Inside Wire Policy

Inside wire (IW) is that portion of the telephone wire which connects the telephone jack at the customer’s premises* to the telephone company’s equipment at the demarcation point determined by the telephone company in accordance with orders of the Public Utilities Commission. In virtually every case, the Ponderosa Telephone Co. uses a lockable Telephone Network Interface (TNI) as its demarcation point. To view multi-unit premise demarcation points CLICK HERE.

IW is considered the property of the building owner?

If the building owner is a landlord (lessor), the building owner is responsible for installing at least one useable telephone jack per rental unit, for placing and maintaining the inside telephone wiring in good working order, for ensuring that the inside telephone wiring meets the applicable standards of the most recent National Electrical Code as adopted by the Electronic Industry Association, and for making any required repairs.

Ponderosa will be available to repair or install IW. Ponderosa will work with the customer to determine whether a malfunction in a telephone line is located in the customer’s IW or in the telephone company’s network. Ponderosa will inform the customer of their options once it is determined that the customer’s IW is at fault.

The customer is responsible for reporting malfunctions of the telephone line to Ponderosa Telephone.

The customer is requested to perform a simple isolation test of the IW at the TNI.

The customer reports to Ponderosa that the telephone line is malfunctioning.

Ponderosa advises the customer to unplug the IW at the TNI and plug a phone known to be working into the SNI (equipment needs to be a phone with attached telephone cable and does not require AC power to work.)

1. If the phone doesn’t work in the TNI, the trouble is assumed to be in the telephone company’s network, and Ponderosa will arrange for repair as soon as practicable.

2. If the phone works at the TNI, the trouble is in the customer’s IW. In this case the customer has 4 options:

I. The customer can leave the IW unrepaired. In this case the IW must remain unplugged from the TNI.

II. The customer can perform the IW repair.

III. The customer can arrange for any vendor to repair the IW.

IV. The customer can arrange for Ponderosa Telephone to repair the IW in accordance with the IW offering described below.

The customer is also advised that if they decline to perform the test at the TNI, the phone company will perform the test. If the trouble turns out to be the customer’s IW, however, the customer will be charged $30.00 for the on-site test.

If the customer is a residential tenant (lessee) and the trouble is in the IW, the customer is advised that under California law the residential landlord (lessor) is responsible for the installation of and maintenance of one useable jack and its associated inside wire.

Ponderosa Telephone offers IW installation and repair on a time-and-materials basis at the following rates, and materials will be charged at the prevailing retail rate:

I. During regular business hours, $53.75 for first ¼ hour including travel time; $17.25 for each additional ¼ hour; plus materials at prevailing retail rate.

II. After business hours, Weekdays 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., and Saturdays

$116.00 for first ¼ hour including travel time; $25.00 for each additional ¼ hour.

Other vendors also offer IW services in Ponderosa’s service area. Please consult the classified ads in the telephone directory or in your local newspaper.