Independent phone line installation · Not NBN Co, not an ISP
You need a phone where there has never been a socket. Phone line installation puts one there.
An older parent has moved into the back bedroom, the shop opens Monday, or the granny flat has a power point and nothing else. The phone service lives on the back of the modem, at the other end of the building. One new phone line installation quote runs the socket to where the phone should ring. Quotes are free within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office. Phone or photo estimates are free where the job allows.
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Trusted by 1,000+ businesses
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Lawrie Fraser
★★★★★I would recommend secure a com. They were really helpful and efficient. They got all phone ports working with the NBN connection - which telstra wouldn't!
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Melissa Weir
★★★★★My Mum and Dad were over the moon with the work Jason did at their home today. The NBN set up wasn't ideal for their telephone requirements, and he sorted it out quickly and efficiently. Jason is friendly, polite, patient and helpful. 100% recommendation.
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Nikki Zongas
★★★★★Jason was AMAZING!! We had so many issues - telephones, NBN, internet & International streaming systems. He FIXED EVERYTHING! He was so kind and patient with my elderly parents. I would recommend Jason and Secure A Com to anyone with tech issues. You are wasting your time & money using anyone else. Thanks Jason.
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Ali Beydoun
★★★★★Jason provided a fantastic and friendly service, and was able to visit and resolve the phone socket issue at my residence at very short notice. After searching online, I was glad to stumble on Secure A Com, and wouldn’t hesitate recommending them to others. Thank you!
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Gary Schulz
★★★★★Jason of Secure A Com arrived right on time for our appointment. He very quickly found the fault on my mother's phone line, which two Telstra technicians/contractors could not find, and rectified the fault straight away. I have no hesitation in recommending Jason as a very professional technician.
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Juan Alvear
★★★★★Had NBN installed, but the other phones in the house didn't. They go all our phones working again. Very very happy.
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Paul Stein
★★★★★Great Service! We couldn't be happier with how our office relocation went. We have over 20 workstations, the boys from SECURE A COM wired our new office for phones and data. They even went to our old locations removed all the rack equipment and installed at our new Epping office. Completed the project on time and at a very reasonable price. What more could you ask for.
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Jodie Lee
★★★★★I cannot speak more highly of Secure A Com. We moved into a new house and had huge issues with our new broadband installation. It was installed not only where it was completely inaccessible, but our internet was dropping out constantly and our phones would not work at all. Jason from Secure A Com could not believe where the previous tech had installed the service and not only did he move it for us, he rectified our internet issues and our phone service. He was one of the most accommodating and polite tradespeople I have ever met. A huge thumbs up from me
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Sound familiar?
A new phone line is two things now: the service, and the cabling
The phone works at the modem, and the modem is at the other end of the house.
A new phone line is two things now: the service your provider switches on, and the cable from the modem to where the phone should ring. The second half is ours.
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For most of a century a new phone line meant a wire from the street. It does not any more. The line is a service your provider switches on over the NBN, and it arrives as a socket on the back of the modem. That is the first half, and you order it from them.
The second half is everything between that socket and the place a phone is actually wanted: the bedroom at the far end of the house, the counter in a new shop, the flat behind the garage. That is cable and wall sockets, it is on your side, and it is what this page installs. If the sockets you already have went quiet when the NBN arrived, that is phone line repair, not this page. The socket the modem itself plugs into is NBN wall socket installation. We do this work across Sydney and further out; the extra travel is charged, and the rates are in our terms and conditions.
Free advice
Before you book: what to check first
Two of these have to be done before a cabler is any use to you, and one of them may mean you do not need a cabler at all.
Keep this list handy
Get all seven checks as a two-page PDF before anyone runs a cable.
Send me the free guide- Order the phone service from your provider first. The cabling carries a dial tone; it does not create one. Ask for a phone service on your NBN connection and wait for them to confirm it is active.
- Plug a handset into the modem and listen. There is a port on the back marked for a phone. A dial tone there means the service is live. Silence means it is still the provider’s job.
- Mark where each phone should go. A cross in pencil at the height you want the socket, in every room that needs one. It turns “a few phones” into a job that can be priced.
- Look for sockets that are already there. Behind furniture, down on the skirting, inside a cupboard. An existing socket in the right room may only need connecting, which is a smaller job.
- Count the handsets, and ask whether cordless would do. A cordless base at the modem with extra handsets around the house needs no cabling. It suits many homes and it is cheaper than we are.
- If the walls are open, say so. A renovation or a new build is the moment to run every cable you might want, phone and data together, before the plasterer comes.
- Send photos and a rough distance. The back of the modem, each wall you marked, and the path between them, in metres or in rooms.
Sound like you?
Which phone line job is yours, and what you end up with
A room that has never had a phone socket
An extension, a study, or the room an older parent has moved into, and the handset is never where the person is. A cordless set reaches some houses and not others.
Usually points to: a socket in that room, cabled back to the modem and tested on a real call.
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The extension, the spare room that became an office, the bedroom an older parent has moved into. The phone works at the modem and the modem is at the other end of the house, so the handset is never where the person is.
A cordless set will reach some houses and not others. Where it will not, or where the person needs a proper corded phone beside the bed, the room needs a socket of its own.
What you end up with. A socket in that room, cabled back to the modem's phone port, with the handset tested on a real call in and out.
What we do on the day ›If the old sockets went dead instead ›
A new build or a renovation, before the plaster
The electrician has been and nobody asked where the phones go. A cable costs very little while the walls are open.
Usually points to: phone and data cables in before the plaster, back to where the modem will live.
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The frame is up, the electrician has been, and nobody has asked where the phones go. Most new houses are handed over with a spot for the NBN box and nothing else, and the phone points get discovered missing on moving day.
