Where to buy underground telephone wire????

[Paintedcow]

Several years ago, I built a completed a new home on my farm, and moved out of the old trailer house into this home. I require a landline because there is very poor cell service here. I called the phone company and was told it would cost me around $250 to $350 to move the underground phone line from the trailer to the new house. I refused!

Since I already had a trench for the sewer pipe, which went from the new house to near the trailer house, I just bought 125ft. of CAT5 cable (with 4 twisted pairs) and put it in the same trench, and dug by hand the remaining 12 feet. Then I connected one of the pairs to the trailer house junction box, and ran it into the new house, using a junction box I was able to obtain from a building that was being demolished.

This worked for for several years. I have been having problems with the phone, whereas it hums and I could barely hear it. and my modem would not work. Yesterday I repaired a broken wire at the trailer house, and this morning I had a loud hum and could not get my modem to work. I tried to use all four of the twisted pairs and none of them work. I followed the path of the trench (which is somewhat noticible in the lawn) and found that some animal had dug several holes into that piece of the lawn, and apparently gnawed up my CAT 5 cable.

Since the soil is semi frozen now, I am not going to attempt to dig it up till spring, so I now have a long piece of romex laying on top of the lawn, which is working fine, but when Spring comes, it will have to be replaced.

Anyhow, the phone line that the phone company has installed underground is only about 20ft. from the new house, and I retained several of the flags they put in the ground when I had them mark it, (when I ran the sewer and water lines). Rather than running 125ft of cable from that trailer house (which I intend to demolish eventually), I only need to dig 20 feet, and splice directly to the underground phone line.

Anyhow, I found that that CAT5 cable is not "animal proof". Yet, the phone company's wiring has been here for many years and has never been damaged by the many digging animals around here. And their line runs almost one mile from the road.

Unless I can find someone that works for the phone company and bribe them to give me about 30ft of cable (which is unlikely), I need to find some of the same cable that the phone company uses. I also need to find a suitable inderground connector(s).

Does anyone know where I can buy this stuff online?

• I do have one more option, and that would be to dig up much of the line that goes to the trailer house, and re-direct it to the new house. But that is a lot of work, and I'd likely damage the cable with a shovel. Until Spring, none of this is possible anyhow!

[bob haller]

do your 30 foot dig, run the new phone cable inside some flexible conduit, to protect your new cable. radio shack used to sell the underground type,

if you only need the phone line because cell doesnt work well, get a cellular repeater.

the original ones used a outdoor antenna aimed at a good location.and worked great.

the newer ones convert the cell signal to wifi and send it out over the intenet

[Paintedcow]

I was thinking of running it thru some of that gray plastic PVC made for outdoor AC wiring. But this wire has to go up a hill, and I have no means to bend the stuff, so I'm stuck with 90 or 45 deg elbows only.

I doubt the repeater would work well here, I am below the tower's limits. If I walk or drive 100 yards up the hill, I get service, but there is no electrical source of buildings up there to connect a repeater. Plus, my phone line is my only source to get internet service. (My cell is only for calls).

I'm trying to picture what this flexible conduit looks like ???? I did think about using some of that poly pipe that is used for water lines for that 20 ft underground (the remaining 10 feet is to go up the side of the house and for making connections). How I'd encase the underground connections is another issue ?????

[Retired]

Check here for Direct Burial Cat 5 at 35 cents per foot

[Hul Tytus]

A possibility: some cables have specifications and/or part numbers printed on the outside plastic. Then again, some don't. If you can see some cable, maybe you'll have a part number.

Hul

[e-mail] wrote:

[gfretwell]

Home Depot has the flooded direct burial phone wire here.

I probably could send you 30' for the price of a medium flat rate priority mail box. I have a bunch of pieces about that long in the shed

[bob haller]

if you can get cell phone service anywhere near your home, the repeater will work:) radio waves are like waves on a pond, some places 2 waves will come together, and get bigger. other places 2 waves will come together and cancel each other out.

some people can walk around their yard, and find good spots.in addition cell carriers do provide internet access

now i have no idea if a cell will support dial up internet access.

and remember that different cell providers service footprint can work where others dont.

i believe sprint supplies unlimited cell internet but cant guarantee it.

there are also internet hot spots for internet connection.

i had a friend who had a hot spot from sprint, its service area is spotty, but that doesnt matter if it happens to work at your home.

i wouldnt make any connections underground, you can certinally use that poly pipe but make all connections indoors.

