Beowulf wrote:
Any help greatly appreciated! I had phone service reactivated to my home
(giving up cell phone)-- the phone line (black) comes into my wall to my
basement rafter, consists of two plain wires that each connect to a pole
(bolt with nut) on a thing that is connected to a basement rafter.

Ok, so I know I connect the wires from the phone lines to those two poles
where the main line comes in, but is the order important? What I mean is,
I know phones generally only need only two lines, such as green and red,
for usage, so I attach the gree and red wires to each of the two poles of
the thing on the rafter, but does it matter which pole gets red and which
gets the green?

Also, the modular phone jacks have terminals for green, red, black, and
yellow, which I connect, but are the black and yellow really needed if
only green and red are attached to the main pole terminal on the basement
rafter? And if the black and yellow are needed, is their order of
attachment on the main pole terminal important, and should the black go
with the green, and the yellow with the red?

I appreciate any help, I am having one hell of a time getting this sorted
out, in part because of the phone company-- they hooked my up to my house,
I had a dial tone, then 5 minutes later the line went dead; there was no
dial tone at the "Demarc(ation) box" phone jack so I know the problem for
now is on their end. Their repair is coming back to check for a short etc
at the main box. But once they confirm a dial tone at the box I am on my
own, frustrating and I want to understand this to get my phones working
once I have a signal from the phone company.

Thank you in advance,
Randall


If you feel the side of the black drop wire that runs between the NID
and the protector on your basement rafter you will find that one side of
it is ridged.

The old time lineman's limerick was:

The ring is ridged or red, readable to ground, and it terminates on the
right.

So the red wires from your inside wiring terminate on the right hand
side of your old protector if the ridged side of that drop wire is
terminated on that side. If the protector is not mounted vertically
with the drop wires terminated on the left and right then you should ask
more questions. Keeping the polarity of those wires consistent will
help you with trouble shooting later. If you ever add a second
telephone line or install an intercom you will need the black and yellow
wires so instead of cutting them off the best practice is to wrap them
back around the cable jacket so they remain available if needed.
--
Tom Horne

"people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve
neither and will lose both" Benjamin Franklin