Putting telephone outlets in a number of rooms thoughout the house. Can I run the telephone cabling which links these outlets right next to Mains electric cabling? Thinking here about any rules and regs that may apply and also possible interference.
Regardless of the regulations it is bad practice to run telephone cables in the same duct or conduit as power cables because of the possibility of interference. If you are going to use the telephone for data then make sure you use decent cable to the proper CW1308 spec.
As a Regs matter, you're not supposed to run it in the same compartment of trunking or similar extended-close-proximity as mains cable, nor through the same joist-holes, and so on; separation of at least 2 inches is considered a Good Idea. Crossing at 90 degrees (or near offer) is not a problem - the OSG opines that "where LV and telecoms circuits are obliged to cross, additional insulation should be provided at the crossing point", generously conceding that this is not necessary if either cable is armoured. So if you want to be utterly compliant, you could play with add-on sleeving, taping on a scrap of plastic conduit, or whatever else is to hand and consistent with Good Workmanship; but frankly, you're not protecting against anything useful by doing so in halfway normal circumstances.
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As a matter of good sense, running mains and phone cable next to each other for a long run is likely to cause you some interference, both continuous hum and the odd crackle as thermostats or similar switch on and off. Such interference won't help your modem or ADSL connection be error-free, though it'll merely affect performance as the glitchy bits will end up being retransmitted.
Apart from any possible safety issues, running an audio cable parallel to and in close proximity to mains is very bad practice - there's a very real chance of interference on the audio circuit.
You're dead right - best things we ever bought. The only problem sometimes is finding the things! They come with other advantages too - you can have one in your pocket when gardening; if your Mum phones and wants a natter, you can carry on watching TV/Web Browsing/etc.; you don't have to get up from the dinner table; etc. etc.
I've already wired around the house but do use DECT phones. However they are not without their own problems as they interfere with my A/V equipment. God knows what is going to happen when every street is full of wireless CCTV, wireless alarms, remote video senders, wi-fi, bluetooth etc.
I would make sure what type of Telephone company main boxes I have. To see how you will extend them.
E.G I have one B.T box which is a simple design - square shape with socket in the middle (same as those you buy in all teh shops) this I could only extend by getting an extension kit i.e. a cable with the plug already on. This means that the main box you extend cannot be used anymore unless you by a 2 into one adaptor. Still won't look nice. I luckily found a master box in a skip (see below)
The cable company in my area installed a master box, this is bigger than the standard box with the socket at the bottom. This bottom bit with the socket comes off (2 screws) and behind it you can feed in your extension cable - NOW this can be any type you want and you connect without the need for a plug. So you screw back the part with the socket in it and you can still use the socket and you extension wire is completely hidden.
I extended my system so in some places I hadcables runnign near power, here I wrapped them in tin foiland feed them through waste pipe (was lying around).
I presume you mean because it uses insulation piercing connectors rather than screw ones? These will happily accept 3 wires per terminal, but you need (in theory) a special tool to insert the wires. A cheap version of this is supplied with many sockets. But the real thing isn't vastly expensive - well under a tenner from the likes of TLC.
Yitzak referred to a single (old style) BT supplied box. I expect it's more a case of being prohibited from making direct connections to the terminals _inside_ BT's main box.
With the newer NTE5 boxes you can connect inside the removable bit but are still prohibited from connecting to the terminals in the back of the main body of the box.
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