Telephone lines?

Question

Tim Jones · Answer

With no telephone service provider, it is still possible to plug in a non-powered phone (old skool) and dial 911 out. Nice to have in a major emergency, power outage, etc when all the cell phone towers get jammed up. Food for thought....TJ

J Scott · Answer

Not only do I not put in telephone lines, I no longer put in Ethernet or data cabling either.

These days, most people use wireless as their major means of data communication.  I built my house two years ago, wired with Cat 5 to every room, and it turns out I never even terminated the cables.  With high-speed wireless so cheap, easy and prevalent, I have no use for wired data.

And I imagine most other people are in the same situation...

Jim Adrian · Answer

I love the fact my house is cat5 wired and coax cable at the same outlet.  I like the options. Its a nice convenience for sure but it depends on how you want to use it. I like to stream tv via cable over wireless to eliminate any lag. With 5 data hog people in the house wireless would not work. Yes wireless is the thing people are doing but I think we are going to some push back for wired tv like in cat5 at least. If you put in cat5 please finish both ends of the wires. It was a headache to get someone out to finish the ends when we moved into the house all wired.

Ken Badziak · Answer

thanks @Peter Vekselman! Mostly I'm just curious; save for grandma's house, I can't remember the last time I saw a corded telephone line in a home anymore... I'm doing some light rehab on my personal residence and I'm ripping out the phone lines as I come across them.

Peter Vekselman · Answer

@Ken Badziak great question.

in the very low price points I would not worry about what lines to put in and would go with the cheapest.

BUT, anything beyond the war zones go with the new stuff.  In the end, you always want to have the best product out there.  these types of features will put you towards the top.

if you need more help just PM me.....

peter

Alex Wong · Answer

@J Scott My apologies. I meant cable for TV, not modem.

Alex Wong · Answer

My apologies, I meant the cable for TV, not modem.

J Scott · Answer

Typically, the modem is going to be located somewhere close to where the line comes into the house -- but, it's going to terminate somewhere on the exterior where the line comes to the house.  It's easier to just have the cable company run from outside to inside when you order service.  But, if you know for certain that the homeowner is going to want the modem somewhere else, you can certainly run coax from the main termination area to the modem location area.

That said, I don't see much benefit of having coax on every floor -- wireless routers and repeaters are common these days, so the extra terminations will likely never be used.  As I mentioned above, I wired my house with coax in every room when I built it a couple years ago -- still haven't terminated a single jack.

Alex Wong · Answer

Shouldn't the property at least have a coaxial cable jack on every floor to plug the wireless modem? If a house doesn't come with the jacks, how much does it cost to have the cable company wire it?

Telephone lines?

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