Hi,
I recently signed up for DSL, and I need to connect a loose telephone wire from my room to the demarcation box. The thing is, the wire is just a few inches short, and I will need to extend it.
The technician was asking for $200, which I can't afford. I have no electrician experience and no tools. How should I go about this?
Thanks
Posted May 18, 2011, 9:25 PM UTC
Find a kid and buy him a $10 iTunes card, splicing should take less than 5 min, it really is pretty simple. Seriously, you can actually splice it with fingernails and a plain pair if gradeschool scissors. If you need some extra wire, the demark box on the neighbor's house usually has some extra wire.
Not sure what child abduction has to do with fixing a cable o.0
Get These connectors to splice the wire. They are water proof and simple to use. You should be able to find them at Home Depot/Lowes etc. Each connector takes two wires and splices them together. So you would take one wire from the loose cable that's too short and join it with the same color wire from your "extender" cable and join them with these connectors. They have gel on the inside to prevent corrosion. You just put the two wires in without stripping the wire insulation and squeeze the red top with pliers and BAM you have DSL!
These sound awesome. Do I need a plier for them?
or seriously, in a pinch, two rocks will work. Had to splice over 200 wires, my wife used a block of wood and a ball peen hammer without the handle - to think of it, that sounds like a do-it-yourself vasectomy kit. <shrugs>
Yea or anything else to crush it with....like nut crackers
A plain pair of pliers, or slip joints, or a Leatherman/Gerber tool will work fine.
Just make sure to match the colors on the wire.
And remember: Bumble -Bee Christmas Tree.
Parts needed:
Plug in the original cable to the coupler. From the coupler, plug in the 6 foot patch cable to your box. Done.
You can get an extension cord with the proper connections at an electronics store or just get another one long enough to reach. Since you posted this I doubt you'd be comfortable "splicing" the wire you already have, but that is your only other option.
Thanks for the info. I guess I wouldn't mind getting my hands a little dirty if there's no huge tool investment involved. Any pointers as to how I can get started?
ps: this is an outdoor wire exposed the elements.