Here is my situation:

My phone line goes to all the rooms on the 1st floor of the house and
then up to the rooms on the 2nd floor. Unfortunatly, I can't get a
signal on the 2nd floor (it doesn't have the 50V on the line like
downstairs). So I tell myself the line going from the 1st to the 2nd
must be cut somewhere, so I decide to cut that line myself at an easily
accessible point on the 1st floor just before it goes the 2nd floor.

I did a few tests...

1) Checked the line voltage on the 1st floor side: 50V, everything ok.
2) Checked the line resistance on the 2nd floor side: infinite, so there
is no short between the wires or one or both wires are cut as I suspect.
3) On the side going to the 2nd floor, I tied both line wires together
and went to the 2nd floor to test the resistance of the line: 2.8 Ohms,
which would indicate that neither of the wires from the line is cut...

In that case, how could it be that no signal was getting to the 2nd
floor? If you have any ideas what other things I could check for, please
let me know.

Thanks,
Zwox

I think that I understand your testing methods (I assume your phone was
working on the first floor, but not the second when you started this
process) and results and agree with your conclusion that there is now
connectivity from the 2nd floor phone jack(s) to the point where you made
the cut. What happens when you now reconnect the wires that you previously
cut? If you get the -48V then you can assume that there is likely an
intermittent (or resistive) connection that you have somehow moved/jostled
enough so that it is now making a (better) connection.

I'd then check the obvious junction points since it is possible that a wire
has broken, possibly was not stripped sufficiently, or that a screw was
never tightened down somewhere in a wall jack or junction box. While it
also may be possible that you have a break in the wire inside the cable
itself, this is less likely unless there is an obvious kink or an
inadvertent staple that went through the wire casing.

Good luck!

Bob

"Zwox" wrote in message
.. .
Here is my situation:

My phone line goes to all the rooms on the 1st floor of the house and
then up to the rooms on the 2nd floor. Unfortunatly, I can't get a
signal on the 2nd floor (it doesn't have the 50V on the line like
downstairs). So I tell myself the line going from the 1st to the 2nd
must be cut somewhere, so I decide to cut that line myself at an easily
accessible point on the 1st floor just before it goes the 2nd floor.

I did a few tests...

1) Checked the line voltage on the 1st floor side: 50V, everything ok.
2) Checked the line resistance on the 2nd floor side: infinite, so there
is no short between the wires or one or both wires are cut as I suspect.
3) On the side going to the 2nd floor, I tied both line wires together
and went to the 2nd floor to test the resistance of the line: 2.8 Ohms,
which would indicate that neither of the wires from the line is cut...

In that case, how could it be that no signal was getting to the 2nd
floor? If you have any ideas what other things I could check for, please
let me know.

Thanks,
Zwox

Bob Shuman wrote:
I think that I understand your testing methods (I assume your phone
was working on the first floor, but not the second when you started
this process) and results and agree with your conclusion that there
is now connectivity from the 2nd floor phone jack(s) to the point
where you made the cut. What happens when you now reconnect the
wires that you previously cut? If you get the -48V then you can
assume that there is likely an intermittent (or resistive) connection
that you have somehow moved/jostled enough so that it is now making a
(better) connection.

I'd then check the obvious junction points since it is possible that
a wire has broken, possibly was not stripped sufficiently, or that a
screw was never tightened down somewhere in a wall jack or junction
box. While it also may be possible that you have a break in the wire
inside the cable itself, this is less likely unless there is an
obvious kink or an inadvertent staple that went through the wire
casing.

I was never crazy about the 'daisy chain' method of phone wiring. In the
OP's case, I think I'd check that all the upstairs jacks were in fact
connected together; and do a 'home run' to the terminal box from the first
(or last) one in line. While that wouldn't eliminate all of the chaining,
it would be a good way to get some redundancy in the network without
rewiring every jack.

Personally, I'm a big believer in home runs, back to a central point, for
each phone jack...probably a little anal, but if one wire opens up it's a
lot easier to troubleshoot...and doesn't bring down the entire service.
OTOH, if one jack shorts, it's still a problem.

jak

Good luck!

Bob

"Zwox" wrote in message
.. .
Here is my situation:

My phone line goes to all the rooms on the 1st floor of the house and
then up to the rooms on the 2nd floor. Unfortunatly, I can't get a
signal on the 2nd floor (it doesn't have the 50V on the line like
downstairs). So I tell myself the line going from the 1st to the 2nd
must be cut somewhere, so I decide to cut that line myself at an
easily accessible point on the 1st floor just before it goes the 2nd
floor.

I did a few tests...

1) Checked the line voltage on the 1st floor side: 50V, everything
ok. 2) Checked the line resistance on the 2nd floor side: infinite,
so there is no short between the wires or one or both wires are cut
as I suspect. 3) On the side going to the 2nd floor, I tied both
line wires together and went to the 2nd floor to test the resistance
of the line: 2.8 Ohms, which would indicate that neither of the
wires from the line is cut...

In that case, how could it be that no signal was getting to the 2nd
floor? If you have any ideas what other things I could check for,
please let me know.

Thanks,
Zwox