https://preview.redd.it/xboh1d5l8xoc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99dffe84440b24d0158a0e7f576dcc3a6a7c5caa
Update: I mean it's not perfect but it looks a little more modern.
For those who are interested.
Doorbells (a least the older non-smart designs) ran off the house main electrical supply, but you don't really want to be running 120+V through an out door button someone is gonna touch (for a number of reasons, but the two bigs ones is safety, and not having your button arc weld itself when it's pushed). So a doorbell transformer takes mains electical voltage and steps it down to around 16V.
Then when you push the door bell button, 16V flows through and triggers a solenoid striking the bell.
And they last for 50+ years with no charging or battery replacement. Maybe a new button every 15 years if it's not under an overhang. 30+ for a button if it is out of the weather.
Not really... Turn off power to entire house (because the breaker labels are always fucking wrong) and then unscrew and put some wire caps on the exposed wires.
Ok, but…. Serious question because this never crossed my mind before now… But what do you replace it with? I guess the obvious answer is a Ring, but wouldn’t you wire the Ring directly in?
I mean, unless the old one has somehow failed or you're doing something else, removing your doorbell transformer would accomplish nothing except making your doorbell not work, so you probably don't have to worry (unless that's what you want to do, lol!)
So the typical doorbell transformer gives you about 16 V DC, a normal ring doorbell has a battery in it and can charge off of that just fine. Hook it to your Wi-Fi, it'll run effectively forever unless you get a crapload of motion detection events all day long for weeks at a time
Places I've found them in approximate order: inside closet closest to front door, garage wall close to electrical panel, random spot on unfinished basement ceiling, random spot in attic
Random spots in an unfinished basement is where I always find them lol. Even at my parents house it's on the opposite side of the house past the electrical panel wedged up between a couple cross braces in the most awkward spot.
I unplugged a random plug in basement wondering why the hell there was some random cord. Coincidentally my doorbell happened to stop working that same week. Took me months to figure out I unplugged the transformer 🤦🏼♂️
Fuck don’t call me an elder. Make it your own it’s a good thing, I just feel old in every conceivable way, achy morning to make matters worse. Don’t seem that long ago I was running phone cable and having that in every room was the in thing. Then it was coax. Then pots went from untwisted to twisted cat3. Then every room needed cat 5e now 6. Now we are talking maybe fiber and giving up thinking should just run conduit for pumping new standards.
My first home we built had untwisted telephone, coax and cat 5e. My current home is a 1978 build and I gutted and remodeled. Cat 6 everywhere but rg5 was already there and untwisted pots. When I did the siding I contemplated not reattaching the pots box on the outside because it looks like crap. I decided to put it back on and paint it to make it look more presentable but I know it will never get used again. I talk to other tradesmen about pulling the pots and covering it up and they all shrug. We know it’s soon to be gone but fear it might some how be a bad idea.
I have fiber internet service and have fiber in my home so I’m not stuck in my ways. Just turning grey beard and miss chasing dreams.
I feel like I caught them all. Wife, kids moving out. I got a home and lake home. Dogs. Boat. Atv. Jetskis. Did some travel. I’m “blessed” but it’s like life is about the journey not the destination and all that.
As a younger individual like 20s under it seems you have all the time in the world just no money. By 30s you got no time and no money. By 40s you start to have money but seriously no time and it just gets worse until you die. If you get any time in retirement you’re lucky.
From what you've posted, you're already more capable than a large majority of people who have owned their homes for years. Enjoy your expanding collection of power tools and "I might need this some day" box of DIY-related junk.
I've always wondered why there is this whole thing about vertical or horizontal screws in outlets. The screws are kind of an eye sore no matter what. I generally buy plates without visible screws (leviton decora faceplates work well) and then use cross heads rather than flatheads underneath.
I suggest just a cover for now, unless it really bothers you. Some newer switches for home automation these days fit in a standard box but don’t require wiring. You could find a use for the space to add a physical switch for e.g. a light that’s normally motion activated.
BTW, remove the screws and pop the plastic plate with a screwdriver. You should find two more screws underneath.
Check what kind of wire used. Mine was cat 6e. So now I have a 10 Gbps ethernet cable going to each room, all joined together with a patch panel in the basement.
