Phone jack in each house..?

Question

Hi,

I have heard that ALL houses in U.S.A already have phone jack..and so if you want a phone connection, all you have to do is buy an instrument and get your phone line activated..

Is that true?

but who does those lines already put inside house belong to?

I mean, how can I get telephone signal from whatever company I want..- because those telephone lines may not be owned by that company..

Also, i think really old houses won't have it anyway..

Thanks,

Answer 1

use magic jack, or a cell phone; stay away from Verizon, horrible company, too may surcharges.

Get high speed internet through your cable company....

Answer 2

check out  http://www.magicjack.com/site/index.html

you get your own jack.

Answer 3

The telephone company owns the lines up to the terminal block on the outside of the house.  You own the lines from the terminal block into the house.

The local service is provided by your local provider, like BellSouth, although with deregulation you may have other options for local service that the "big guy" is required to tell you about.  These are often shown in the first few pages of your local telephone book.  

The jacks in your home were probably installed a long time ago by the local telephone company, they had a much larger stranglehold on the industry than they do now.  In fact, at one time in my life (I'm 40) I remember my parents renting our rotary-dial telephone from the telephone company...

Answer 4

IN most all cases the lines in the house are the responsibility of the homeowner. The lines in the house are owned by the homeowner.  I pay my phone company a fee to insure damage to my lines inside my home.  Otherwise their responsibility ends at the box on your home where their wires connect.  Usually they will install a line for you but it is very expensive.  And if the lines that are there no longer work they usually recommend to put a new line in.

Answer 5

Not all homes have phone jacks placed in them.  I work as a telephone technician and I can tell you, that not even new homes have phone jacks.  Especially manufactured homes do not.  In most cases if the home is a newer home the lines were put in by the builder.  In older homes the lines were probably put in by the local phone company or a builder.  The owner of the home owns the lines inside the house and can do anything they want with them.  If the home has had service before, there should be an interface out by the power meter in most cases that has a customer side and a telco side.

As far as which provider gives you signal to your house depends on the type of phone you're going with.  If you're using a cable TV provider to get phone service, they will install some sort of device that attaches to your current phone lines.  If you're going for a traditional phone company and they are not the common local provider in your area, they probably lease phone lines from the local company to provide you service.

Answer 6

You are correct - most homes in USA already have phone jacks inside the house.  Everything inside your house belongs to you, or the home owner, including the telephone wiring and telephone.

And yes, you can buy your own telephone device and plug it in yourself.  But, if you just moved into the house, the line should be dead until you call the local phone company to have the outside line connected for service.

All telephone connects/disconnects are made at the local telephone company switching/exchange office.  

USA law now mandates that the local exchange office, regardless of who owns it, must allow CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) to connect their services to you through the ILEC offices (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier).

When CLECs sell you a service over the ILEC lines, the CLEC rents those lines and services from the ILEC, and then resells/rents it to you, the subscriber.

These new laws are the only way new CLECs can be competitive with the ILECs and Baby Bells.