Dry Loop - Finding the Tag

This tech note is for those who are having standalone DSL service installed and are looking for the "tag".

Below are pictures showing what a tag looks like. 828-6341 is the dummy telephone line number. This is how we know that we are looking at the right line.

The handwritten notes are not standardized. They may or may not give the address, but in this case, the Frontier man labeled the line as going to "#201A". At lower left we see the date of the tag. This helps us know if Verizon/Frontier has been out lately. The key thing is that the phone number is right.

If you are looking for a tag, notice that a lot of the older tags are hagard and faded. The new tag will be sharp and shiny and will have a recent date.

 

 

 

Background Explanation: A dry loop is a telephone line, with no service, used as a data line. Frontier (Verizon) doesn't like installing dry loops. They say they are only responsibl for installing to the phone box, not to the jack, and sometimes leave the line incomplete, with wires hanging out of the wall or not connected to the right jack.

If we have to finish the job for the, the first thing we have to do is to find the line. This means, find the phone box or phone cabinet, and look around for a line tag. It should look like the images above.

If there is no tag, then we will have to ask Frontier/Verizon to come out and place a tag. It's the only way we can identify which line belongs to you.