RBM wrote:
"HorneTD" wrote in message
k.net...

wrote:

How can I extend five phone lines by 15-ft each?

I am in the process of re-organizing the telephone connections at the
central panel. Currently, all five phone lines coming from various
rooms in my house home run into a distribution block in an area in the
basement. Originally, this was OK. Unfortunately, when I finished the
basement, I didn't take that area into account, and now that area is
very hard to reach. I plan to move the distribution block to a
different area that is easily accessible.

The problem is that four out of five phone lines don't have any slack;
this means I cannot move them to the new location without extending
them somehow. What is the right way to extend them?

Should I use a phone-line junction box?
Should I use wire-nuts?
Should I use something called Scotchlok connectors in place of wire
nuts?
Should I turn the end of the phone line into a plug and use a phone
line coupler?

Phone line junction box seems to be a logical choice especially for a
phone line that has 2-pairs of wires (4 wires total); a junction box is
designed to handle 4-wires anyway; this will be a perfect fit. But one
phone line has 4-pairs of wire (8 wires total) (it is probably a cat-5
cable). If I use a junction box for a 8-wire phone line, I will lose
the potential future use of 4 wires.

Should I use phone line junction box for the lines that have 2-pairs of
wires and use cat-5 coupler and plugs for the line that has 4-pairs of
wires?

Please note that the junction area will be hidden behind ceiling tiles;
therefore, appearance is not an issue.
Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan


I would suggest that you buy the button type of Insulation Displacing
Connectors (IDCs) and use them to splice on new cable segments on a wire
for wire basis. The advantages of the IDCs is that you can apply them
without any special tool and they take up less space then a 66 block. You
then wire the extended cables to a 66M block that is installed at the new
junction location. It is customary to wire the incoming lines to the left
side of the 66 bock and then bridge those lines down to additional rows on
the same side to match the telephone stations each line will serve. The
telephone station wiring is then connected to the pins on the opposite
side of the 66M block with one wire per row. Only one conductor is
punched down onto any given pin. The bridging clips are used to connect
the incoming telco wiring to the interior station wiring. This is done to
make trouble shooting easier because removing the bridging clips will
isolate any individual station wiring from the outside plant and all other
internal station wiring.
--
Tom H
If you can't relocate the five lines to an area where you can set up
a punch block, 3M makes gel filled crimp on splices for telephone wire.
just stick unstripped wires into crimp and squeeze with plier. great
contact with no oxidation

Those wouldn't be the IDCs I mentioned in the post to which you replied
would they. Why yes they would. Is there an echo in here echo in here
echo in here.
--
Tom H