atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information cat5 or cat6 direct burial

i started this topic Ring Trip my home phone ring once then go silent a cable friend of mine suggested that from the pole about 30ft from my house the phone company run a regular cat5 throug pvc conduit undergroung to the demarc box on the wall of my house he was suggesting that if water get into the conduit it will create moisture in the line and everytime my phone ring it will short out the line causing my phone to ring once (ring-trip) i just want to hear everyone opinion he told me he will give me some jell filled cable to replace the regular cat5

CAT5 or 6 is gross overkill. Telcos use "CAT Nothing" cable for drop wires to houses every day. Your circuit goes many more miles over "CAT Nothing" cable before it reaches from the pole to the central office. I assure you that at&t is not going to run CAT5 cable of any sort, in fact I seriously doubt that they even stock it. All that is required for your service drop is "B" service wire, usually in five pair construction.

The only way that water in a conduit will cause ring trip is if the cable itself is nicked or otherwise damaged. Cable, even indoor-rated won't cause ring trip even if it is in a conduit full of water. Of course, indoor cable won't last very long in this environment.

If you wish to place the cable in PVC conduit, that's great, but not necessary. I do have to ask one question though: It's the telephone company's responsibility to deliver service to your physical address, not to the pole at the street. Why aren't you making them handle this replacement?

Ed according to the original post this problem is not in the States. So who knows what rules apply.

Ah, I interpreted "mia" in the original poster's location as being "Miami, Florida, USA". Sometimes, it's hard to tell with partial or incomplete information. I didn't think to go back and look at the original thread. Good catch.

like bill said , not in the States

yeah not in the state a part of it is my responsibility the guy said they don't allowed to run cable underground so if i want he will leave it at the pole and i have to do the rest because of hurricane and stuff during the construction i put everything underground phone, cable & electrical, the person who told me about the problem with the cat5 & water work for the teleco in miami so i figure i check it out here, man i'm just fustrated with this whole thing not being able to get it resolved 4 tech from cable & wireless (my teleco comp) look at it none of them have any idea what is causing it

I would install regular 2, 3 or better yet 6 pair BURIED cable, whether in the pipe or not, For the price difference per foot, put in the 6 pair.

Regular cat nothing or cat 3 wire has a very thin outer casing, thus much easier to damage during or after the install.

As Ed pointed out, Cat 5 or 6 will gain you nothing, and direct burial cat 5 & 6 are ridiculous in price.

ok my friend said he is going to give me some type of gell filled cable so i will try that any other suggestion is welcome

thanks everyone for your help

this is my next troubleshooting step
1 replace the cat 5 cable with the jell filled cable my cable friend is giving me
2 re-trace the entire 1500ft wire to see where they spliced it and how i can bet they just put some electrical tape or maybe a wire-nut on it, i will post more when i visit my home thursday

UM, Hi guys, My name's Jason (from Niagara region in Canada) and this is my first post. I just wanted to put my two cents in....

"IF" you want to trace all that wire (the 1500 ft), and you do find a fault or a bad splice, get a hold of some "burial splice kits" and "scotchlocks". Shouldn't cost too much.

If you do find a problem you'll be able to repair it on the spot and be fairly sure you won't get wet lines because the splice kits are gel filled just like the cable.

Some of my customers have problems in my area (out in the sticks) every time it rains at 3 locations in particular, but only on a few lines. These problems can include scratch/static filled lines and dropped calls. Telco keeps telling me it's fine.... but I've been fighting with them over this one for years. I'm gonna show them the definition of intermittent someday.

Be that as it may, good luck with your cabling.

Has anyone ever used a meter to look at the cable.. IF you are truly troubleshooting you should be able to find where the trouble is.. Even the use of a simple VOM will help you, instead of guessing and trying things that might work. First find where the trouble is exactly, then fix.
Also like everyone else said cat5 is overkill for a drop wire, but when you bury the wire make sure you have proper grounding on the cable sheath..