is? Lift everything off the network block where NJ Bell enters
your home. Allow a few seconds for the line to reset and see if dial
tone is heard at that point (the network block). If it is heard on
both lines, then the trouble is on your side. If you get no dial tone
on either or both lines *at the network block, with everything
removed* then call NJB and tell them there is no dial tone at the
'demarc'. PAT]