How to extend a phone line using Ethernet?

[CM786]

Hi guys,

 

Hoping for some pointers here on telephone cabling which I don't really know much about.

 

A school I work in has bought a BT Phoneline to be used by the staff in an outbuilding they have. BT came last year (before I started) and said that there were no lines going into the outbuilding and that they can put a new socket in the main school, next to the comms cabinet and that it can be linked through to the outbuilding via the existing data cabling.

 

My predecessor has left and I have taken over this school and this still hasn't been done. I am hoping it is fairly straight forward.

 

Could some please point me in the direction of how I would do this?

 

The setup is as follows:

 

BT SOCKET ON WALL ----> MAIN SCHOOL ----> Fibrelink ---> OUTBUILDING

 

I assume I need some form of converter to plug from the BT wallsocket into the link socket that goes across to the other building and then another convertor at the outbuilding side?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

Thanks

[AngryTechnician]

Errrr... no. This is not straightforward. If a BT engineer suggested it was, he should be sacked.

 

While you could in theory extend a phoneline over a single copper cable (that is used for nothing else), your situation requires you to convert from copper analogue to IP to travel over a fibre link that is shared with data, then convert it back from IP to analogue at the other end. Something like this would do it, but kit like this isn't easy to get hold of these days and it might actually be cheaper to get BT to run new copper to the outbuilding.

[featured_spectre]

Wow.. @AngryTechnician is bang on here. This isn't a straightforward thing. (S)He was lazy.

[CM786]

To be honest - the fact that this job has been left for over a year had me suspicious that it wasn't quite as straightforward as suggested. I honest think the BT Engineer came in, saw how long the cable run to the new building was and thought "cant't be a****"

 

Thanks for your help and for pointing me in the right direction. I'll have to see if I can find something similar from the UK from someone who will accept a school PO ideally.

 

Thanks

[synaesthesia]

How far is the outbuilding? Close enough for a decent wireless phone system for instance?

[Linfit]

How far away from the main building is the outbuilding and is there any trunking, ducting or cable runs that you can get to ?

It might be possible to simply run some phone cable across, (or some cat 5 and use converters) if you have access.

Presumably the engineer didn't realise (or didn't care) the link was by fibre.

[Driftingashore]

Personally, if at all possible I'd run a cable. It's the least technical and most reliable solution you're going to get.

[tom_newton]

[Warning, overkill] Could route the call over IP and use something like this: http://www.voipon.co.uk/grandstream-gxw-4104-p-336.html?gclid=COK6m9yXnL0CFSQXwwodFHwAbQ to dump it back on the PSTN at the near end. Even use an ATA at the far end if they have a specific bit of phone kit.

[strawberry]

phone up BT. Get them to come out and quote. Pay the man. Don't worry about it!

 

You could spend your life chasing fixes to this, don't worry about it, just pay BT what they want and let them sort it.

[rob_coles]

How are the buildings connected?

 

Doh says in the initial post.

Edited March 18, 2014 by rob_coles

[GeekyPete]

Seems to me that if you asked for a socket in the out building and they put it in the main building, they didn't do what was asked. With that said, BT would have charged you the earth to dig a channel or use a high wire to get between the buildings (how far apart are they anyway?). So whoever said "Oh Yeah alright just stick it there then" was even more lazy and/or imcompetent than the BT engineer.

 

Eitherway, it's now up to you to make it right. How does the fibre get to the second building? There is often a pipe with some rope coming out of it used to drag a cable through an underground pipe. Check the plant rooms. You could drag your own Cat5/6. Other than that, go to the head and tell him what a lazy sod went before you and get the job done properly.

[dhicks]

BT SOCKET ON WALL ----> MAIN SCHOOL ----> Fibrelink ---> OUTBUILDING

 

Now might be a good time to start looking at VoIP phone systems, you can get ones that will work alongside your existing analog system, unless of course you already have a VoIP phone system and you simply need to add your new phone line to your PBX.

[Kingstech]

Why do you need a BT socket in the outbuilding if there is network in there already? Is it just fibre linking them? When we have out buildings we put in a phone patch panel as well as fibre.

 

You can run a BT phone line over CAT5 because I have done it for our lifts.

[CM786]

School are not going to be happy.

 

The outbuilding is at the side of the school and is a Professional Development Centre. Probably around 150 Meters from the main school comms cabinet.

 

The outbuilding was a council funded development and I think someone has made a mistake somewhere.

 

I am going to suggest getting BT to move the socket; they should have done it properly in the first place.

 

Thankyou for the input!