# Outdoor Telephone Cable



## shocksystems (Apr 25, 2009)

I have a customer who relies heavily on their land line. They have been having occasional quality problems and at times it does not work at all. 

The Verizon network interface is on the garage at the rear of their property. If I plug a test phone in the quality is excellent. There is an old black multi-wire outdoor telephone cable with approximately 10 pairs of wires in it (I did not count them) that runs over and under the surface of the ground from the garage to the house. The call quality is bad on the end of the cable as it enters the house. It seems clear that the problem is with the cable running between the buildings.

By substituting different pairs I seemed to be able to improve the line quality temporarily, however ultimately the call quality declines. 

My question is, what type of telephone cable am I looking for to replace this? I understand that generically I am looking for an outdoor rated telephone cable but I am not sure if there is a more specific cable type that I should be asking for.

Thanks in advance!


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

I'm not a LV guy by any means but I'd be looking at one of these gel filled DB cables:

https://www.platt.com/platt-electri...rior-Essex/04-001-58/product.aspx?zpid=689472


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

i would would replace it with anything that is ug rated and dont run it OVER the ground!


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## shocksystems (Apr 25, 2009)

Cow said:


> I'm not a LV guy by any means but I'd be looking at one of these gel filled DB cables:
> 
> https://www.platt.com/platt-electri...rior-Essex/04-001-58/product.aspx?zpid=689472


Good call. That is exactly what I am going to do.

Cheers!

Jim


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## inetdog (Apr 13, 2016)

Or plug in a cordless phone base station in the garage and use handsets in the house. 
Quick fix while you work on the permanent repair.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

It's probably just getting wet between the conductors, don't chase your tail, just replace it. 

If you want the toughest possible cable, ask for an armored cable that's rated for direct burial and if possible lashable / aerial too. You can get category 3 but category 5 / category 5e will be better and only a little more. 

If you're putting in conduit, I'd still get a direct burial rated category 5e, but not the armor. This will have the heavy jacket and the gel. Last time I bought this I got Hitachi 30145-008. This is very easy to work with, except the mess of wiping off the goop. Bring a roll of paper towels.


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

Make sure you get the proper cleaner.
icky pic is a pita to get off the wires, your hands, your clothes and whatever else it gets on :laughing:


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

wcord said:


> Make sure you get the proper cleaner.
> icky pic is a pita to get off the wires, your hands, your clothes and whatever else it gets on :laughing:


A comm guy I know showed me a trick for that gel chit ...
Moist towels ..









Something in them reacts to the gel, and the stuff cleans off easy :thumbsup:


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

emtnut said:


> A comm guy I know showed me a trick for that gel chit ...
> Moist towels ..
> 
> 
> ...


And for hours after you can get the hint of baby diaper in the air... that smell makes me sneeze so I get a less perfumed towelette.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

The citrus cleaner wipes really take the goo off fast too. American polywater makes towlettes just for the purpose, they smell like citrus to me, that's what gave me the idea to try the citrus ones. I prefer to just use a LOT of paper towels, soaps leave a residue. If I don't have paper towels in the truck I'll see if I can borrow a roll of toilet paper or paper towels from the janitor's closet.


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## Ty Wrapp (Aug 24, 2011)

Here is what I use, followed by a dry paper towel...

http://www.lpslabs.com/product-details/640


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