Connecting another phone to a full patch panel

[Alan Meyer]

Hello,

I have a telephone wiring question.

First, the background. This is where I am now:

There is a primitive looking patch panel in my basement, about 38 years old, to which all my phone wiring is attached. There are six rows and six columns of pincers in the panel. I believe that the rows form three pairs. To connect phones to one circuit you might, for example, connect all of the desired phones (up to six of them) to the bottom and next to bottom rows of pincers. Up to six phones can be connected to one phone number line, each pair of wires from one of the six going to a different pair of connection pincers on the patch panel.

I've used one of the rows for a VOIP line. The connection to the world phone network is managed via a Telephone Access Device (TAD) wired via an ethernet connection into my wifi router, which in turn goes to a modem wired to a Comcast coaxial cable that carries the Internet. The TAD has a simple phone wire with RJ11 connectors, one of which goes to the phone wall plate and another to the TAD. Five other phone connectors attach to the same row pair in the patch panel and they all share access to VOIP via the one wire that goes from the wall to the TAD, and from there on to the router, the modem, and the Internet.

Second, what I'm trying to do.

I am switching from Comcast cable to Verizon FIOS Internet. It's a lot cheaper and I only need the Internet, not the TV carried by either Comcast or Verizon packages. To do that, without running cables from one end of the house to the other (admittedly, that's an option), I have to place the router close to the location of the Verizon Optical Network Terminal (in my basement) and also close to a wall outlet on the first floor for the phone system.

One way to do that is to rewire a telephone connection wall plate near the ONT to switch it from the land line to the row of connections to the VOIP line.

Third, the problem.

So far so good, but the patch panel connections are full. I have either to remove one of the wire pairs from the panel, and place the new pair in its place, or else connect two pairs of wires to the same pair of connections in the patch panel.

The questions:

Can I place two pairs of wires on the same pair of connectors in the patch panel? Are there any downsides to that? Will it work as well as disconnecting one of the patch panel pincer pairs from its current wall plate and using it for the new one?

Thanks.

Alan

[trader_4]

It's likely not designed or rated for that, but it's a phone line. If you can get two in there and it looks sound, I'd do it.

[trader_4]

I would also strip off the insulation from the wires. Those connectors are designed to pierce the insulation and if you shove the first one in, that will work, but the contacts are then expanded and the second one, the insulation may not pierce. You could also twist the two bared wires together before putting them in place.

[Scott Lurndal]

Sounds like a 66 block.

While it is not recommended, doubling up a pair shouldn't be a problem. The wires get fragile as they're bent, so watch for breaks at the 66 block connections.

You can also daisy-chain rows by tieing one row to an empty row which will expand the number of devices on the line.

[micky]

I thought about switching from Verizon to Comcast, but didn't want to run a wire from the back of the house to the front.

As it is, the phone line to my bedroom has an intermittent short, so I've abandoned everything in the basement and had the Verizon FIOS guy go up from the 2nd floor overhang at the front of he house, through the floor, to under the bed in the guest room, and had him put one box in that room and the internet box in the next bedroom/office. From there I have a cordless phone so I don't use the original phone jacks.

But if I were set up like you are, I'd keep everything the way it is.

I'd already drilled the hole for plain wires and it worked for 3 months, then stopped. He had an 18" metal rod for pullling wires through and I went upstairs to get it. I wonder what they do when no customer is there to help.

Really? Close? When I first had cable tv installed, I wanted the box inside the closet 4 feet from the Tv. The installer wasn't sure it would work, but when I was running the tv line to the kitchen, because of fishing the wire, I temporarily had 3 lengths of 30 feet, back and forth, totalling aobut 100 feet, and it worked fine.

Of course your hardware is different.

How many phone lines do you have? Three?

Just curious, because what matters is the phone line you want to use.

You have six home runs on it? I guess my house came with only the kitchen and master bedroom, and I ran another to the basement room.

OR ELSE remove one pair of wires, replace it with a short pair that goes to a surface connection box, and connect both the old and new wires to the screws inside that. Each screw has 2 or 3 washers so you can put each wire with a washer separating it from the other wire, so one doesn't force the other out. Though that's not really necessary. You can twist the wires together and put them under one washer**.

You don't have to use the modular jack, just the screws inside.

Did you ever try to buy washers in a foreign country? I drew a picture and the hardware store guy came back right away with two sizes. I needed them to fix my suitcase where the screws I used to replace the original rivets that held the wheels in place were pulling the medium sized washers I'd used straight through the holes. The big washers stopped that.

[Tekkie©]

On Fri, 29 Jan 2021 15:40:19 GMT, Scott Lurndal posted for all of us to digest...

+1 You can also (if need be) tweak the contacts with a needle-nose pliers. Be VERY careful and test prior to doing this it will probably work without the tweak.