Okay to Remove Ancient Telephone Wiring?

[PlanOldTalkingSelf]

Hello Everyone,

My new home has already been transitioned so that is fibre coming in from the second floor.
While doing some demolition in the basement, we found an ancient DMARC point behind some drywall under a floor joist.

Is it okay to just remove all these items and old telephone wire since phone service from Bell is provided via fibre now? I'll probably be running cat6 cable throughout the house to the new fibre point.  Thanks in advance.

[WelshTerrier · Accepted solution]

You can remove all of the old wiring if it is not in use. Just to be sure, disconnect it first before removal ensuring none of your phones or possibly other home items are using this wiring. Keep in mind, other appliances & systems use similar wiring that can look the same. E.g. Furnace, thermostat, security system, door bell, speakers, etc.

[WelshTerrier · Accepted solution]

Nice photos! Just saw the pictures. There were 2 lines in that home at one time. The top picture is an old fused protector from the 40's or 50's that was then converted & the fuses removed. The second picture is a123 protector for the 2nd line. Probably installed in the 60's. Most of the rest of the items are fasteners, insulators, old neoprene drop wire, grounding wire, quad isw, etc. All of this would of been abandoned and left in place when the fibre was installed.

There is still a lot of this out there that is still working. This is the copper world that is being replaced by fibre.

Thanks for sharing these images!

[PlanOldTalkingSelf]

Thanks so much for the information WelshTerrier. Good call on the other items that might use the phone line. My place only uses wifi and our furnace connects directly to my Ecobee. There ended up being some more modern phone splitters further down the pipeline.

Anyhow, it's all taken down now. I assume there's no historic value for the fuse protector that says patented 1933 or anything else and this stuff is littered in many old basements.  Otherwise, I'll probably donate or have the copper recycled.

Thanks again!

[WelshTerrier]

You are correct. There is no monetary or historic value. This equipment was manufactured & put to good use for many, many years. It still works; just not very well in today's world.

These are mementos of the previous century that served all of us well.

[TomSOtt]

Do you have phones connected to fibre wall jacks? Are they are Ip phones? Do you have cordless phones? Are they IP phones?

[TomSOtt]

I have the same. I have non-IP phones connected to wall jacks. Bell wants to remove the copper. I presume this means my wall jacks will no longer work. Can i connect these phones directly into the modem? Or do i need to replace with IP phones?  "This is the copper world" worked in power outages whereas new-age fibre does not; it served us better in such times? New-age tech expects us to have a second phone (cell)  in addition to our home landline.

[WelshTerrier]

I am not sure how to answer your question. You posted this earlier: "Sounds like a long-winded answer that's simply saying "No, your wall jacks will no longer work."? And it's not even clear whether non-IP phones curently connected to wall jacks can connect to the modem."

Did you read my reply to the question that was posed to Mike11? If that is your interpretation, then so be it.

I will now give you a condensed generic reply to all of your questions that you mentioned in your 3 posts:

1. Yes to phones connected to wall jacks.
2. Cordless phones - Yes.
3. IP phones - No.
4. Can wall jacks work?  Depends on a couple of factors.
5. Home service devices must connect to the phone jack on the modem.

I could provide you with further details & an explanation but I do not want to bore you in being long winded with such trivial information when it does not appear to be required.

If you would like any further assistance to address your questions, please do not hesitate to reach out once again to the Bell Community Forum.

Take care.

I don't work for Bell. "Just one Member trying to help out another Member".