What is this outlet on the wall?

[claudia]

I just moved to a new place and I realized that it doesn't have a phone jack. Only a coaxial outlet and another outlet I can't ID.

Can the phone jack be installed on that thing, and if so, how?

Thanks.

C

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

That picture is too blurred to see what it is, but you shouldn't go randomly connecting anything to any random unidentified socket you might find.

 

[claudia]

Well, I didn't say I was going to do it, did I?

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Red & Green sure look like a phone connection.

 

[Hero999]

Where is it on the wall?

Is it near the ceiling or the floor?

What is the room used for?

It looks like a the back of a clock to me.

 

[tcmtech]

Its the old style phone connection block from back before they used the simple snap in type ones we have today.
Red and green are your phone line connection wires.

The new type jacks have a red and green that connect to the ones you have there.

 

[DSGarcia]

As mentioned above, it is your telephone line. You can get a new telephone jack cover that should fit in place of the old cover the old one. It will have the small fork terminals which will connect to the red and green terminals. Just connect color to color. You can clip off the yellow and black wires or simply screw them to the unused screw terminals.

You can also find a new telephone box and remove the old one and replace it with the new one which would be even better.

I would look behind the block and see if you can find and hook up the black and yellow wires which will give you a backup connection or a second phone line should you ever need one.
Dale

 

[KMoffett]

You can get a new telephone jack cover that should fit in place of the old cover the old one.

It looks like it already has an RJ14 telephone jack...edge of the top cover facing away from us...connector plug goes in parallel to the wall. Or am I missing something?

Ken

 

[DSGarcia]

It looks like it already has an RJ14 telephone jack...edge of the top cover facing away from us...connector plug goes in parallel to the wall. Or am I missing something?

Ken

Ken, You may be correct but it is hard to confirm for sure from the photo. OP (Claudia) should be able to see if there is a phone jack on the side.
Dale

 

[mneary]

The side facing away from the camera may have an RJ14 jack that's been filled with paint.

 

[MikeMl]

Most of the previous posters to this thread are obviously too young to recognize a genuine MaBell terminal block, way pre-RJ11. Take a DC voltmeter, and measure between the Green and Red wire. If you see about 49VDC with all other phones in the house hung-up, you have a live Telco connection. You can get one of these. It will screw to the wall mounted part to give you an RJ11 jack.

Even if you dont get the 49V, go down into the basement or utility room, and you may find the other end of the wiring that goes to your wall-mounted terminal block. If so, connect it in parallel with the wiring that goes to other working jacks in your house; red to red and green to green. If Yellow is present, hook that to yellow....

 

[DSGarcia]

Most of the previous posters to this thread are obviously too young to recognize a genuine MaBell terminal block, way pre-RJ11.

Mike,
Sorry, but I have to respectively disagree. Take a close look at the picture; I think there is an RJ connector that is mostly hidden in the photo. The small screws (though not as small as more current RJ blocks), the factory terminated wires, and "modern" plastic (beige colored) were introduced about the same time as the RJ connectors. This type of plastic was also used in the U.S. with the old 4 pin connectors--actually 4 round pins in almost a square pattern, but not quite square to prevent it from being incorrectly plugged in--but as I recall, that style did not last very long. This is obviously not the old pin type connector and therefore I would argue it is from the RJ era.

The old "Ma Bell" blocks would have been Bakelite and the bare wire end would be wrapped around a stud between two washers and secured with a brass nut or tightened down with large brass screws.

Of course, old depends on your perspective, but I am old enough to remember when TV shows were broadcast in B&W.

Perhaps Claudia could shed some light on this and tell us what that part is on the cover with the red, green, and yellow wire.

Dale

 

[mneary]

It doesn't matter if the original installation was pre-RJ11. When we needed jacks in the post-Carterfone era they made converters that we installed on top of the old Bell terminals.

The baseboard surrounding the terminal block has been freshly painted like any newly occupied apartment would be. The part of the cover that we can see is also coated with fresh paint. The part that we cannot see is an RJ11 (or RJ14) filled with paint.

She needs to replace it with a new one like MikeMl suggested in post #11. RadioShack should have them too.

 

[claudia]

Thanks to everyone for your input. At least I know that's where the phone jack should be. I took another picture which is much better: http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/3879/imag0089.jpg.

I really don't know what I should get. The ATT technician is coming next week so I guess he can do it. But since I know that ATT will overcharge me for that, can I just buy whatever it is I need to buy. I mean, I can fix my own stuff but I'm not an electrician and I don't know anything about phone connections, I just want my DSL.

 

[DSGarcia]

Claudia,
If all you want at this location is a phone jack (and you can't clean out your old one), purchase a new phone jack as MikeMI suggested. You can purchase them at your home improvement center or maybe even Wal*Mart. Just make sure the red and green wires end up being paired just like they already are with the wires coming from the wall.

If you want DSL there, your phone technician probably should handle that unless someone else here can help you. It is not the same thing as just plugging in a phone into a phone jack.
Dale