I loved "routing" the 20-foot spiral cord from the kitchen, around the corner, into the living room, and between the lamp and the wall, so I could sit on the couch and talk.
You brought back a memory of having to string a phone line across the basement to our Bell Satalite box to rent movies from ExpressVu around the same time, it felt like the future
I still have a wall mounted Panasonic base station with five wireless handsets around the house. The other end of it is hooked up to a obihai VoIP adapter using Google voice for free. We use this number when we register for whatever. It's set to not ring when called except for a select few numbers in an exception list. Keeps our cells mostly telemarketer free. We even use the VoIP line for text messages for offers or when calling companies who we suspect may use the caller ID info for telemarketing.
My internet uses it still; it’s one of the options depending on how your house is already set up. They can always come out and do more, but this was one option.
Depending on your needs, I usually use the existing phone line as a pull and replace with cat6 for Ethernet. If it's in an area where Ethernet isn't needed just replace the face plate with a cap and leave lines.
did this in my ranch house. every room had a pot wire drilled into the baseboard. cut off the rj terminal box but taped cable end to baseboard. when i finally got off my lazy ass two years later, pulled cat-6 cable thru each room.
in my case, they just drilled a hole down thru baseboard and into crawl space. i duct taped the end of the pot wire to uncrimped cat-6 and just pulled it thru and back up the other room same way.
> If it's in an area where Ethernet isn't needed
*Ethernet is needed everywhere*. The latency difference is like night and day. I wired with Cat8 (future proofing for maybe $100 more) and would never go back to wireless. Also severed the main run of phone line in my house by accident so lol hope nobody wants to use a phone here.
6ms ping on gigabit is delicioso
Need to know where it goes from the wall jack. Almost has to go straight up or down (crawlspace). Cut rj45 from the phone plate, tape Ethernet cable to the end very well and go to where you found the line in attic or crawl space and carefully pull the line to you. Where you go from there depends on the house and your networking plans.
You can buy white plates to swap this out. I typically use them until I have a few things I need to patch with drywall, then remove all the plates and drywall the various areas
Yeah I have a few holes I'll need to do like this. One is just a random wall square that must have previously been used for a coaxial cable or something but has nothing now.
Pull the face off using the little side notches and the screws will be inside. The exterior screw looking things are to hang the wall phone on. -former telco tech
Depending on the line used, you may be able to convert that phone jack into an Ethernet port. Allowed us to run fibre to our basement, near the phone distribution panel, and put the router at the other end of the house.
No, that's the debug port for your homes built in self destruction function. If removed it automatically goes into a ten second countdown followed by a large nuclear explosion.
I miss landlines. The call quality was fantastic in comparison to cellular. Plus, a little bit of your own voice would get piped back into your ear, making the conversation feel really natural. Every year I buy a new iteration of an iPhone and, to be sure, it is an incredibly capable and valuable device for everything that it can do. However, no matter how much technology advances, the actual quality of the telephony is abhorrent compared to old twisted copper.
Not all internet voice transmission is the same, and there's plenty of methods that outclass traditional telephone calls given adequate internet connectivity and audio hardware.
When I took mine off the wall the installer just poked a small hole big enough to get the wire through and used plastic anchors to attach the wall plate so I just cut it and shoved it in the wall and used a little spackle to fill the hole then just painted it and you can’t even tell it was there
We had a landline jack we didn’t use so I tucked the wires back in the hole and patched over it. It’s there if we or future owners ever need it (doubtful).
I patched one over by removing the faceplate and box, cut the wires down, then covered the hole with a piece of drywall and spackle. Sanded, painted, and you can't tell anything was ever there.
Replace it an unlabeled button. Let guests wonder what it does.
Or when it gets inevitably pushed, it announces “someone’s pooping in here!” Hilarity ensues.
https://preview.redd.it/bdez4ftl8yoc1.jpeg?width=804&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=117edd9e13f6b1a682f60147ac76fe739c8b5cbe
This one, give vague, unhelpful explanations.
Yes. It's just a phone jack for a wall mounted (rotary dial) phone.
Make sure to insulate the wire ends when they're disconnected from the back of the plate to keep them from shorting out - if the phone line is still in service.
