With
do-it-yourself telephone wiring and accessory products now available
at many home center stores and most telephone center outlets, you
can add more phones in your home, modernize the present system,
and change existing phone locations to other, more convenient areas
in just an hour or two. The cost of the necessary supplies is moderate;
the skill needed amounts to little more than measuring, marking
and plugging in the necessary wires.
REQUIRED
TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT-
The key to a satisfactory phone system is to install quality telephones.
Always, without fail , test the tone quality of the telephone equipment
that you are considering. Many stores that sell phone equipment
have jack plug-ins so that you can dial a number to check the tone.
If the jack is not apparent, ask a salesperson about this service.
Sometimes stores keep the jacks out of sight to avoid misuse.
The
tools and accessories that you need include telephone wire, which
is 22 gauge, four-conductor, solid copper, designed to attach quickly
and easily to all do-it-yourself modular outlets and wire junctions.
Buy a telephone wire stripper. The stripper is also a staple holder
and ruler, and it has a slot for removing tabs from converters which
you might need.
Depending on your phone additions and as a general rule of thumb,
you will need a modular jack converter with or without a dust cover,
a wire junction with a modular plug that will handle four phone
connections, or a wire junction box that will handle three phone
connections. The tools that you will need are listed above; be sure
to include the standard-slot screwdriver and needlenose or electrical
pliers that can be used to cut fine wire.
PLAN
THE PROJECT FIRST-
To save time and money, make a rough sketch of the floor plan of
your home, marking in room dimensions. Then mark on the sketch where
you want the phones located. Take this plan to the store so you
can buy the right amount of wire and the connection boxes for the
telephone extensions.
Measure
or estimate the connections from the central phone wire entrance.
If the wire has to travel along a baseboard, through a wall, around
corners, up into
the attic, or down into the basement, the extra footage must be
included in your measuring estimates.
PRODUCT
SELECTION-
Do-it-yourself
telephone products usually are very carefully labeled as to what
they are and do. Heed the labels on the packages as you shop for
products.
To
update the system, if it is not already modular with a network interface
(a demarcation point for modular phone wiring systems; a silver
label identifies it where the phone lines enter your home), you
need only a modular jack.
A
straight modular jack is designed to permit installation of
a table-model telephone anywhere you want a phone to be. The jack
is connected to an existing jack or to a wired junction box, if
several new extensions outlets are required
A
modular jack with a protective cover is the same as a straight
modular jack, but with a cover to protect the connection from dust,
paint and moisture.
A
flush-mounted modular jack may or may not have a dust cover;
it is generally used for wall-mounted telephones, as in a kitchen.
Wire
junction boxes have modular plugs that let you connect up to
four phone wires to different parts of your home. The modular plug
is designed to connect the junction to a network interface or to
another existing modular outlet.
