Replies

1. 
   Dinosaur | Jan 17, 2005 07:56am | #1

   I think your electrical contractor needs to pull wire again, not you. You did specify home runs; he did not do it according to spec; therefore: his problem, not yours.

   Hope your specifications were written out in the contract or agreement....

   Dinosaur

   'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

    

2. 
   BillHartmann | Jan 17, 2005 08:00am | #2

   Is this in all phones?

   Take a basic phone and try it on the test jack at Demarc.

   If it shows up there call the phone company.

3. 
   CPopejoy | Jan 17, 2005 08:07am | #3

   Longitudinal imbalance.  One of the leads of the active pair is longer than the other.  If you're near a transmitting tower, even a few inches of difference will serve as a very effective antenna.  Open up all the tel jack boxes and look for one lead longer than the other.

   And I agree with the previous poster, if you paid for home runs, get the contractor to install them.  If the contractor isn't responsive, and you have a written contract or work order, you may want to go to the contractor licensing board, the BBB, or the local contractors assn with a complaint.

   Good luck,

   Cliff

1. 
   BillHartmann | Jan 17, 2005 08:13am | #4

   A slightly bad connection can cause the signal to rectified.As can an imbalance in the circuit.The first thing to do is to eliminate phones then self and the phone co lines.First disconnect EVERYTHING from the phone line. Not just the phones, but modems, alarms, Tivo/Sat rec, answering machinges, faxes, call ID, external bells/flashers, EVERYTHING.And try it with one baic phone.

1. 
   etherhuffer | Jan 17, 2005 09:34am | #5

   Thanks guys. The walls were long closed up before we found out. The electrical guys were so bad we don't even want them back. 12" rings of hand prints around the boxes at finish time. A shorted dryer air switch that threw sparks when activated. This from a relatively well known contractor.

   About unequal leads: How much unequal? A few inches, fraction of inch? It appears the CAT5 is opened and pushed on the leads, the type where a sharp point penetrates the wire and makes the contact. I will indeed try pulling all the devices off line and start at the outside service and work my way in. "Democracy is when the people know exactly what they want, and get it good and hard." HL Mencken

1. 
   CPopejoy | Jan 18, 2005 07:31am | #6

   Inches.  Depending on how strong the RF signal is.

   Some troubleshooting suggestions.

   As a start,  take a phone that you know works well, and go to the network interface (system network interface [SNI]), also known as the phone box.  Inside the subscriber door, it should have a very short bit of line cord and a modular plug that's plugged into a jack.  Unplug that plug, and plug in the phone.  In Bellspeak, this is called "looking out", i.e., you're connected to the phone company's wiring directly, toward the central office.  Dial out, establish a connection, and check for the radio signal.  This will tell you if the problem is in the house wiring or the phone company wiring.  Even though it's not likely a phone company problem, it's worth ruling it out.

   Another possibility here is that the person who did the wiring used two leads that are not a pair.  That would really pick up a good bit of RF.  Also a lot of hum from AC power.  So it might be worthwhile to look at every jack and check the terminations.  Look for:

   --leads of the pair the same length (w/in a few millimeters)

   --leads terminated to each line on the jack are of the same pair of leads in the cable.

   --if the jack has screw terminals, the wire wrapped around each screw is cut off at the screw.  If the wire is left long , it often touches ine of the other terminal screws.  Talk about longitudinal imbalance!  That lead is then twice as long as the other leadof the pair.

   The way to address all of these sins is to just pull each jack and re-terminate it.  Maybe even use new jacks.

   If you don't want to re-terminate every jack, try isolating the segments of the loop and see when the problem goes away.  As mentioned, disconnect everything (including any central station alarm monitoring equipment) from the inside wiring.  Go to the jack furthest away from the SNI, and see if the radio signal is still on the line.  If so, go backwards from that jack, towards the SNI, and take a guess at which jack is about half way.  Disconnect the wiring at the halfway jack.  In troubleshooting, this is called the "rule of halfs".  The idea is to break the loop into segments, and see when the RG signal disappears.  When it does, you know that the problem is in the segment you just disconnected.  Then look for the mid-point of that segment, and so forth, until you pinpoint the problem.  Then you can try a different pair in the cable (to feed dialtone downstream), and see if that solves the problem.  If it was me, first I'd re-terminate all the jacks.  If that didn't do it, it could be a staple or nail piercing the cable and shorting one lead of the active pair to another lead. 

   I'd try a simple test for continuity, looking for opens and shorts between the leads of the pairs.  Hopefully, there's a good pair in the cable, and once you've found it, using that good pair will put you back in business.  Remember to label the bad pairs at each jack and at the SNI with a bit of white electrical tape and a sharpie ("bad pair").

   Good luck.

   Cliff

1. 
   etherhuffer | Jan 18, 2005 08:22am | #7

   Great! Downloaded and saved!"Democracy is when the people know exactly what they want, and get it good and hard." HL Mencken