Simple question:
are telephone jacks inside the house wired in parallel or series?
I wire mine in parallel, what does the phone company do?
The same. Unless you have a phone with some kind of output line, it would be almost impossible to wire them in series.
they are wired in parallel.
you seem to be confusing the way the cable runs with the electrical connection method.
you can run a cable to each phone from the telephone service point. you can run it to one phone and on to the next. you can do some of both.
depending on where the telephone service point is and the configuration of your house you design a layout. often you want to use the least amount of cable for least cost and often least work. the house layout and construction determines where you can run the cable, so sometimes the least work is a longer path. phone cable is not too expensive in large spools so i would choose the easiest installation over cable cost as the deciding factor.
the phone company or electrician who installs would analyze probably based on the amount of work. it would depend on the time period it was done in also. it also depends on if it was for phones alone or not. also depends on if it was modified after the initial installation.
it is not clear if you want to know if what you had done is correct or you are asking about how to do it for the future.
You can look at telephone wiring as being similar to electrical house wiring.
HOUSE WIRING: A black, white, and green wire is run from the fuse/breaker box to every outlet in the house.
TELEPHONE WIRING IS SIMILAR: Two or four different colored wires are run from the entrance box to each and every phone outlet or jack in the house. Pick up any phone and it is the same as having it connected at the entrance box.
The phones wouldn’t work wired in series.
i think this could lead to confusion for someone inexperienced in wiring.
house wiring can be done in parallel or series, also it is almost always many circuits.
telephone wiring is done in parallel and for residences frequently only one circuit.
confusion exists in referring to the wiring method; series (electricity goes through one device to the next) and parallel (electricity goes to each device separately), these terms are in use since there were wires. the term ‘wiring’ properly refers to how the individual copper wires are connected and the resulting electric flow.
there is also the cable layout; the cable could run from one usage point to the next and the wiring be parallel (telephone or electric) or series (electric). the cable could also run from a central point to each device and the wiring be in series or parallel. you could use the terms ‘layout’, ‘routing’, ‘run’, ‘topology’ prefaced by the word ‘cable’ to refer to the path the cable takes. some may feel it OK to use a term like 'series cable run" or ‘parallel cable run’ to indicate the cable path, this can be easily confused with the wiring method so it can be problematic.
thanks everyone!
appreciate the replies.
My question is referring to wiring that I have already done. I do all my own wiring in my house-phone, network, cable. I do occasionally add an electrical outlet here and there. About the only place I hesitate to go into is the service panel. I will replace breakers if necessary but I sure don’t like it. Everything else I do myself. That way I know what to fix when it breaks.
All my phone connections end at a punchblock in my service closet. So I am using a star topology. My question was sparked by someone who I thought might know what he is talking about saying his phones are wired in series. Didn’t seem right to me.
I am continually amazed at the people who frequent this board. Knowledge is here, but even more important is the experience! From measuring gravity waves to raising kids, someone here has (is) done it!
thanks
All of your phones are connected in parallel in your house, but I can see how someone would say that the wiring is done in series. You typically wire from the entrance bridge to the first jack, then in series to the second jack, etc. for as many jacks as you have in your home. Each phone connection is in parallel, but each wire from jack to jack is in series. Star topologies like yours are typically not used simply because they usually require more wire and therefore cost more.
i would use wiring in the ancient traditional sense of actual wire connections. you used ‘connection’ in that sense to distinguish it from cabling. though connection can still an ambiguous term.
i would use cabling to refer to how the cable is routed.
to use ‘wire’ to refer to both the connections used and the cable routing is the cause of confusion is what people most often do.
what is talked about has to be taken in context when talked about by an inexperienced person. often takes questioning to get the context.
star topologies do have an advantage for troubleshooting and installation especially if done by a home owner.