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Old 04-28-2011, 09:14 AM   #1
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1964 26' Overlander
Toronto , Ontario
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Installing a phone line... am I mad ?

After a whacking huge cellular bill last summer, I'm wondering about installing a permanent phone line in my 64 Overlander, which is far from everywhere (though not far from a telephone pole). The trailer stays put.

I know I can get a "seasonal monthly rate", which is half the usual, but of course I'll have to pay for installation. And how would they do that without wrecking my fairly pristine baby? Is there some obvious place where they could bring in the line without too much damage?

I'm thinking a vintage touchtone, so I don't have to have it near an outlet, but NOT a wall mount!

Is this just plain silly???

PS still looking for bedroom window measurements! Posted in the 64 Overlander forum... can anyone help?
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Old 04-28-2011, 09:18 AM   #2
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1983 34' Excella
1967 24' Tradewind
Little Rock , Arkansas
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On my '67 Trade Wind I originally just ran a phone cord in through the bottom air intake (in the floor) for the fridge and ran it up to the counter. Put a cheap touchtone up there.
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Old 04-28-2011, 09:20 AM   #3
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Not familiar with the layout on your '64, but I brought my landline connection in through the bottom refrigerator vent on my 1975, then used a surface mount phone jack on the side of the fridge cabinet.

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Old 04-28-2011, 09:57 AM   #4
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Milford , Ohio
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My trailer had a phone jack on the wall by the credenza. The wire was routed thru the bulkhead to the space behind the fridge and connected to a second phone jack near the floor.

To connect to phone service, I was told by a previous owner they just ran a phone line up thru the vent hole in the floor behind the fridge and plugged it into that jack. Could have also made a hard wired connection there if needed.

Christopher
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Old 04-28-2011, 11:15 AM   #5
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1964 26' Overlander
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Thanks everybody. Looks like the fridge air vent is the way to go...
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Old 04-28-2011, 11:16 AM   #6
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You could use a cordless phone. They work OK, and there's no wiring. You'd need a protected place with power to put the base outside, and a second charging base for the handset.
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Old 04-28-2011, 12:08 PM   #7
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MARINCO/PH6592TV-SS/Phone/&/Cable/Stainless Steel/NEW | eBay

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Old 04-28-2011, 12:19 PM   #8
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1985 31' Excella
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Words of Experience. Don't go through the refrigerator vent door. I learned the hard way. I had the phone up through the floor but was running my Dish cable through the vent. It got damage somehow. don't know if someone tripped on the cable or a kid was playing with it but it warped it up. I have just bought a new door luckily they were still available. Just need to drill the other off and droll holes to rivet it back onto the hinge.

You buy wall penetration sleeve or use a
pvc
pipe and caulk it in and they put steel wool in it.

The refrigerator area is the way to get Citizen band antenna to the roof also.
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Old 04-28-2011, 12:23 PM   #9
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1985 31' Excella
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Can you have the cable in that with the lid on or does it have to dangle if you have the phone plugged in? That goes great with the 1960 trailers that had the plug in power cords.
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Old 04-28-2011, 12:40 PM   #10
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1983 34' Excella
1967 24' Tradewind
Little Rock , Arkansas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wsmith View Post
Words of Experience. Don't go through the refrigerator vent door. I learned the hard way. I had the phone up through the floor but was running my Dish cable through the vent. It got damage somehow. don't know if someone tripped on the cable or a kid was playing with it but it warped it up. I have just bought a new door luckily they were still available. Just need to drill the other off and droll holes to rivet it back onto the hinge.

You buy wall penetration sleeve or use a
pvc
pipe and caulk it in and they put steel wool in it.

The refrigerator area is the way to get Citizen band antenna to the roof also.
On my 1967 Trade Wind, there is no fridge vent door. There is a solid door for access to the back of the fridge and a rectangular hole in the floor with 3/8 or 1/2 inch hardware cloth (really big mesh screen) open to the bottom. Nothing fragile like the newer doors. The mesh on the hardware cloth is big enough for a phone (rj11) connector to just slip through.

I agree, I would not run a connection through the louvered fridge door on my 1983 Excella, too fragile. It needs replacing anyway without doing that, but that's another topic. I have an RV connector for cable and phone that I installed under my Excella's credenza on the belly pan, but it's not as nice as the Marinco ones. I may have to update sometime.

Since the OP had an older trailer, I was thinking that he probably had similar access through the floor like my Trade Wind.
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Old 04-28-2011, 12:48 PM   #11
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I'm going to second the idea of a cordless phone. On the ones I've seen the phone doesn't need to be present in the base station. You could place a couple remote phones in the trailer and cable tie the base temporarily under the trailer out of the weather, or some other good remote location.
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Old 08-24-2011, 12:51 PM   #12
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Another vote for a cordless handset. Our Airstream serves duty about 100 feet from a DSL modem. The first try was to run cable from the phone jack on the modem to the Airstream input jack , then tap off the interior jack to a conventional handset. Very noisy as we were picking up crosstalk on the line out to the Airstream. Had the DW pick up a cheap cordless system, spotted the base unit at the DSL modem and the phone inside the Airstream. What a difference in line noise !

We won't ever go back to a conventional line setup.
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Old 08-24-2011, 04:38 PM   #13
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If you have access to a network, put in a cheap wireless receiver to a laptop and use a magicjack for $19.95 a year. I've got one and it works great!
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