TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Is it Possible to Get a Shock From POTS/DSL

Re: Is it Possible to Get a Shock From POTS/DSL

Robert Bonomi (bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com)
Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:12:27 -0000

In article <telecom25.147.4@telecom-digest.org>,
SD <sd@noemailspam.com> wrote:

> My brother says he is occasionally getting a shock when using his wired
> phone (ATT Trimline) with DSL filter on a SBC POTS/DSL line. Is the
> phone shorted?

Almost anything is "possible".

Getting a shock from a _plastic_ telephone housing is *VERY**UNLIKELY*,
however.

Ring voltage on U.S. telephones is circa 90VAC. This is enough to
give a non-trivial shock. *IF* there is a path for it to 'escape'
through, that goes through the person holding the phone.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If a person's hands are wet (or, for
example, a person is in a bathtub) having a phone with you is _very
dangerous_. Water is a very good conductor of electricity. PAT]

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