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Hi, new to the forum and to telco experience in general. But lately I've seen and heard enough to know what's right and what's wrong.

Yesterday a lead phone tech and myself installed a new NorTel VoIP phone system for a local store. The following picture is a Verizon splicing chamber **inside the basement of the store**:

[Linked Image from usera.imagecave.com]

BUT WAIT, it gets better...the drugstore stations go DIRECTLY FROM THE SPLICING CHAMBER INTO THE STORE'S STATION BISCUIT JACKS...NO RJ21x, no demarc! The *attempt* to demarc by verizon is as follows...it's basically hanging off the old NorTel box with a thousand wires plugged into it...the lead phone-tech ran out of obscenties when talking about this setup to his PM :scratch: mad :

[Linked Image from usera.imagecave.com]

So if you ever work near northern NJ, give Verizon a thumbs up for their awesome work!

Dan

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It's not just NJ, it's everywhere. That block is quite the commonplace occurance, I see it daily.

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Yeah, I see it all the time here. It just gives us more work to do...
The second picture doesn't look like a demarc, it looks like old 1A2 feature blocks...but anything is possible!


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Jeff, it's not a D-Mark. It's 2 of those lovely 66 type blocks that you love so much in a can without the cover on it.

GBreadMan....so did the "lead tech" do what he should have done...that is to do it properly; otherwise he's as bad as the previous installer of the system.


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Honestly, that doesn't look like much of an obstacle. That's fairly typical installation practice (or at least it was when it was installed in the late 1960's or early 1970's). Just because someone trashed it doesn't mean that it is improper. I've seen those installations all over NJ, even being installed new when I was a kid. I'll agree that they sure didn't look like that then.

A ready-access terminal using a 6- or 49- type closure is perfectly acceptable. There are still millions of them installed out there, most of them outdoors. When installed indoors, it can be equipped with up to four 3-pair protected blocks. Later blocks were available in sealed (fixed-count) 5, 10 or 12 pair versions. It looks like your installation has one of the newer blocks installed within the closure. This means that the assigned pairs are properly terminated and protected. The cable just passes through to the next building, I assume. You might not like how it looks, but it is perfectly acceptable.

The only thing that wouldn't fly today is the fact that vinyl closures aren't allowed indoors anymore due to fire retardantcy issues. That didn't become an issue until around 1975. It was perfectly legitimate when it was installed although it appears that the support bracket for the closure (AKA: "towel bar") is missing. It looks like it was originally mounted from the ceiling. There are holes that appear to line up with what would have been one end of this bracket. It looks like someone just yanked the whole thing down, maybe by using it to hang things.

I will admit that over the years, the "technicians" who have worked in it have made a bit of a mess. Obviously, no effort was made to close the cover, but that's just poor craftsmanship. Remember that this was installed in a time when NJ Bell technicians were the only ones doing telephone work there, and it was done right.

The terms "demarc" and "RJ21X" are luxuries. The telco is under no obligation to provide them to you. A tagged cable pair is really all that they have to offer. There is no reason why jumper wire could not be run to "biscuit jacks" from that terminal. The customer always has the right to pay Verizon to provide more if requested, but that costs money. The mess you see was caused by rookies putting their fingers where they don't belong.

66B4-25 blocks are also very commonplace, as are multiple 25 pair cables on the same terminal. Believe it or not, a LOT went on prior to the development of 4-pair home run cables and patch panels. CAT1,2,3,4,5, 5e and 6 weren't even a dream. It was just phone cable and it worked, despite twists, kinks or cable ties. The only place Velcro was needed was in the gym. Toners and probes were non-existent. A butt set and a good ear were all that a technician needed.

Sorry to drift, but technically this installation is fine, albeit sloppy due to inexperienced "technicians" after the fact. Understanding this comes through many years of experience. This wouldn't be intimidating to a seasoned technician at all.

The true slob is the person who installed the Norstar and just threw the existing blocks for what would have been for 1A2 or Comkey out of the way. Rest assured, this whole situation didn't get that way on its own

Sorry to burst your bubble, but other than sloppy, there's really nothing wrong here. Thanks for the pics though.


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We won't touch that job with out clean up charges.
Take it or leave it.
Won't want someone going in 15 to 20 years from now saying "Who is responsible for this mess?".


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GBreadMan:

"You are to be commended, not chastised, for bringing this to our attention. It is a horrible situation. Generally, we strive to do work that is much sloppier. Thank you for dropping the dime on our technicians; the person(s) responsible for this rather neat work will be beaten and retrained." The Verizon Management.

All kidding aside, you are correct to be frightened of such an outrageous situation. If I had come across the "rat bag" ("Ready Access Terminal") in the course of my work as a maintenance splicer, I would have gone and gotten a 50-pair inside terminal and spliced it into the cable. The rat bag cover would have been replaced with a suitable boot or heat-shrink enclosure. Then I would have installed an RJ-21X and run some cross-connections.

Although occasionally a foreman (I had 40 of them in 30 years) would be reluctant to allow the extra time to do a BSP (Bell System Practice) job, we experienced workers could usually talk our way into doing the right thing, in spite of Evil Management.

From a private installer's viewpoint, I would try to neaten up the cross connections and running cables as best as I could. "Heading up" running cables (terminating all of the conductors on a 66-type block, and using cross-connections to avoid manipulating the wires during installations, moves and changes) is a concept that the original phone companies only embraced starting in the late 1970's.

Convincing a boss (telco or private) to allow the extra time and materials to neaten the whole thing up might be a struggle, but most bosses recognize the prudence in spending a bit up front to create an installation that will have fewer maintenance issues in the future.


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Thanks for the comments. Scary to think this is par for the course.

As far as cleaning it up, the Spencer tech screwed down the 1A2(?) to the ceiling studs, which was the only place he had room...he said he needed more backer board but didn't have the supplies or time to waste installing it. He traced the lines he needed, took them out of the splicing chamber, and hacked his way though the tangle and did what he needed to do, which was rip out the norstar and install the VoIP system (I was just a lowly assistant, relegated to punching a couple 110 block lines and being a go-fer).

Dan

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This should qualify for a 'Git-er-done' nomination.

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My customer would be advised to have the fire marshall evaluate the materials (vinyl) used by Verizon next time they were out. The electrical inspector would also be someone I would advise my customer to have take a look at it next time they were out. I would also advise my customer to let verizon know they were going to be doing so if Verizon did not get a proper facility in place.

Next, I would speak to Verizon for my customer to let them know that there is no proper DMARC, TNI, or whatever term you prefer, and that there was not tag, and label on the circuits, etc., and since there was not I would not be able to connect the customers lines without them so they will be down until Verizon gets me tags, and labels. I could not possibly be exopected to do any connections in this situation since I am not allowed to work past the DMARC under federal law, and in the absence of the tagged pairs there is no way for me to determine that the dmarc is not the biscuit jack in the offices upstairs. They will give me some crap, but will come out to at least tag their lines since they know they are required to do so, and can not get away with not doing so, or I do not have to connect them, and they will be to blame for the customers lack of service, period. That does assume that there are no tags in reality, as I see none in the pictures.

I wish I could find the lines, but I can not just put my butt set on to Verizon facilities without knowing I am on the customer side of the dmarc(tag) as that would be a violation of federal law.

Would I hook the lines up anyway after calling Verizon to come out, not me, lol, what do you think?


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