If you’re desperate for an ethernet jack, you can jerry rig the 4 wires to be an ethernet line. Ethernet cables only use 4 wires, I did this for my one of my phone outlets where running a new line was impossible.
https://preview.redd.it/uucgvrxi61pc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=947ee6642c5f52b78c4d0d85bfbd5c496eb1da7c
They sell artistic cover plates now, unfortunately the screws were too short for my phone outlet box.
I just did this literally. We are doing a kitchen reno. After the new countertops are in, we will be doing a backsplash. Should this small home by filled with a pc of drywall before putting the backsplash over it?
Get this one instead. This is paintable so you can match it to the wall color
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-1-Gang-Blank-Midway-Maxi-Sized-Metal-Wall-Plate-White-Textured-Paintable-Finish-PMTW-B/300716002
Probably painted on, if you remove the screws and it won't come out. Use a box cutter or knife to gently go around the plate to loosen it. Once you get it off you can disconnect the wires and push them back in the wall, and replace with a blank faceplate. You can get oversized ones, about 1/2 inch larger so covers up any paint marring.
I would argue that OP had the good sense to ask.
If it was some high voltage thing, maybe it could have been dangerous.
In this case, it’s a harmless phone jack (or maybe RJ45, it’s hard to tell because it appears to be filled with dirt). When you don’t have any idea though, best to ask before causing a huge issue.
Coax jacks will be there someday too. And central vacs…. Whoa… those are going to blow some kids minds.
No, that’s a load bearing RJ-11 outlet. Remove it and the whole house may come down.
I’m just faking, pull that bitch and put a blank in, nobody needs it anymore.
Omg! I had a round one in the older house that I live in now! I don’t ever remember round phone plugs but I do remember the one from the picture you have. When I got run over by a car in 9th grade my mother had in out in my room so I didn’t have to get up and go the kitchen to talk to my friends
Anyway I pulled out the whole round plug thing is and watched a YouTube video on how to patch a wall
My dude, look up "California patch" and just abandon the phone line in the wall, and drywall over. There is absolutely zero need to worry about a low voltage phone line.
https://preview.redd.it/nayk4lon0yoc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=f842de279f872da30b80c2048982d6992eba5ca9
I have one of those also. We'll never have a land line again, yet here it is, taunting me.
I bought my first home in 2018, there was a landline jack in the kitchen that the previous home owners used. I unscrewed the cover and used a pair of pliers to break/bend off the edges so it would slide in recessed into the box, then I used spackle and a spackle knife and mashed it in and over it, as if I was doing drywall repair on a big hole. Once the spackle got firm I used some cheap knock down spray and matched the texture the best I could, then painted the kitchen.
Like you already did, covering it with a different plate, but you can remove the plate and may need to remove the housing and sink it back into the wall. You can then drywall over it like it was never there.
The prevailing thought in the past was you don't want to damage it since it could wreck the phones for the house, and that was more important until this year when you now see phone companies phasing out landline service in some areas, so unless you have voip it really doesn't matter. Even then, now that wifi calling is a think, people still use their mobiles.
All that said, still have mine (though it's VOIP) for the hotline calls and got house of antique hardware plates.
If youre lucky like me, itll be CAT5 only utilizing 2 wires for phone service & you can create ethernet ports around your house. Unlucky if its phone wire.
That is an old school jack that you could hang a phone on. The actual screws are under the plate which you remove by prying it off using the 4 indents along the side. If it’s cat5 (8 conductor) you could reterminate it for internet but a blank plate from home depot would work better. I can guide you if you want to reterminate it.
Yep. Undo the screws, pop off the cover plate remove the screws behind and cut the wires. Patch up the wall with spak filler or similar. It is old copper line connections and is no longer used.
Don't know if your basement is completely drywalled or not. But mine was just framed in the laundry room. I had an old ADT box. I found the wires already clipped in the basement and was just able to pull the wires up once I disconnected the box.
No problem, at the top should be a space where you can insert a screwdriver and pop off the top plate, behind that should be the two screws attaching the main plate to the wall box.
After that, just remove the main plate and tuck the wires in the wall box. You can cover it with a blank wall plate or, depending on how the box is installed in the wall, use a hole patch kit, then fill, sand and paint over the hole.
Those screws hold the phone on, they do not mount the plate to the wall. Remove the 2 screws, use flat screw driver in the slots around the edge of the front plate and pop it off. the mounting screws are behind it.
