How to move regular RJ-11 office telephone extensions from office to office?
Hello experts,
I do not know one thing really about telephones and lines. I want to learn though. Right now, our company contracts out with another company to come in and do our extension swaps and installation of new telephone ports, etc... We do a lot of office changes and phone switching and I'd like to learn how to do this myself so we don't have to keep paying someone to do this every time we want to change offices. There is a jack that we need to put a phone and extension in. I have the extension and it is not being used right now and I also have the phone, but where do I go to "install" this extension to that port? Is it incredibly hard to learn and not worth it to learn how to do it? We have traditional phones. They are not VOIP phones. They are standard "paired" RJ-11 phone cables and we use a Toshiba handset and base. When I look at our telecom closets and our DMARC room, I get a headache looking at all the wires involved with the phone system, but I'd like to understand how this all works. Any suggestions where to start? Or can someone tell me how to do these extension location moves? Thanks in advance.
I do not know one thing really about telephones and lines. I want to learn though. Right now, our company contracts out with another company to come in and do our extension swaps and installation of new telephone ports, etc... We do a lot of office changes and phone switching and I'd like to learn how to do this myself so we don't have to keep paying someone to do this every time we want to change offices. There is a jack that we need to put a phone and extension in. I have the extension and it is not being used right now and I also have the phone, but where do I go to "install" this extension to that port? Is it incredibly hard to learn and not worth it to learn how to do it? We have traditional phones. They are not VOIP phones. They are standard "paired" RJ-11 phone cables and we use a Toshiba handset and base. When I look at our telecom closets and our DMARC room, I get a headache looking at all the wires involved with the phone system, but I'd like to understand how this all works. Any suggestions where to start? Or can someone tell me how to do these extension location moves? Thanks in advance.
It pretty much depends on how you location is wired. Typically you have the phone lines coming from the PBX which goes to a punch-down box. This box then has wires that go from it to the box where the individual offices are cabled. When adding a new extension, you need to cable to office port to a PBX line. That usually means adding (or changing) wires from the port to the punch-down box. Sometimes that is done via a patch cable, and sometimes it is done with a "punch-down" tool, which is used to force the sires between a series of little metal blades that automatically puncture the insulation and make contact with the metal conductor in the wire.
This process is not hugely difficult, but it is not something you are going to learn here. There is enough variation in layouts that it would be almost impossible to give you step by step info, and if you do it wrong at best it won't work, but you might also loosen other wires. And it would be very bad to get the ringer current down the wrong connection.
You might find some books about it in the library.
This process is not hugely difficult, but it is not something you are going to learn here. There is enough variation in layouts that it would be almost impossible to give you step by step info, and if you do it wrong at best it won't work, but you might also loosen other wires. And it would be very bad to get the ringer current down the wrong connection.
You might find some books about it in the library.
ASKER
Where are these port numbers located on the panels in the switch rooms?
Also, what if the extension that I want to use is currently not being used, and thus, not labeled? How do I locate it?
Also, what if the extension that I want to use is currently not being used, and thus, not labeled? How do I locate it?
That is the kind of information that is specific to your location and equipment. If you are lucky, then the office ports and PBX ports are labeled. You could try to find a known office and extension and try to trace the wires back.
To get an idea of what the punch down box looks like and what you are looking for, you could look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjDVPXlCj18
To get an idea of what the punch down box looks like and what you are looking for, you could look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjDVPXlCj18
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
then in your comms cabinet move the cabled form the current port number to the relocated port number, then move the handset.
HTH.