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DoubleT Offline OP
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I'm building a new house, contracting it myself. I plan to have all outside wiring underground. My local ComEd field supervisor told me that if I had them do the job, they would put in not only the electrical cable, but also the telephone and CATV cable as well. He says that they normally just throw all three cables into the trench all at once. The thing is that to have them do it, it would cost me (according to this guy) somewhere around $2K.

Being the cheapskate that I am, I'm thinking that I could trench it myself for about $100. The electrical cable would cost me about another $100. So that just leaves the phone and CATV lines. The CATV cable I already have taken care of via other means, but not the phone cable...

Earlier this week I called AT&T, and was eventually passed along to their "Midwest Buried Wire Center". Like their name says, they supply underground cable to their customers. So, I requested (and got) some underground cable delivered to my house, which I plan to put into my trench. But the thing I'm curious about is that the phone cable which AT&T dropped off is coax. I was expecting some type of multi-pair cable.

So, finally, here's the question: Is this how phone service is being delivered to the house these days, via coax cable? Or did they just goof up and give me the wrong cable?

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they sent free cable eek

got that number handy


Skip
------------------------------------

Serving SW and West central Fl since 1984
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DoubleT Offline OP
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AT&T Midwest Buried Wire Center
1-800-924-9420

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I'm not aware of any coax used for dial tone. I have seen telephone cable and CATV coax together in the same piece of wire. Did you cut it and make sure it's all coax? If it is I bet they sent the wrong wire.
Mark

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DT, it can look like coax to the lay person but have you actually cut it open or skinned it back?
It should have 6 pairs wrapped in a plastic jacket
and may or may not have a waxy substance like silicone under the outer jacket.
Are there any markings on the jacket?
Brand name, cable part number?
If it is coax, don't use it. There are plenty of places locally to get 6 pair direct burial cable.
MrG

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Yes, there is the possibliity that they may be delivering DT through coax. Cox communications is doing this in our city, and have seen it used in both residential and commercial customers. I would make sure there is both (coax/telco wire) between your pole/pedestal and house Dmarc.

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DoubleT Offline OP
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I stripped the end of the cable, and it's definitely coax. The cable does have some markings on it, but none of them show a manufacturer name. Here's exactly what it says along the cable:

KV2908111 9900963 BMU (ETL)us 14 AWG "150V" (phone symbol)

Where (phone symbol) is a little picture of a telephone handset in a horizontal position. (I took a picture of it, but I don't know how to add it to this post.) This little phone symbol is the thing that makes me think that this must be the right cable, only I've never heard of coax phone cable before.

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DoubleT Offline OP
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RustyNails: Thanks for the info. I think you're right in that I should also have telco wire in the trench. I'm going to call AT&T back on Monday to see if I can also get some 6-pair from them. That way I'd be "future-proofed" to some degree.

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have you looked into burying a small conduit so if the cable goes bad or need to add it would be easy to do it cause in a couple years it might go bad just my 2 cents

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Yeah, if the trench is open I'd toss in a 2" conduit to facilitate repair work or the need for additional cables.


-Robert F
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