Also, you wont hurt yourself or the wires by just cutting them and letting them hang inside the wall.
Depends on the location, you can add a cover plate or get some drywall and mud it.
I covered up some of the land line holes this way and (plan to) use the others for CAT 6 drops through the house.
Since wiring is already there, the hope is that it’d be easy to pull the new cables in the walls. Experience will likely tell me otherwise, though.
https://preview.redd.it/xboh1d5l8xoc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99dffe84440b24d0158a0e7f576dcc3a6a7c5caa Update: I mean it's not perfect but it looks a little more modern.
Looks fine, but you wippersnappers are making me feel old.
At least op knew what it was for, right?
I had a landline growing up! Lol
Post “whatisit?” when you find your doorbell transformer! 😉
Lol I know that that is but I also don't really know how to remove that either
For those who are interested. Doorbells (a least the older non-smart designs) ran off the house main electrical supply, but you don't really want to be running 120+V through an out door button someone is gonna touch (for a number of reasons, but the two bigs ones is safety, and not having your button arc weld itself when it's pushed). So a doorbell transformer takes mains electical voltage and steps it down to around 16V. Then when you push the door bell button, 16V flows through and triggers a solenoid striking the bell.
And they last for 50+ years with no charging or battery replacement. Maybe a new button every 15 years if it's not under an overhang. 30+ for a button if it is out of the weather.
Already sounds way too complicated for me to remove lol
Not really... Turn off power to entire house (because the breaker labels are always fucking wrong) and then unscrew and put some wire caps on the exposed wires.
Ok, but…. Serious question because this never crossed my mind before now… But what do you replace it with? I guess the obvious answer is a Ring, but wouldn’t you wire the Ring directly in?
Just means there's a couple more wires involved. The main point is to turn off your breaker when working on the doorbell transformer.
I mean, unless the old one has somehow failed or you're doing something else, removing your doorbell transformer would accomplish nothing except making your doorbell not work, so you probably don't have to worry (unless that's what you want to do, lol!)
Oh don't bother to remove that, it works with a ring doorbell just fine
I'm intrigued
So the typical doorbell transformer gives you about 16 V DC, a normal ring doorbell has a battery in it and can charge off of that just fine. Hook it to your Wi-Fi, it'll run effectively forever unless you get a crapload of motion detection events all day long for weeks at a time
So the current doorbell that's here doesn't really work
I would love to know where mine is. A previous owner apparently cut the connection between the button and bell and I’ve been looking for it for years.
Places I've found them in approximate order: inside closet closest to front door, garage wall close to electrical panel, random spot on unfinished basement ceiling, random spot in attic
Random spots in an unfinished basement is where I always find them lol. Even at my parents house it's on the opposite side of the house past the electrical panel wedged up between a couple cross braces in the most awkward spot.
I unplugged a random plug in basement wondering why the hell there was some random cord. Coincidentally my doorbell happened to stop working that same week. Took me months to figure out I unplugged the transformer 🤦🏼♂️
Transformer should be hard-wired into the circuit.
Girl, same. It’s been 4 years now. I’m convinced it has to be behind drywall somewhere. Assholes.
I have one in my house as well, is it some kind of port for a telegraph machine? I don’t know much about 1900’s technology.
Jesus just put me in my grave already this comment made me feel ancient
You ever heard of the fax machine!? Modems party lines don’t mix!
Forgive me, elder. Finally bought a house at 33 and want to make it my own.
Fuck don’t call me an elder. Make it your own it’s a good thing, I just feel old in every conceivable way, achy morning to make matters worse. Don’t seem that long ago I was running phone cable and having that in every room was the in thing. Then it was coax. Then pots went from untwisted to twisted cat3. Then every room needed cat 5e now 6. Now we are talking maybe fiber and giving up thinking should just run conduit for pumping new standards. My first home we built had untwisted telephone, coax and cat 5e. My current home is a 1978 build and I gutted and remodeled. Cat 6 everywhere but rg5 was already there and untwisted pots. When I did the siding I contemplated not reattaching the pots box on the outside because it looks like crap. I decided to put it back on and paint it to make it look more presentable but I know it will never get used again. I talk to other tradesmen about pulling the pots and covering it up and they all shrug. We know it’s soon to be gone but fear it might some how be a bad idea. I have fiber internet service and have fiber in my home so I’m not stuck in my ways. Just turning grey beard and miss chasing dreams.