I think the poly pipe, better to go larger would be a excellent solution

[Paintedcow]

Yea, I can get cell service up the hill. That's a corn field. How am I supposed to get electrical service to power a repeater out in the corn field? (other than running 100 yards or more of UF cable, or paying big bucks to the power company to put in another pole).

The nearest building is about 2 miles away, and even if it could be put there, the hill still blocks the signal.

How am I supposed to connect to an underground wire, located out on my lawn, without making underground connections? If I could make connections inside the house, I would not need to run this wire....

The phone company connects underground, using special connectors. I once saw a guy from the telco doing it at another house, but at the time I was not looking to do this, so I did not ask a lot of questions about the splice method or connectors used.

The pedestal where my phone service originates, is at least a mile away. It feeds my house and another house which is equally as far. I asked about this when the guy marked my wire location on the lawn around my house, and he wanted to know how far from the house to mark it. I showed him my intended area for digging, but asked if he could also show me where it comes from, so I never dig it up when doing farm work. I was sort of shocked to learn that came thru a crop field, and crossed my private roadway about 3 ft from where I built a small pole shed some years back. If I had built that shed 3 feet West, I would have dug right thru that wire. All along I had thought the wire followed my roadway, but it's not even close. Apparently it's buried deep, because the land that is not mine, which it travels thru, is plowed up every year by the farmer that owns that land.

Anyhow, the phone company is not going to replace a mile of wire everytime someone wants the service relocated. They have methods to splice/connect it underground. If this was a long run, I'd probably cough up the $$$$ and have them do it, but not for a 30 foot run. Digging a 30' trench about 8 to 10" deep is not all that difficult (in good weather). Even though I know I'll be fighting some tree roots since that cable is in a semi-wooded part of my lawn.

[Stormin Mormon]

That is very kind of you. Good job, sir.

[Paintedcow]

I may take you up on that. However, I was just taking a wild guess on the length. I actually measured the wire before. From a marker flag, to the house is about 32 feet underground, plus I need at least 8 feet to go up to the wood part of the house (above the foundation walls), as well as allowing enough for connections. So, I really need about 40 feet. Even then, I'll have to move the connection box, which is presently 20 feet away, but moving that is minor, since it's just screwed to the side of the house and I'll have to extend one of the phone wires that goes to the kitchen. (which is just common indoor type phone wire). But 40 feet is my minimum need. I still have to find out about what connectors to use too.

[gfretwell]

Let me know and I will see what I have. I picked up a lot of short rolls when my wife was building houses.

BTW you can splice this and use underground if you solder the connections and use silicone filled shrink tube. I did mine after a little "backhoe fade" and it is still working fine.

[bob haller]

walk around your home if you find ANY place with cell phone service then the repeater should work fine.

the repeaters have outdoor directional antennas you can point in the general direction of the best tower. your cell phone provider may give you one for free, just ask.

often service in homes is poor, metal siding, metal lathe plaster walls, brick walls. even insulation with the metal reflective barrier can kill cell phone signals.

=========================

as for regular wired underground phone line .

if you have a farm just plow a furrow in the ground the conduit if well protected doesnt need to be very deep.

you can splice phone lines underground but that still leaves the existing unprotected line at risk of damage. plus underground connection issues

[Paintedcow]

I regularly take my laptop to a local restaurant for free WIFI. But at home I'm stuck with dialup. Thats fine for newsgroups and email and some of the simple websites.

If I had to do all my internet on a cellphone, I'd give up after one day. Young people like to stick their phones in my face to show me something. All I see is a blur with reading glasses and I see nothing but the phone without. My cell is a prepaid simple phone. It does calls and texts. That's it! But it dont cost me anything, it's free for retired people who are low income. My landline is $28 a month with dialup internet included. I dont wish to pay more than that, nor would I get a cell contract.

I did once see someone run the internet on their computer, from being plugged into a cell. I think it's some sort of bluetooth but I dont know anything about all that stuff. I still like having a landline. If there's an emergency, I want reliable phone service. The cell is good for road emergencies and quick calls when I'm not at home.

[Pat]

Regarding making underground connections, Home Depot and Lowe's both sell waterproof connection blocks. They have screw terminals for making the connections and a bunch of waterproof guey glop that gets folded around the connection block followed by tie wraps to hold it all together. In my experience, they work very well. They also sell blue wire nuts that come prefilled with the waterproof glop.

[Muggles]

Can you get satellite service where you're located?

[Paintedcow]

Get, YES (probably), Afford, NO.