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An Old Phone Junction Box – What is it? What can I do with it?
Hiding somewhere in your house may be an old phone junction box. In my job as an independent telephone engineer, customers ask what they should do with it. Usually, it sits on a window ledge and prevents work on a window frame or blind installation. Therefore, I...
Joining Phone and Data Cables – Why You Must Use This Tool.
It's not that difficult joining phone and data cables with “punch-down” connectors. Simply, all that's needed are the right components and tools. Furthermore, much of the associated stuff was actually designed for quick and easy installation. Therefore, fear not, it's...
“Phone dead, Internet Working”. (What’s going on?)
Phone dead, internet working. Impossible? Well no, actually. As an engineer, I was utterly baffled the first time that I encountered this problem . The customer must be wrong. A short conversation. "Are you sure that you're not using next door's wifi?" "Nope" (I...
The Secret Life of an Old Master Socket
You may find that, when you take it gently apart, your old master socket has a bewildering number of components and terminals. Some customers have approached me, confused, asking for advice. It's obviously time to write something Old Isn't Always Bad. What's Good?...
What Type of Telephone Cable? An Engineer’s Advice.
"Cable is cable" isn't it? What type of telephone cable? Will anything do? Not really. Particularly for running cables externally. As a telephone engineer, I encounter many cases where internal cable has been used externally. See the picture above. It never ends...
Installing Cat 6a Cable – An Engineer Shares Some Advice
I've recently worked on installing cat 6a cable, but was reminded how it differs from cat 5e. Some folks may rush into installing cat 6a cable, thinking “cable is just cable”. However, even after some experience installing it, I find it a challenge. It has to be done...
“How do I install Cat 5 cable in my house?” (and other questions)
How do I install Cat 5 cable in my house? Google tells me that this is a frequently-asked question. There are also others. In this blog, I try and answer some of them. Who am I? An independent engineer,based in North East England, with experience of cabling houses,...
Telephone Cable – A Phone Engineer Answers Common Questions
Google claims that lots of questions are asked about telephone cable. Therefore, some of the popular ones are gathered here. They are straight from Google's "People Also Ask..." . What type of cable is used for telephone lines? - Copper cable, with a twist in each...
Phone System Maintenance. The Choice?
We are independent telephone engineers based in The North East of England. The whole issue of phone system maintenance is one we thought useful to blog on. Why? The Story So Far In an earlier blog we looked at a painful scenario. A customer had saved on annual...
Telephone System Maintenance. Contract or Not?
We are independent telephone engineers based in North East England and can provide “per fault” Telephone System Maintenance for certain systems. We network with other engineers across the UK, so can often find help from our range of contacts. As we've blogged before...
Moving Your Internet Router. An Engineer’s Advice
Moving your internet router? Yes, it's possible. Typically, it's near the front door, because that's where your master socket is. It's probably the worst possible place for it - no power socket, easily kicked around, tripped over, chewed by pets . Furthermore, there's...
Fibre Broadband FAQ
What is fibre broadband? There no shame in asking this! Here are our Fibre Broadband FAQ, based on what Google tells us folks are asking.. "Fibre" is broadband arriving at your property by means of fibre optic cable. In the past, this was carried over copper cables,...