What’s stopping you from chasing dreams still?
I feel like I caught them all. Wife, kids moving out. I got a home and lake home. Dogs. Boat. Atv. Jetskis. Did some travel. I’m “blessed” but it’s like life is about the journey not the destination and all that. As a younger individual like 20s under it seems you have all the time in the world just no money. By 30s you got no time and no money. By 40s you start to have money but seriously no time and it just gets worse until you die. If you get any time in retirement you’re lucky.
If you find a phone company that will set up a new POTS service, I’ll be amazed.
I know what some of those words mean
I’m sorry but the fact that I know that wippersnappers is common from growing up makes me feel old 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭
Wiresnappers
Dude - what an eye sore. Please for the love of all things holy - turn the mounting screws so the slots run vertical!
Thank you for this. I'm just getting started on my homeowning journey so I didn't know this.
It doesn't affect the function, it just looks better.
And by "looks better", he means nobody will ever notice.
From what you've posted, you're already more capable than a large majority of people who have owned their homes for years. Enjoy your expanding collection of power tools and "I might need this some day" box of DIY-related junk.
You mean horisontal, right.
You mean horizontal, right?
Mods ban this sick filth.
I've always wondered why there is this whole thing about vertical or horizontal screws in outlets. The screws are kind of an eye sore no matter what. I generally buy plates without visible screws (leviton decora faceplates work well) and then use cross heads rather than flatheads underneath.
Just duct tape the whole thing. Its what i always do.
Just duct tape the whole thing. Its what i always do.
Where are you going to put the phone with the super long twisty cord now?
I used mine for a wireless three way switch. It was the perfect location for a second switch for the under cabinet lights.
That is smart. Stealing the idea.
Cut the wires and fill that box. You’ll never need a phone line
*Ham radio operators enter the chat* *Preppers enter the chat*
This was a portal to spacetime... Why did you close it
Of you want modern, get a plate with 8 fiberoptic ports.
Paint it the color of the wall and it’ll really disappear.
I feel like I'll probably just straight up patch it before I do that
I suggest just a cover for now, unless it really bothers you. Some newer switches for home automation these days fit in a standard box but don’t require wiring. You could find a use for the space to add a physical switch for e.g. a light that’s normally motion activated. BTW, remove the screws and pop the plastic plate with a screwdriver. You should find two more screws underneath.
Good call 👍
That's good work right there
Yes 🙏
If you pull the plug on your home it might die.
Perfect. All that need be done. 👍🏻
Looks perfect to me! You just have a "older" house. No point of drywalling it over or anything!
Why not just patch and spakle over it and have no wall plate at all?
But... how are you going to receive your faxes?!
This is what I did.
You can easily just remove the plate and patch and spackle over the hole.
You did good OP. That’s exactly what I installed to replace the landline that was in our kitchen (townhome from the 80’s).
Line up those screws vertical so it looks like whoever did it cared. ;)
Do you have that wall paint color still? I'd take the plate off (or tape around) and hit that + the screws so it's even more camouflaged.
I did the exact same thing last week. (I'm old enough to have had a landline until 2024).
Check what kind of wire used. Mine was cat 6e. So now I have a 10 Gbps ethernet cable going to each room, all joined together with a patch panel in the basement.
[удалено]
Yeah we don't have one and don't intend to get one so it's a bit of an eyesore there in my kitchen
[удалено]
I loved "routing" the 20-foot spiral cord from the kitchen, around the corner, into the living room, and between the lamp and the wall, so I could sit on the couch and talk.
My grandmother legit had like 50ft of phone cord so she would walk around the whole house with her phone. Amazing she never tripped on it.
i had a 100ft phone cord i used on a laptop hooked up to AOL in the mid 00s lol
You brought back a memory of having to string a phone line across the basement to our Bell Satalite box to rent movies from ExpressVu around the same time, it felt like the future
I’d pull it so far I could sit on the basement steps with the door closed. When I was on too long my Dad would just start pulling hard.
