Does a disconnected Comcast landline phone still carry power?


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Old 02-10-15, 04:29 PM
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Does a disconnected Comcast landline phone still carry power?

Hi,
15 years ago when we moved into this house I was unable to get the speaker phone to work, Radio Shack happened to be giving away phone jack testers that day & bingo, Red & Green wires were reversed. I was so impressed with this little tester managed to keep it all this time.

We no longer have a landline but my brother-in-law is experiencing some landline issues. I gave him the tester but in an attempt to show him how it works we got nothing. No lights, no power at all.

I was under the impression that even a disconnected phone line still carried power & in fact you could make a 911 call if necessary.

Then it occurred to me that since we last had our landline with Comcast & I know he (the Comcast installer) did something outside to move the central interface(?) from CenturyLink to Comcast that perhaps when we canceled service with Comcast it really did kill our our landline?

Any ideas.
thank you
 
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Old 02-10-15, 04:34 PM
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You had your phone service with Comcast but it wasn't a copper pair landline. It was a phone line generated from a cable modem.

A lot of things could have happened to an old "Ma Bell" phone line. Some lines were deactivated but you could still get a low voltage on the pair. In many locations the phone company is running short on copper lines and they may have reassigned the pair that went to your house to another house. With the shortage of copper lines... there are very few pairs just sitting there dormant or unused.
 
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Old 02-10-15, 05:15 PM
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You had your phone service with Comcast but it wasn't a copper pair landline. It was a phone line generated from a cable modem.
You are correct but I know he did something outside because he told me had to. Wish I had followed to see what.

A lot of things could have happened to an old "Ma Bell" phone line. Some lines were deactivated but you could still get a low voltage on the pair. In many locations the phone company is running short on copper lines and they may have reassigned the pair that went to your house to another house. With the shortage of copper lines... there are very few pairs just sitting there dormant or unused.
That is interesting. Some of the videos I have been watching the past couple hours seem to indicate the phone companies have all this infrastructure just sitting around idle. Some crafty folks are using the old rj11 jacks to charge their cell phones, for fun I guess.
 
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Old 02-10-15, 08:21 PM
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What he did was move your inside phone jack wiring from the landline demarc block to the cable modem.

I've heard of people stealing small bits of power from the unused phone lines. The amount of power you can get is similar in the speed that grass grows.

Copper is expensive to maintain. Most phone companies would like to discontinue its use.
 
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Old 02-10-15, 10:01 PM
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I don't want to waste your time on something like this but one more question please.
My bro-in-law has a nice NID box outside of their house (this then would be the Demarcation Point) It is large with a rj11 jack inside, to determine if the point of failure is before or after the house, roughly said.

I can't find anything like an NID or anywhere one might plug an rj11 jack. Here is a picture of the only thing with name Bell on it, I assume it is the demarc. It has a rubber cover.
Attachment 46333

I guess our house is pretty old. Lots of loose & cut wires
 
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Old 02-10-15, 10:16 PM
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That's an old style single line demarc block. When Ma Bell was installing them they never expected their monopoly of the phone system would end. When it came to be that the homeowner could do their own wiring.... they came up with an easy way for the homeowner to check their own service with that new style NID and the modular test jack setup.
 
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Old 02-10-15, 10:33 PM
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Thanks.
So if we ever decide to sell & the next owner wants to install a landline they will most likely need a CenturyLink technician to come out & fix whatever mess we made with Comcast. Perhaps even install a better NID box. Concerned about leaving little landmines for next owner. Suppose I would appreciate knowing. Most of my siblings / cousins still use & want their landlines.

thanks & that's my last question on this.
 
 

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