We have a telephone system in a room downstairs with two jacks in it; one of them is connected to a phone in that room.

I am hoping to get a rotary phone installed in a room upstairs. I am in the process of ordering one as well as getting a pulse-to-tone converter. This is a two-story house; however, there is nothing actually on top of the room where the unit is downstairs (besides the roof).

We installed some new RJ45 wiring about a year ago (it was a little fun). However, this might only be temporary; maybe in use for two years at the most.

  1. Is it legal to run wires along walls and tape them to ceilings? I can't find anything related to doing that in fire code, etc...
  2. Are there any regulations when doing this?
  3. Is there anything easier than just buying a 100 ft. telephone line and running it across the first floor, up the stairwell, and across the second floor?

There is already no budget for the process, so I am not looking for complex solutions that require anything more than tape and a screwdriver.

  • Go up stairs drop the wire out the window pull in in a window down stairs. This would look bad and your Windows won't fully close but it would meet your criteria of cheap and easy. – Ed Beal Feb 20 '17 at 23:47
  • @EdBeal I'd prefer the wire remain inside the house :) – InterLinked Feb 21 '17 at 0:58
  • Does the RJ-45 wiring reach your upstairs room? – Blrfl Feb 21 '17 at 13:59
  • @Blrfl I am asking about RJ11 wiring, not RJ45 wiring. There are some RJ45 jacks upstairs - but that is for data, not voice – InterLinked Feb 21 '17 at 21:47
  • @InterLinked Suit yourself, but you're doing it the hard way. POTS requires Category 1 cable, and the requirements for that are more than exceeded by the Category 5 or 6 you already have in your walls. There's nothing magic about the copper in the cables or the jacks. Crimp yourself up a couple of 45-to-11 cables or buy a couple of adapters off the shelf and you're in business. – Blrfl Feb 21 '17 at 22:53

I'd stay away from tape (it may only stick for a few months) and ceilings as well. Just do what the phone company has always done. Staple or nail the wires down to the baseboard or the underside of the baseboard's cap (if any) or tuck the wire down beside wall-to-wall carpet. You continue this right up the stairs to the other room and its all easy to literally rip out when you no longer need it.

  • I wish this were practical, but the wire needs to NOT be a tripping hazard and be more or less invisible (you don't look at the ceiling every day). And I don't know how that would work when crossing hallways – InterLinked Feb 24 '17 at 21:15
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    Remember, for POTS service, distances inside the house are not significant. You can run a wire all the way around a room to avoid crossing a doorway. – A. I. Breveleri Feb 24 '17 at 21:49

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