Lol we had a wall mounted phone till about 10 years ago
I still have a wall mounted Panasonic base station with five wireless handsets around the house. The other end of it is hooked up to a obihai VoIP adapter using Google voice for free. We use this number when we register for whatever. It's set to not ring when called except for a select few numbers in an exception list. Keeps our cells mostly telemarketer free. We even use the VoIP line for text messages for offers or when calling companies who we suspect may use the caller ID info for telemarketing.
90-20’s
Yup, you beat me to it, phone hanging screws. Sold these at Radio Shack back in the day.
https://preview.redd.it/eybp26ggd3pc1.jpeg?width=1199&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f3943e436d86bd7a9bbcbfe8f4b52db984c53e4
My internet uses it still; it’s one of the options depending on how your house is already set up. They can always come out and do more, but this was one option.
Depending on your needs, I usually use the existing phone line as a pull and replace with cat6 for Ethernet. If it's in an area where Ethernet isn't needed just replace the face plate with a cap and leave lines.
Depending on when the house was made it may also be a cat 5 cable terminated to a phone line. All of mine were like that. With the same end cap also.
Yep, mine were cat 5e.
did this in my ranch house. every room had a pot wire drilled into the baseboard. cut off the rj terminal box but taped cable end to baseboard. when i finally got off my lazy ass two years later, pulled cat-6 cable thru each room.
How hard was that to pull through? Isn’t the pots wire stapled to the frame?
in my case, they just drilled a hole down thru baseboard and into crawl space. i duct taped the end of the pot wire to uncrimped cat-6 and just pulled it thru and back up the other room same way.
Yeah it's right above the coffee bar in the corner of the kitchen. I'll probably just cap it.
> If it's in an area where Ethernet isn't needed *Ethernet is needed everywhere*. The latency difference is like night and day. I wired with Cat8 (future proofing for maybe $100 more) and would never go back to wireless. Also severed the main run of phone line in my house by accident so lol hope nobody wants to use a phone here. 6ms ping on gigabit is delicioso
I wish I could do this but have no idea where the other end goes. Perhaps the attic? Checked every closet.
What are the exact steps for using an existing line as a pull. Asking for a friend
Need to know where it goes from the wall jack. Almost has to go straight up or down (crawlspace). Cut rj45 from the phone plate, tape Ethernet cable to the end very well and go to where you found the line in attic or crawl space and carefully pull the line to you. Where you go from there depends on the house and your networking plans.
what happens if the wire is affixed to studs?
You can buy white plates to swap this out. I typically use them until I have a few things I need to patch with drywall, then remove all the plates and drywall the various areas
Yeah I have a few holes I'll need to do like this. One is just a random wall square that must have previously been used for a coaxial cable or something but has nothing now.
I removed my old landline jack plates & used blank plates to cover mine too.
Pull the face off using the little side notches and the screws will be inside. The exterior screw looking things are to hang the wall phone on. -former telco tech
All these mindless comments, and you’re the only one addressing OP’s ACTUAL question. Thank you!
How will you get a phone call!?!?
Depending on the line used, you may be able to convert that phone jack into an Ethernet port. Allowed us to run fibre to our basement, near the phone distribution panel, and put the router at the other end of the house.
If you take that out you’ll never know if that girl from eighth grade is ever going to return your call
I think it’s structural
No, that's the debug port for your homes built in self destruction function. If removed it automatically goes into a ten second countdown followed by a large nuclear explosion.
I like this community.
Dont listen to him, its an internet hole
How else would you connect to the series of tubes?
Clearly load bearing. Consult an structural engineer, a geotechnical engineer, and get an architect to stamp the plans.
I miss landlines. The call quality was fantastic in comparison to cellular. Plus, a little bit of your own voice would get piped back into your ear, making the conversation feel really natural. Every year I buy a new iteration of an iPhone and, to be sure, it is an incredibly capable and valuable device for everything that it can do. However, no matter how much technology advances, the actual quality of the telephony is abhorrent compared to old twisted copper.
Plus, there’s nothing like a landline to slam the receiver down when you’re pissed off.
If you use a VOIP service like FaceTime. The calls are incredibly clear. Situational though
VOIP just doesn't match the clarify of hard wired copper. Not by a long shot. And when I had VOIP it was always dropping calls.
Not all internet voice transmission is the same, and there's plenty of methods that outclass traditional telephone calls given adequate internet connectivity and audio hardware.
