DSL Wiring

Actually, I have one but in our back bedroom the signal is not that great. The modem is in the front left of the house and the back room is in the right rear. I guess I can play around with that to improve it but really don't have the time or inclination right now.

Good point. I think that is called S/N ration. We are very close to a CO according to a friend who works for Verizon but she won't reveal the exact location of it. I think she called it a Remote CO.

Thanks for you reply.

That's about how I originally had DSL setup. I recently changed it, by using a direct connection from filter to the DSL jack. I ran that down the air return duct.

If you want multiple room access, consider adding a wireless router.

That it is unterminated will probably cause only minor degradation. The length of the house wiring is small compared to the distance from the CO, so you probably won't notice it.

The more serious problem is that you have lots of wire on the dsl circuit that can pickup electrical noise from various appliances and other equipment within the house. If you are close to the CO, then you have a strong enough signal that this might not matter. If you are some distance, then this extra noise can cause problems.

If it's not plenum rated wire then you've just created a fairly deadly hazard in the event of a fire. The jacket on most cabling is toxic when burned and will wick right up the cord. Your insurance company will doubtless have grounds to void your policy.

Yes, because no matter how close you at physically to the CO building the wire may take quite a circuitous route.

===snipped==

You can find the location of the CO at

I think this overstates the case, particularly in residential construction with short (10ft) plenums, and "whole house" fires.

The plenum spec was developed following a commercial fire where a smallish fire cooked PVC, and a large (100ft) return plenum distributed nasty gases to people outside the fire zone.

Second, these is some controversy about the effectiveness of plenum. It is much more expensive and stable. It can be heated to higher temperatures before gassing. But above this range, it produces _much_ nastier gasses than PVC.

I very much doubt an inse co would void anything, but a very careful inspector might when the home is resold.

-- Robert

The return air duct only carries room temperature air. It doesn't get near anything hot.

And during a fire? The codes have little to do with day to day temperatures, they make a difference when part of the structure is burning.

In fact in my house, the return "air duct" is not even made of metal. It is just the space between two wall studs.

The same here. And that makes it very convenient as a wiring path. It's a direct route from an upstairs room to the basement.

We are talking about the empty space between wall studs. If the fire gets there, then all is lost. Whether there happens to be a dsl cable in that space seems beside the point.

"wkearney99" wrote in news:m9udnY7C6aeJTWzcRVn- snipped-for-privacy@speakeasy.net:

Also with remote terminals distance to the CO is meaningless. I have a friend who is over 5 miles from the CO and has great DSL service, he's about 500 feet from a remote terminal.

Quite wrong actually, but hey, go ahead and kill yourself and family. That and the firefighters that might try to save you.

The reason to use the right wire in air return spaces is to avoid toxic gasses. It's entirely possible to have an air return heat up enough during a fire to cause regular cable jacketing to burn off and emit poisonous gasses. In many fires people die of smoke inhalation well before actually being incinerated. Why take the risk?

Make that "in most fires people are asphyxiated"

LB

Actually, it's the other way around. PVC is banned because it is a fuel source. That's two legs of fire triangle.

Teflon plenium-rated cable solves the fuel issue, but when it IS burned, it emits toxic gases. I believe its use is banned in the EU because of that.