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Why I hate AT&T Frames.

                Phone Cabling with BIX blocks and AT&T frames
                       (The Phone Technician's view of the WAY IT IS)

Written by: IdyllWild, SYN/RiSE
November 5, 1999

My name is IdyllWild. I'm a chick and I carry a BIX tool.
Yup, Chicks do BIX too :)

The company that I work for is always on the cutting edge of technology, 
so imagine MY SURPRISE when they decided to go from Norstar to a Meridian
SL-1.  Well, I think I creamed right there.

At any rate, this article is NOT about what turns me on, quite the contrary,
it's about the techinical aspect of PBX'ing.

I will introduce the tools used for the trade, then go into detail about
the difference between riser rooms and "home runs", how to tone out a jack, 
how to do a cross-connect and then close with why I hate AT&T frames.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

BIX Tool - This is used to punch down cross-connects on BIX blocks.  It's easier to use than
an AT&T Tool I've found.  You just have to lightly push down on it, and it will punch down the wire
for you.  It's usually cream colored with a little black circle on each side. If you turn the little circle
you will sheath the cutting edge.  It tapers to a point where the cutting edge is.  
It's also much smaller and lighter than the AT&T Tool.

AT&T Tool - This is used to punch down cross-connects on AT&T frames.  It's a fire engine red 
with a black metal tip on one end.  The tip sorta looks like a beer bottle opener, read SORTA.
There's also two dials on it.  One is for sheathing the cutting edge and I've never figured out
what the other is used for.  This tool is VERY WELL MADE!  I've dropped it down a flight of four
stairs and it still worked.  I'm JUST guessing the melting point of titanium is lower than the melting point of an AT&T tool.  Oh, it also says "LUCENT" on the side of it and you have to REALLY wail on the thing to get it to make the cross-connect.

Lineman's Handset - These come in ANALOG and DIGITAL varities.  I have both.  If you do NOT know
what these are used for, what the HELL are you doing reading this article!

Buzz-Out Kit - This consists of two parts.  One is a tone generator and the other is a toner.
The tone generator plugs into the phone jack itself, or you can clip it onto wires.  It will emit
a tone so you can go back to a riser room or patch panel and chase wire.  The toner looks like a
turkey baster and has a volume control on it.  When you put the toner near the tone generator, it emits
this GODAWFUL squeal.  It's great for scaring people so you can fix their phones. :)

Cross-connect Wire - This is the blue and white twisted stuff.  It acts like
normal wire, but looks much prettier. ;)

RISER ROOMS VS. "HOME RUNS"

This is a debate that has been going on longer than the Quebec Referendum.  It doesn't really
make a difference which way your building has been cabled, as long as they give you adequate information on how it works.  

To cross-connect a jack numbered 24A under the riser room concept, you would FIRST goto to the
BIX block and find the right TN (Terminal Number) that you have programmed against it in the PBX. 
Then you would go to the riser associated with the floor that you are going to put the phone on.
(I'm assuming you've toned the jack first and know where it is on the riser ;))  Then you would goto the riser on that floor and cross-connect the wire that goes from the riser to jack 24A.
So to summerize, you have made two cross-connects: one going from the TN to the riser in the phone room, and one going to the riser on the floor you're connecting the phone on to the jack itself.

Most companies will have BIX blocks at each location.  Although you come across the gits that decided to wire the TNs on BIX blocks and the risers/jacks with AT&T frames, sorta like my company. ;)  So I have to carry around two tools with me instead of one.  Lame.

To cross-connect a jack number 24A under the "home run" concept, you will FIRST goto the BIX block and find the right TN that you have programmed against it in the PBX.  Then you would go to the riser associated with the floor and punch it down on the right jack.  This means that you don't have to fuck with riser rooms because all the jacks are already punched down there.  You just have to make the connection from the riser to the TN in the phone room.

TONING OUT JACKS

This is not something that you need a PhD in Bioengineering to figure out.  Really.  You first plug the tone generator into the jack that you want to tone out.