Questions and Answers
TROUBLE ISSUES this page:
- Testing your own line service/How
to (general –
- Protection and test-back devices (eg: the modern ‘NID’)
- Protecting you and your home (Line Protection/Safety standards and Grounding)
Ques: " My line is dead" (or "My line is noisy"). How do I determine if the fault is in my house.. or with my service provider?
Ans: You may well be able to determine where the fault lies. If you own a newer house, or perhaps you’ve been visited by a (Telco) Field Service rep within the past four or five years, chances are your service has been fitted/updated at the side of the house with the newer, lockable, ‘California-style’, Network Interface Box (NIB). See photo
Figure 1: The Network Interface box. Often referred to as ‘The Quake Box’, there is a reason for this name
Perhaps, in past years, I placed one of these NID-boxes for you during my ‘rounds’. Note the padlock: The padlock belongs to the homeowner. I will have advised you at that time to get yourself a padlock from the local Hardware Store and lock the box, as herein lies your ‘test-back’ point at times like this.
On opening a NIB box, you will find the NID (Network Interface Device) protection module inside. It has a ‘tab’ which you pinch-to-open, separating your housewiring (jacks) from the Telephone Network.
What becomes evident quickly to you on opening this device is that you now have a standard (RJ11) plug-in point that, with the housewiring now ‘detached’), is virtually a ‘clean’ line back to the Exchange Central Office. (Understand that you ‘rent’ your service from the phone company and they are responsible for its good operation …to this point).
Q: OK.. can I actually test my line now??
A: Yes. You will be needing a standard, plug-in telephone set to test with. Be sure it’s in good operating condition. (you may have go next door to test it using the neighbour’s line).
Q: My test phone is working and I have dialtone, how can I judge the quality of the line?
A: Having found dialtone at the NID, you should clear away the ‘tone’ frequency (dial ‘6’)… then just listen to the clarity of your ‘live’ line. Hang up. Make a call and chat a minute or two. (Remember also that any 'noises' you might hear.. might be caused by the very instrument you’re holding in your hand!!)
Finding dialtone at the NID means:
1) You can use a long line/extension cord from the protection block plug-in, and run it in through a window or doorway. It means you can now make calls and answer the phone, effectively having by-passed the fault that exists inside the house
2) You are considered N-O-S (Not Out-of-Service) in the eyes of your Service Provider, and the problem has temporarily been removed from the Network.
3) You have trouble inside the house (a ‘billable’ call should they ‘roll a truck’ out to your house).
Ques: I don’t have one of these modern NID
Interface boxes. I have something like
this:
…..Can I still test my line coming into the house with these older ‘hardwired’ types?
Ans: NO. Your TSP (Telco Service Provider - The Phone Company) may deem that, really, it is still (theirs). Also, if you do not know what you are doing, tampering is NOT ADVISABLE because, first and foremost, THESE ARE PROTECTION DEVICES (electrical).
These older-style ‘protection’ blocks ‘hard-wire’ all jacks and jack runs to the telephone network and you’re going to need help here, most likely. If the fault is found to be something (Non-TSP) attached to the Network, the current owner will be assessed charges involved in removing the trouble it has created.
Have the Phone Company come out to repair your current trouble and insist they install a new, lockable, NID-box while they are there. They are usually quite obliging if they have the time to replace it.
Since the advent of ‘add-your-own’ phone equipment/devices/modems etc. and competition in Local Service, all homes should have been NIB-fitted, clearly defining ‘points-of-responsibility’ and, most importantly, allowing the user ‘test-back’ capability. Clearly, to date, the CRTC has not addressed this issue in a way that is meaningful to all parties.
Ques: We still have the original ‘dual-post/fused’ type protection device mounted on the wall by our water heater. It was installed when the house was built, back about 1959.
Can I test the line at that point?
A: NO. (See the previous answer about the older-style (hardwired) protection device). Same principle here. Again, call the phone company and have them put in the new (updated) isolator/test-back NID box for your use. The new box (lockable) gets installed on the side of the house, usually near your BC Hydro meter (where there is access to a ‘ground’ (EGN) for the protection module. NOTE: You are required to provide a suitable (Hydro) ground to that side of the house where the telephone line comes to the house, from the street should your Hydro box be located elsewhere.
Q: The old ‘ground’ wire goes to our cold water pipe. Can the telephone company not continue to use that for ‘ground’?
A: NO.
Simply because newer water pipe or replacement water pipe,
(from-the-road-to-the-house) will often NOT be ¾”
COPPER PIPE, but a ¾” ABS or PVC
plastic pipe.
SAFETY NOTE: IF YOU’VE HAD THE COLD WATER MAIN REPLACED (and the phone-line ground is still attached to the cold water pipe in THE HOUSE), you have a reason to be concerned, as the GROUNDING HAS EFFECTIVELY BEEN REMOVED, AND YOUR LINE(s) (INCLUDING PHONES/fax machine/modem) IS NOW IN AN ‘UNPROTECTED’ ELECTRICAL STATE.
Q: Why should I be
concerned if the grounding at this 'protection block' has been removed,
or is not up-to-standard at my house?
A: Is this YOUR house? Pictures of melted down (plastic) phones/fax
machines/modems, (and subsequent fires) from electrical
faults/intrusions/lightning strikes, etc., having ‘hit’ the telephone network,
soon reveals the need for proper grounding/protection for the house/line,
immediately! This ‘oversight’ will
all-too-often go un-noticed.
Ques: "In your experience, what is the number one cause of ‘dead’ or ‘noisy’ lines?"
Ans: The leading causes of this condition occurs within (or around) the house itself and stems mainly from older, perhaps even 'forgotten' jacks (or wiring) that never get used. As no telephone device is plugged into these jacks, (sometimes for years at a time), these are left open to accumulating dust. (remember, a live (electrically charged) jack attracts dust). Over time, an open jack builds up enough dust inside that (the build-up of particles) eventually allows arc-ing between the pins. How ?: The AC (90Volt ring current) finally finds that the dust gives a path-of-least-resistance that it can readily 'jump' across.
You end up having a condition known a the 'RING TRIP' (characterized by one short ring... and your incoming call stops ringing! What precedes this condition is usually characterized by a couple of years of annoying 'static on the line' until finally, (add a little dampness and) ..the line becomes completely shorted out. Inspecting a jack like this with a penlight will usually always reveal 'blackened' pins (or green with corrosion). The connector 'pins' should be gold coloured like this (new one pictured on the right, below). Jacks are inexpensive. I recommend you have them replaced
Below: A real trouble-maker: the redundant jack.. left laying on a concrete foundation, abandoned during a kitchen renovation (and never disconnected).
Ques: I have called electricians on this and most seem reluctant with anything to do with telephone wiring work. Why is this?
Ans: Sometimes it’s just best to stick to that which one knows best and choose to work to accepted industry standards, whatever you do. Also, some may remember that telephone tech apprenticeships were four years in length.