For "safety," and so I would not get accused of tapping, I might just
> twist the wires together and connect them to a good ground ... ;)
That might cause the other person's phone service to fail.
It would probably be best not to tamper with the wires at all.
If you have concerns, notify the phone company now and let them handle it.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Lisa, I probably should have labeled his message in the 'Last Laugh!' category, but I did not. His suggestion (especially since he said he had heard dial tone on that mystery pair) would definitly have 'caused the other persons phone service to fail'. No doubt about it! This reminds me once again of (the anecdote I told yesterday) the time I found that cobweb riddled cable running from the old abandoned manual switchboard in Chicago with the installer tech's note from 1908 saying 'these pairs go to the building at (address)': my partner there said "what if someone just snipped that cable cleanly, carefully covered it back up and left it?". My thought was Illinois Bell probably would have been frantic looking for the trouble (at the least) and almighty pissed off at the worst. But then, the message you were replying to had a smiley-face at the end of it which I guess you missed. I guess I agree with your conclusion: If/when one comes across these ancient oddities, one should really notify telco (at least once, and that is assuming anyone from telco is willing to listen and learn.) PAT]