Phone Jack

[John]

Hello,

I'm an amateur when it comes to repairing things.

I have static on my phone line and called the phone company. They came
out and everything is ok at the NID outside. I have located the jack
with the problem. It's a jacks that my DSL and phone like connect to.
I swapped DSL filters and that is not the problem. I then plugged in
the phone line directly into the jack and I hear static. I want to
check or replace the jack, but I don't know how hard this would be. I
heard that there are 4 wires only that need to be undone and
reattached to the phone jack.

Questions:

Do the wires just screw into the jack or are they soldered?

Is there any issue with electricity or anything? Meaning do I need to
turn off a breaker or is not needed.

How hard is it for me to replace a jack?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Tom Biasi]

"John" <stepri@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:bple361bbefuffqejlpi26fikohf81452r@4ax.com...

Hello,

I'm an amateur when it comes to repairing things.

I have static on my phone line and called the phone company. They came
out and everything is ok at the NID outside. I have located the jack
with the problem. It's a jacks that my DSL and phone like connect to.
I swapped DSL filters and that is not the problem. I then plugged in
the phone line directly into the jack and I hear static. I want to
check or replace the jack, but I don't know how hard this would be. I
heard that there are 4 wires only that need to be undone and
reattached to the phone jack.

Questions:

Do the wires just screw into the jack or are they soldered?

Is there any issue with electricity or anything? Meaning do I need to
turn off a breaker or is not needed.

How hard is it for me to replace a jack?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

The four wires are color coded and the jack will have the colors indicated
near the screw terminals.
The danger of electrical shock is very low. If the phone rings when you are
across the line you may get a little buzz.
How hard will it be for you to do this? I don't know you but it is a low
difficulty repair.

Tom

 

[Tim Wescott]

On 07/09/2010 10:07 AM, John wrote:

Hello,

I'm an amateur when it comes to repairing things.

I have static on my phone line and called the phone company. They came
out and everything is ok at the NID outside. I have located the jack
with the problem. It's a jacks that my DSL and phone like connect to.
I swapped DSL filters and that is not the problem. I then plugged in
the phone line directly into the jack and I hear static. I want to
check or replace the jack, but I don't know how hard this would be. I
heard that there are 4 wires only that need to be undone and
reattached to the phone jack.

Questions:

Do the wires just screw into the jack or are they soldered?

Not soldered. Residential style jacks have screw terminals; there are
some commercial style modular jacks but unless your house was wired by a
nutcase* you won't have that.

Is there any issue with electricity or anything? Meaning do I need to
turn off a breaker or is not needed.

Phone lines are separately powered from your house electricity. That's
why, if you have an old-style "POTS" phone, it'll still work when the
power goes out.

There's about 48V standing on the line, which only hurts if you
accidentally stick yourself with two wires (I've worked on phones often
enough to do that, for my sins). Even then it only hurts, but doesn't
harm. Ring voltage is 120V, so you'll feel it with a vengence.

If it worries you, unplug the phone at the entrance jack.

How hard is it for me to replace a jack?

For _you_? I don't know -- I've seen the stuff of horror stories done
by beginners.

You can't screw up anything permanently beyond that one jack -- the
worst you could do would be to grab the cable and manage to pull it out
of the wall, hard enough to damage your in-house wiring. You'd almost
have to do that on purpose, though. Even shorting the wires together
won't damage anything; it'll just bring down your phone service until
you figure it out.

Go slow, put everything back the way you found it, and you should be OK.

Note that your problem is a loose connection that may not be at the jack
-- replace the jack, try it out, and if you still have a problem you'll
need to find the other end of the wire (there's probably a break-out
block close to the house entry point) and check connections there.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

* I have those, so I can put a bazzilion jacks in at each station -- but
I'm widely recognized as a nutcase.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

 

[John]

Note that your problem is a loose connection that may not be at the jack
-- replace the jack, try it out, and if you still have a problem you'll
need to find the other end of the wire (there's probably a break-out
block close to the house entry point) and check connections there.

Is there break out box NID safe to disconnect and reconnect wires at?

Any electrical issues there?

 

[John]

I noticed a small grey plastic box that is near the NID. Is that the
external phone line box?

 

[Tim Wescott]

On 07/09/2010 01:02 PM, John wrote:

I noticed a small grey plastic box that is near the NID. Is that the
external phone line box?

I'm kinda using "external interface" and "NID" interchangably. The NID

(or whatever it's called) should have a regular old phone plug in it,
with a little pivoting hood that captures the plug and hides it. Look
for a quarter-circle thingy with a tiny handle and an arc-shaped slot in
it. Better yet, Google around until you find a picture.

Pivot the hood away, unplug the plug, and your house is now disconnected
from the network. The idea is that the NID gives a very clear
demarcation between the phone company's stuff and your stuff --
everything that's permanently attached to the NID is the phone company's
responsibility; the rest is yours.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

 

[Wayne]

Hello,

I am just lurking around here, but could it be the phone itself ?

--
Wayne
"John" <stepri@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:bple361bbefuffqejlpi26fikohf81452r@4ax.com...

Hello,

I'm an amateur when it comes to repairing things.

I have static on my phone line and called the phone company. They came
out and everything is ok at the NID outside. I have located the jack
with the problem. It's a jacks that my DSL and phone like connect to.
I swapped DSL filters and that is not the problem. I then plugged in
the phone line directly into the jack and I hear static. I want to
check or replace the jack, but I don't know how hard this would be. I
heard that there are 4 wires only that need to be undone and
reattached to the phone jack.

Questions:

Do the wires just screw into the jack or are they soldered?

Is there any issue with electricity or anything? Meaning do I need to
turn off a breaker or is not needed.

How hard is it for me to replace a jack?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hello,

I am just lurking around here, but could it be the phone itself ? I had
static on a phone, it was the handset cord.

--
Wayne

 

[ED]

"Wayne" <NOwaynerrSPAM@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:SOOdnegaV9NbGqrRnZ2dnUVZ_uednZ2d@giganews.com...

Hello,

I am just lurking around here, but could it be the phone itself ?

--
Wayne,

I am just lurking around here, but could it be the phone itself ? I had
static on a phone, it was the handset cord.

--
Wayne

I agree with you Wayne, 95% of the time it's the phone handset cord

causing the problem that the OP describes. It would be helpful if
a different phone was used to test the jack.

 

[whit3rd]

On Jul 9, 12:24 pm, John <ste...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Note that your problem is a loose connection that may not be at the jack

Is there break out box NID safe to disconnect and reconnect wires at?

Yes, of course. When the telco service guy told you it was all
OK to the box, he knew that because he disconnected your
house wiring (it's a clearly marked plug inside most boxes
that accomplishes this) to do the test.

In addition to the house wiring, your phoneset noise COULD be
caused by the phone-to-the-wall wire as well.