Telephone Equipment. What test equipment needed to find correct cable/phone line?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. Isn't there an electronic device that I can plug into the phone jack (connect to one end of the cable) and have it make a signal (noise) that I can then go to the phone room and find the cable that the signal is coming from? What is the name of this electronic device? What is this piece of test equipment called?

A. I need to add a phone/extension in one of the rooms in our small office. It has an existing connection/extension, so it was likely connected at one time, but is no longer active. We have a small office, with about 30 phones in 12 rooms, and a central, small phone room. The phones have been moved around over the years, so we have some currently non-active jacks, with possible cables running to our central phone room. Lots of ways to do this. And several names for each of the devices used to trace the pairs/wires. So if you don't have a cabling plan for the office the next best thing is to connect a buzz set, we called ours, or an audio signal where you want to connect the phone. Find the pair in your cabling/telephone closet and go from there. Are you aware for the color coding schemes for telephones and the like? If not now is a good time to learn. If all this is greek to you find someone like me who understands what to do. am about to rent a storage/shop facility and am considering security options. I'm assuming that any security system I install or have installed will require a communication link. Further I assume that the most likely link will be a physical telephone line although cellular phone service might be easier but not as capable. I'm assuming radio is not an option for a personal security system rather than a subscription service of some type. I'm also assuming a satellite internet connection cannot be easily secured. I figure I can install phone lines currently while the building is undergoing remodeling. My questions are: What is required to secure phone lines? I'm assuming burying them is an alternative. What cable would be used for this purpose? Am I correct in assuming that I can't just plop the telephone wire into the gas line trench? It sounds as if you're not going to have the system monitored by a central station which I would recommend. They can be there, 24 hours..... you can't. But your assumptions are right .... the telephone line is the weak link. Cellular is an alternative but I don't think there is a unit on the market that will call you. Most that I know of are designed to call a central station. Someone else here may have some other input on this. If the Telco has anything to say about it, they usually don't like anyone limiting access to "their" lines. Not that it isn't done after they leave the area, but even then you can only bury it or conceal it in a metal enclosure etc. And really, if it ever came right down to it, they (Telco) can persue it and make you keep the line accesable. Not that I've ever seen them do it, but it is within their power. Radio and Cellular are used interchangeably and use regular check in signals to determine supervision of the devices. Not anything going yet in satellite and internet monitoring of any reliability, that I've heard of. In the trade, some will bury the phone linet, enclose it, trap it, disguise it, back it up with other technology. But it always involves the signal going to central station. If you are really concerned about unreliability, I would be more concerned about the unreliability of monitoring your system your self, then the security of your phone line.

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