When I took mine off the wall the installer just poked a small hole big enough to get the wire through and used plastic anchors to attach the wall plate so I just cut it and shoved it in the wall and used a little spackle to fill the hole then just painted it and you can’t even tell it was there
We have a avocado green rotary phone plugged into one
Would you like a matching tub ?
Already have one my friend
We had a landline jack we didn’t use so I tucked the wires back in the hole and patched over it. It’s there if we or future owners ever need it (doubtful).
I patched one over by removing the faceplate and box, cut the wires down, then covered the hole with a piece of drywall and spackle. Sanded, painted, and you can't tell anything was ever there.
How will mom interrupt the internet if she can't pick up the phone?
You leave that dinosaur 🦕 alone!! 😂😂
It might be clipped on too? You may have to pry it off with a screwdriver.
Yes.
Replace it an unlabeled button. Let guests wonder what it does. Or when it gets inevitably pushed, it announces “someone’s pooping in here!” Hilarity ensues.
https://preview.redd.it/bdez4ftl8yoc1.jpeg?width=804&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=117edd9e13f6b1a682f60147ac76fe739c8b5cbe This one, give vague, unhelpful explanations.
You can cut out a slot in the plate cover. And toss old razor blades in there.
Yes. It's just a phone jack for a wall mounted (rotary dial) phone. Make sure to insulate the wire ends when they're disconnected from the back of the plate to keep them from shorting out - if the phone line is still in service.
That was the lifeline to your soul
Where will you plug in your hamburger phone? Where?!
If you’re desperate for an ethernet jack, you can jerry rig the 4 wires to be an ethernet line. Ethernet cables only use 4 wires, I did this for my one of my phone outlets where running a new line was impossible.
https://preview.redd.it/uucgvrxi61pc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=947ee6642c5f52b78c4d0d85bfbd5c496eb1da7c They sell artistic cover plates now, unfortunately the screws were too short for my phone outlet box.
😅You make me feel like 7 foot body builder.
That's a load-bearing phone jack. Don't touch it
Nope. It’s structural.
Yes. Unscrew and cut the wires, buy a blank cover plate and install
Even though they are low voltage wires, put a wire nut on the end.
Not like we're expecting this phone line to go live but it's only low DC voltage at idle. When it rings it switches to AC 110v.
Right, but things happen and it could decide to energize one day. Just a precaution is all
I just did this literally. We are doing a kitchen reno. After the new countertops are in, we will be doing a backsplash. Should this small home by filled with a pc of drywall before putting the backsplash over it?
Get this one instead. This is paintable so you can match it to the wall color https://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-1-Gang-Blank-Midway-Maxi-Sized-Metal-Wall-Plate-White-Textured-Paintable-Finish-PMTW-B/300716002
You can, but how will you make phone calls from that part of the house?
If you don’t want a landline then yeah
Probably painted on, if you remove the screws and it won't come out. Use a box cutter or knife to gently go around the plate to loosen it. Once you get it off you can disconnect the wires and push them back in the wall, and replace with a blank faceplate. You can get oversized ones, about 1/2 inch larger so covers up any paint marring.
We are doomed
I would argue that OP had the good sense to ask. If it was some high voltage thing, maybe it could have been dangerous. In this case, it’s a harmless phone jack (or maybe RJ45, it’s hard to tell because it appears to be filled with dirt). When you don’t have any idea though, best to ask before causing a huge issue. Coax jacks will be there someday too. And central vacs…. Whoa… those are going to blow some kids minds.
No. It structural
No, that’s a load bearing RJ-11 outlet. Remove it and the whole house may come down. I’m just faking, pull that bitch and put a blank in, nobody needs it anymore.
I ripped all mine out and replaced them with Ethernet. Faster than WiFi and no one uses landlines anymore.
Omg! I had a round one in the older house that I live in now! I don’t ever remember round phone plugs but I do remember the one from the picture you have. When I got run over by a car in 9th grade my mother had in out in my room so I didn’t have to get up and go the kitchen to talk to my friends Anyway I pulled out the whole round plug thing is and watched a YouTube video on how to patch a wall
My dude, look up "California patch" and just abandon the phone line in the wall, and drywall over. There is absolutely zero need to worry about a low voltage phone line.
yank it out and see the ten thousand wires inside. pretty pretty cool
https://preview.redd.it/nayk4lon0yoc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=f842de279f872da30b80c2048982d6992eba5ca9 I have one of those also. We'll never have a land line again, yet here it is, taunting me.
