A Short Guide to Telephone Wiring and Installation

Telephone system installation is by now a very common process that most if not all countries employ to improve their communications development. With the advent of newer technology, there are various other methods that can be used to facilitate communication including the internet, satellite and radio to name a few. But none are more common than the humble telephone.

The invention of the telephone cannot be pin-pointed to just one person. Many people including Innocenzo Manzetti, Antonio Meucci, Alexander Graham Bell and even Thomas Edison to name a few have been credited with helping invent the modern telephone, but none can contest the fact that the invention of the telephone has changed the way we communicate with each other.

Phone wiring installation is a relatively safe process. The very low voltages that run through telephone wires is quite harmless and is not very complex to install as opposed to electrical wires or gas lines. Telephone companies send a technician or a telephone system installer to an area that is marked to be built on in order to install breakout boxes and facilitate the setup of new telephone lines when the need arises.

In many areas in California, newer towns have their phone lines installed underground although there are a few places that still run their phone wires above ground. Older towns and areas that have a high water table or if the surface of the groundwater is very near the surface, almost always have above ground wiring installed as it will be difficult to install phone wires if it is close to underground water. There will be one or more telephone poles in the neighborhood that allocate phone wires pairs to houses using an above ground system of connection.

Most modern neighborhoods have telephone wiring run underground in California today. During the planning phase of building a neighborhood, before the building of houses begins, breakout boxes are installed in geographically logical points in the neighborhood, and then lines are buried back to the primary distribution point for your neighborhood, and to each property nearby. Since homes have yet to be built the wiring is unconnected, and will need to be hooked up to the home once it is built at the owner's expense. With this kind of setup, phone service in Southern California can continue uninterrupted as opposed to the above ground setup where if for some reason the telephone pole is struck and falls down or the wire is cut, the link to the telephone company is then broken. With the underground setup, even if the area is inundated with floodwater or it is hit by a hurricane, it is harder to break the connection. If this indeed happens, phone repair in Southern California will involve some excavation work to unearth the buried phone lines.