Reccomended Type Of Wire For DSL Phone Line?
ARC_Stig
Newbie
I have my DSL modem on its own jack, and I need too replace the wiring from the jack to the service box, its currently half thermostat wire (for furnaces and such) and half phone line, I understand there are different types of wire, so I am wondering which type is the best, what I currently have is the flat 4 wire stranded, instead of solid, I am told that isnt reccommended. So I need to know what to get, that will work the best. 🙂
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Re: Reccomended Type Of Wire For DSL Phone Line?
westom
Contributor - Level 1

>  So I need to know what to get, that will work the best

  Install Cat-5 wire. 

  Also useful is to install a jack near the service entrance (and inside) so that all other wires to the service entrance connect via a filter.  One filter located as close to the service entrance (NID box) makes any other problematic wires irrelevant to DSL.  The filter means all other wires (after the filter) do not harm DSL signals.

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Re: Reccomended Type Of Wire For DSL Phone Line?
larryw9999
Contributor - Level 1

ARC_Stig wrote:
I have my DSL modem on its own jack, and I need too replace the wiring from the jack to the service box, its currently half thermostat wire (for furnaces and such) and half phone line, I understand there are different types of wire, so I am wondering which type is the best, what I currently have is the flat 4 wire stranded, instead of solid, I am told that isnt reccommended. So I need to know what to get, that will work the best. 🙂

Aside from using cat-5 as the previous post suggests, typical inside wire telephone wire is a beige plastic covered 2 pair (4 wire) phone wire. Each wire is solid and not braided wire. You can probably get it in different lengths from a nearby lowes or home depot.

Typically, the red and green wire are used as the tip and ring connections for line 1 in your house. The black and yellow wire are used for line 2 if you have a second line or as spare wires in case either the red or green have an issue. A pair of wires will be needed to be connected at the entry point of your service and connected to the phone jack that you will connect the dsl modem to. Use the red and green.

Hope this helps.

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Re: Reccomended Type Of Wire For DSL Phone Line?
westom
Contributor - Level 1

OPs wiring is completely acceptable to POTS.  But that wiring is also why all major telcos, in unison, went to the FCC to demand an national standard of Cat-3 wire.  FCC balked saying that was outside their mandate.  But telcos prevailed saying there was no other regulatory agency to set that inside the house wiring standard and because inferior wiring could cause poor customer service for newer technologies.  A major difference between traditional wire and minimally acceptable wire:  each pair is twisted with its mate.

  Cat-3 is the minimum wiring for any new installation.  Cat-5 is what most install.

Traditional color codes were posted by larryw9999.  Cat wire uses different colors (ie blue and orange).  Best is to keep these tip and rings on proper colored wire.  It does not affect service.  But mating colored wires accordingly does significantly help the repair tech to reduce complexity; to solve difficult problems.

Colors for traditional and for CAT wire:

Ring:                        Red     ::   Blue

Tip:                          Green  ::   Blue with White

Secondary Ring:  Yellow    ::  Orange

Secondaray Tip:  Black      ::  Orange with White.

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