[comp.dcom.telecom] TELECOM Digest V8 #88

Thompson.PA@XEROX.COM (06/02/88)

Re:
----------------------------------------------------------------
>Subject: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring)
>Date: 27 May 88 23:48:21 GMT
>Reply-To: mdf@tut.cis.osu-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman)

>My house was built in the 1920's and was wired for telephone with 3
>wires.  I can understand two or four, but three?  Why?

The three wire are TIP, RING and GROUND (or SLEEVE in the CO).  In a residence
phone with multi-party service it was used to split the ringing circuit.  For
two party service they would ring from either TIP or RING to GROUND.  The
conversation took place across TIP and RING.

	Geoff

Geoffrey O. Thompson
Xerox Corporation
475 Oakmead Parkway
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
		U.S.A
		
Telephone: (408) 737-4690
ARPA Mail: Thompson.OSBUNorth@Xerox.COM

dave@westmark.UUCP (Dave Levenson) (06/04/88)

In article <880601-154524-5927@Xerox>, Thompson.PA@XEROX.COM writes:
> >Subject: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring)
...
> The three wire are TIP, RING and GROUND (or SLEEVE in the CO)...

Ground and Sleeve are not equivalent.  Sleeve is used to mark a line
as being busy.  It is grounded sometimes.  Ground, on the other
hand, is always grounded, and (as the original poster reported) is
used to selectively ring the parties on a two-party line.

-- 
Dave Levenson
Westmark, Inc.		The Man in the Mooney
Warren, NJ USA
{rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave