atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Question about 66 blocks and Cat5 Cabling

The phones are AT&T 1014 phones, and they require more adept wiring like Cat5.

Who told you that, the electrician? :rofl:

Like has been said the AT&T 1014 phones are your garden variety Staples or Office Max 4 line stand alone phones. All they require is that all four lines be run to each one. Normally this would be through two jacks, one jack for lines 1&2, the other for lines 3&4. Each phone will have two line cords. Obviously then you will have to run a 4 pair cable (1 pair for each line)to the jacks at each location but this cable is nothing special. If the existing cable is 4 pair then you can certainly use it if you re-do the jacks and re-configure the other end back by the old Meridian system to connect each pair with a line. The electrician might have mentioned CAT5 because that's all they know- along with wire nuts. If you find that you indeed do have to run new cable you can use CAT5 but CAT3 is all you need. All you care about is that there is at least 4 pairs.

-Hal

I cannot find any reference to an AT&T 1014.


AT&T branded telephones beginning with the numbers "10" are the current "NoKSU" units manufactured by VTech, but there is no model 1014 listed on at&t's telephone equipment website:

https://telephones.att.com/telephones_ui/index.cfm

Like Skip said, 4-pair CAT3 cable is all you really need for those types of analog phones. You should also check to make sure your Nortel Meridian has the required hardware to interface with analog phones.

Yep...the electrician told me that :rolleyes:

I'm just going to assume that it does work with analog, since the older phones are analog anyway. I might try out the wirenut option, but I am still going to find an installer that would work with the configuration that we have in place (doesn't have to be pretty, just functional). However, the link provided doesn't have anyone close to me, other than staunton.

Btw, would the wirenut idea work in this case, if I had open spots on the 66 block?

AT&T branded telephones beginning with the numbers "10" are the current "NoKSU" units manufactured by VTech, but there is no model 1014 listed on at&t's telephone equipment website...

I just assumed that's what they were. For all we know they are 10 years old bought off ebay.

Btw, would the wirenut idea work in this case, if I had open spots on the 66 block?

Open spots for what? You're giving me a headache. Get somebody who knows what they are doing to do this for you before you knock out your phone service. Then you'll be in trouble.

-Hal

Well, you know on a 66 block (not sure if you do, but bear with me here) that there are 4 spots on each row? I really just want to get a pro to come in and do this, but they want me to "try before I do that" no matter how stupid that is even when I am looking at them going "you know, I think it would be better to have a professional come in here and do this".

OK, because you're so insistent on doing this, go ahead and screw up the phone service & put them out of service.

At least then you can say "See, I told you so".

If there are 4 pins ("spots") on each row then you have a 66 M block. If it is a 66m1-50 block then the two on the left are facing in the same direction and the two on the right are facing in the same (but opposite) direction. The two on the left are common with each other and the two on the right are common with each other but the left pins and the right pins are NOT common with each other.

If on the other hand you have a 66 m1-25 block then three of the pins face the same way and the fourth faces the other way and ALL 4 are common.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Just because there are 4 pins and 4 lines and 4 points on the compass and 4 winds and.....whatever doesn't mean much.

Also - You do know that you should have the correct tool to terminate wires on a 66 block and should not just bash them around with a screwdriver or hammer or the heel of your shoe? (Yes, I've seen all of the above).

And anyone who wants you to "try before I do that" is not a professional.

Please. Take a deep breath and look for someone to help you with this. It's not hard, but it's not intuitive either. You really run the risk of knocking out all your phone service. If we didn't see this every day we wouldn't be harassing you like this.


Sam

Besides the "phone lines" you could inadvertently jam an ALARM line, thus putting THAT out of service.

Don't know about your area, but around here, the last I knew it was a $75 fine...NO EXCEPTIONS. Think that's bad? What if an alarm line gets affected and no-ones knows, there's a break-in or FIRE...then who's on the hook for that?

The "Powers to be" had better re-think their request and expectations.