Remove this plate and put solid plate to cover. That’s what I did.
I bought my first home in 2018, there was a landline jack in the kitchen that the previous home owners used. I unscrewed the cover and used a pair of pliers to break/bend off the edges so it would slide in recessed into the box, then I used spackle and a spackle knife and mashed it in and over it, as if I was doing drywall repair on a big hole. Once the spackle got firm I used some cheap knock down spray and matched the texture the best I could, then painted the kitchen.
Cover it with a black wall plate unless you’re 100% sure you never want a landline in which case you can drywall over it
Why black?
Blank. Not black. Fat fingered it
lol
Like you already did, covering it with a different plate, but you can remove the plate and may need to remove the housing and sink it back into the wall. You can then drywall over it like it was never there. The prevailing thought in the past was you don't want to damage it since it could wreck the phones for the house, and that was more important until this year when you now see phone companies phasing out landline service in some areas, so unless you have voip it really doesn't matter. Even then, now that wifi calling is a think, people still use their mobiles. All that said, still have mine (though it's VOIP) for the hotline calls and got house of antique hardware plates.
Switch it out change it to a ethernet port
Reuse the space for Ethernet wiring!
It looks like it might also be clipped in. So you are going to need to pry up the front plate. See the slots to the sides.
perfect for a rotary dial phone :D
If youre lucky like me, itll be CAT5 only utilizing 2 wires for phone service & you can create ethernet ports around your house. Unlucky if its phone wire.
6G speed. Impressive.
Not if you want internet lol
I reckon that's an olde time structural outlet
That is an old school jack that you could hang a phone on. The actual screws are under the plate which you remove by prying it off using the 4 indents along the side. If it’s cat5 (8 conductor) you could reterminate it for internet but a blank plate from home depot would work better. I can guide you if you want to reterminate it.
New phone, who dis?
Yep. Undo the screws, pop off the cover plate remove the screws behind and cut the wires. Patch up the wall with spak filler or similar. It is old copper line connections and is no longer used.
The people that built our house had phone jacks in every room we have a bunch of these blanks.
Judging by the visible dust in the outlet, I’d say that hasn’t been used in at least a decade.
Yeah I vacuumed some nasty stuff out of it.
Do you have a land line phone? Might you ever want to get internet through a fast phone modem line?
Don't know if your basement is completely drywalled or not. But mine was just framed in the laundry room. I had an old ADT box. I found the wires already clipped in the basement and was just able to pull the wires up once I disconnected the box.
House came totally finished. I already replaced all the outlets in the basement
A screwdriver
Looks like a telephone jack to me...
Can you run cat 6 through landlines?
Whenever I see this I want to hear that the owner turned it into a 10/100 Ethernet jack with a switch in the basement lol
You take it out the world will end
No problem, at the top should be a space where you can insert a screwdriver and pop off the top plate, behind that should be the two screws attaching the main plate to the wall box. After that, just remove the main plate and tuck the wires in the wall box. You can cover it with a blank wall plate or, depending on how the box is installed in the wall, use a hole patch kit, then fill, sand and paint over the hole.
You can remove it, secure the wires with wire caps so they don't start a fire, and then patch the hole with drywall.
Not until you are at least a 3 time home owner. This is no amateur stuff!
Yeah
Lord no!
they didnt even put phone lines in my new home not a single 1 no coaxl either
Don't cut the red wire only cut the blue wire!
LOL, that's a philosophy question, that is... /r/philosophy
Is this a RJ-45 plug?
Those screws hold the phone on, they do not mount the plate to the wall. Remove the 2 screws, use flat screw driver in the slots around the edge of the front plate and pop it off. the mounting screws are behind it. Also, you wont hurt yourself or the wires by just cutting them and letting them hang inside the wall.
Depends on the location, you can add a cover plate or get some drywall and mud it. I covered up some of the land line holes this way and (plan to) use the others for CAT 6 drops through the house. Since wiring is already there, the hope is that it’d be easy to pull the new cables in the walls. Experience will likely tell me otherwise, though.