Age old Demarc Issue

[emccomb]

I recently purchased a home that is 50 years old. I have two lines of phone service being transferred to my new home. It appears that the old phone lines contain only three wires (yellow, red, green) no black. Fortunately I have renovated a portion of the home that required new phone jacks and have used Cat 5 for that. I am attempting to connect my new lines to my Demarc Box to use my second line (which is active from the phone comany).

My difficulty comes with understanding how to work with existing Demarc Box. It is inside in the ceiling of the basement and I have total access to it. It appears to only have two connections Red and Green. Does this mean it will have be updated to include Black/Yellow to host my Orange/Orange and White wires for line two?
Can this been done?

Let me know if my question needs clarity.

Many thanks,
Eager for a dail tone:)

[mdshunk]

Post a pic. What you describe sounds more like the old carbon arrestor, and not the demarc. That should be outside, but maybe not.

[emccomb]

Well I am on the verge of a mini breakdown. I took pics with digital camera and then (due to moving two days ago) could not locate transfer cable. Then I took pics with my phone but could not figure out how to email them to myself (I always thought the picture feature was dumb). Went to Best Buy for new cord for camera---was able to transfer pictures but alas the files are too large to post on Forum. I will keep trying....

[emccomb]

Let me know what you think!

[mdshunk]

Neither of those is your demarc. The one on the left is what they used to call a "house block", and is basically a splice point for your own use. The one on the right is the arrestor. The demarc should be in a grey or tan box on the outside of the house. If you don't have one, the phone company will install one for free. There are a few houses here and there that escaped having a traditional demarc installed. Look outside for where the phone wires attach to your house, and follow them down to see if you do have a more traditional demarc. There is no "line 2" in any of your pics. Just the old 3-wire party line stuff.

[TraderDen]

ya, older homes a lot of times do not even have a demarc point...

you mentioned that your 2nd line is active to your home already??? im wondering if the tech installed a demarc like mdshunk referenced, but only for the 2nd line. if so, id have them back out to terminate both lines at the demarc on the outside of your home. worst case scenario, the guy is a jerk and will attempt to charge you for it... you are backed up by the fcc though, which states that the end user must have a way to disconnect from the network. in your case, that point would be the arrestor for your main line. and probably a traditional ebn(entrance bridge) for your newly installed 2nd line. the only thing the tele company has to do is provide you with an entrance bridge for your main line.

[emccomb]

Both.. TraderDen and mdshunk for the information. Telephone company scheduled to come on this Friday to make everything work....there is no box outside and I have requested one. We will see how it goes.....

Thanks again!

[AllanJ]

Now that your second line is installed and live, I don't think the telephone company can charge you for either the visit or the demark box they put in at a later date, if you did not make the request. You could install an ordinary modular jack where the live second line ended just inside your home and an ordinary modular phone plug connected to the rest of the phone wiring you installed yourself will serve as the disconnect. Your first line can stay the way it was.

[AllanJ]

Now that your second line is installed and live, I don't think the telephone company can charge you for either the visit or the demark box they put in at a later date, if you did not make the request. You could install an ordinary modular jack where the live second line ended just inside your home and an ordinary modular phone plug connected to the rest of the phone wiring you installed yourself will serve as the disconnect. Your first line can stay the way it was. The arrestor continues to serve just the first line.

If the phone company puts in a demarc box, they will probably put in a dual demarc box for both lines.

[emccomb]

Thanks for all the information! The phone company installed a box for both lines outside my home and now I am on board with the rest of the the communicating world!
...and for free!

Now on to my plumbing....