Q: I relocated my computer to a lower level of my house. My internet runs over a phone line, and although there’s already a phone jack in the new downstairs, the line has been cut on the outside of the house. Can I simply splice a phone line onto the existing wire and then connect it to the telephone interface box on the outside of the house?
A: If possible, it’s best to avoid splicing and run a new line, which is less likely to have connectivity problems. However, sometimes that’s not practical, and it is possible to splice telephone wire (also called station wire). One way to splice the wire is to use gel-filled telephone splice connectors, available at many hardware stores, which actually strip the wire when you insert the wires into the connector’s receiver tube. Hold the wires steady for a solid connection as you crimp the splice with pliers. The gel helps to protect against corrosion.
Another method is to strip the plastic sleeve to reveal the wire bundle, strip off about an inch of the color-coated insulation on each wire, twist the matching exposed wires together lengthwise (like a rope) so there is no sharp kink in the wire, and then solder the wires together. The wires of low-voltage wires are hair-thin so make sure you solder a strong connection. If soldering, we recommend using heat-shrink insulation tubes to protect the wires.
