[Spridgets] No LBC, need help testing & installing a new phone jack from 2 outside phone wires (no dial tone)

[David Booker]

Linda,
I'm no expert, but I did successfully rewire all the phone wiring in my 70+
year old house.  Since nobody else has volunteered yet, I'll put in my two
cent's worth.
 
Yes - the phone only uses two wires.  The other two can be used for a second
line or for other things that don't matter to you at this point.  The problem
with old buildings is that you don't know what the previous owners have done
to patch problems in the past (kinda like our cars, huh?) 
 
First - take an old phone that you can strip the ends of the wire off of and
touch them to the two incoming wires.  If you have dial tone, it's not a phone
company issue (at least not one they fix on their dime). 
 
It could be that some DPO has connected your red and green incoming lines to
some other combination elsewhere along the way.  This was the case in some
places in my house. 
Since there are four wires, there are only six combinations of wire pairs
possible.  If this is the case, you have to figure out which pair are actually
at the jack.  Pull the jack out of the wall and see what you have there, if
still red & green, that's probably not the issue. 
 
There are various ways to check continuity of phone wires.  If like me, you
don't have any fancy equipment, you can tape or otherwise secure a 9V battery
(maybe others too, I just seem to always have those around) to the two wires
at the box.  I'm talking about the ones that go into the house, not the ones
to the pole.  You then just take a little speaker - the ones in a phone or a
set of headphones work well - and hook it to the various wire pairs till you
get a noise.  Crude but effective.  From there, all you have to do is make
sure the jack is wired with the correct colors/positions to match up with your
phone.
 
Good Luck,
David Booker
Long Island