A cable costs very little while the walls are open. The same cable after the painters have left means lifting insulation in the roof or running conduit along a skirting board.
What you end up with. Phone and data cables in the walls before they close, each run back to one point where the modem will live, and sockets fitted and tested once the power is on.
Data points at the same time ›What the builder has to leave for NBN ›
A shop, a surgery or an office being set up
A counter that needs a phone, a back office that needs another, and a card terminal by the till. It's one job, not three.
Usually points to: sockets where the handsets sit, run back to one cupboard and labelled.
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A new tenancy with bare walls, a counter that needs a phone, a back office that needs another, and a card terminal that needs a network point beside the till. The provider will supply the service to the modem; where everything plugs in is the fit-out's problem.
It is one job, not three. The phone sockets and the network points share the same routes through the ceiling, and cabling them together is cheaper than cabling them twice.
What you end up with. Sockets where the handsets and the equipment actually sit, all run back to one cupboard, labelled, and tested before opening day.
Telephone lines for a business ›A whole site with several buildings ›
A granny flat, a studio or a workshop out the back
The house has the service, and the flat out the back has a power point and nothing else. There are two honest answers.
Usually points to: a phone and data point in the flat, or a straight answer on a service of its own.
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Someone is living or working in the building behind the house and wants a phone that rings there. The house has the service; the flat has a power point and nothing else.
There are two honest answers. One cable from the house carries the phone and the internet to the flat together. Or the flat gets its own service through NBN's additional connections process, which is a longer conversation with your provider.
What you end up with. A phone and a data point in the second building on outdoor-rated cable from the house, or a clear answer about what a separate service there would take.
The usual suspects
What stands between a new phone and a dial tone
A new socket is simple once a short list of things is true. These are the ones that usually are not.
- The service is not switched on yet.
No dial tone at the modem means nothing past it can work.
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No dial tone at the modem means nothing downstream of it can work, however well it is cabled.
- The modem has one phone port, and it is where the modem is.
Often a hallway, a garage or a cupboard: nobody's choice for a phone.
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Often a hallway, a garage or a cupboard, which is nobody’s choice for a phone.
- The house wiring is still joined to the old street cable.
The disused cable from the street has to come off them first, properly.
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Before the old sockets can be fed from the modem, the disused cable from the street has to be taken off them, properly, by a cabler.
- The old sockets are chained one to the next.
Room to room in a string, and one bad joint silences everything after it.
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Wiring run from room to room in a string carries noise, and one bad joint silences everything after it. New work goes back to one point instead.
- There is no way through the building.
A slab, a flat roof or solid brick: surface conduit or a cordless set.
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A concrete slab, a flat roof or solid brick leaves no hidden route, and the choice becomes neat surface conduit or a cordless set.
- Too many corded handsets.
A modem's phone port can only ring so many at once.
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A modem’s phone port can only ring so many at once. Past that, some stop ringing or the sound drops.
- An old dial phone.
A rotary handset dials in a way the modem can't read without an adapter.
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A rotary handset dials in a way the modem cannot read without an adapter.
- The number has not moved across.
Porting a number is the provider's job, on their timetable.
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Porting a number is the provider’s job and happens on their timetable, separately from the cabling.
Setting up a business?
Telephone lines for a shop or an office: sockets, handsets and the frame
A business wants a phone at the counter, one in the back office and a network point at the till, all working on opening day. The phone and data cabling are priced as one job, after a chat about how the place will run.
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A business rarely wants one phone. It wants one at the counter, one in the back office, a network point at the till and somewhere tidy for the modem, all working on the day the doors open. The phone lines themselves come from the provider as services on the NBN connection; what the premises needs from a cabler is the sockets in the right places and every cable run back to one labelled point.
So a business installation is quoted after a conversation about how the place will be used, and the phone and data cabling are priced as one job. In a building with its own frame, the pairs between the frame and your tenancy are checked first, which is MDF jumpering. If you already have an older phone system that stopped working when the NBN arrived, that is a different problem with its own section on the phone line repair page.
Did it ever work?
New phone line or phone line repair: which page you need
If a phone has never worked there, it's installation, quoted from photos. If the sockets worked before the NBN and have been dead since, it's repair, and that starts with testing, because nobody can quote a fault before finding it.
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The test is whether a phone has ever worked there. If the socket is new, the room is new or the building is new, it is installation, and it is quoted from photos. If the sockets were working before the NBN arrived and have been dead since, or one crackles and the rest are fine, it is repair: something that used to work has to be found and put right, and that starts with testing rather than a quote.
It matters because the two are priced differently and for a good reason. Nobody can quote a fault before finding it. Anybody can quote a cable run once they know where it starts, where it ends and what is in between.
How it works
New phone socket installation: what we actually do
Four steps, and the first one takes a minute and saves the most. The cabling is run to AS/CA S009:2020, the customer cabling standard, and every version of the job ends with a phone ringing in the room it was wanted in.
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Check the dial tone at the modem.
Before any cable is planned, a handset goes into the modem's phone port. If there is no dial tone there, the service has not been switched on by the provider, and no socket in the building can work until it is. Finding that out first saves a wasted run.
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Look at what is there, and plan the run.
Any cable already in the walls is traced and tested, because a good one can be reused. Then the route to each new socket is set: through the roof, under the floor or down a cavity, with surface conduit only where the building leaves no other way.
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Run the cable and fit the sockets.
Each socket gets its own cable back to the modem's position rather than being hung off the next one, and every termination is made properly on the back of the plate. Where data points are going in as well, they are pulled in the same pass.
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Test every socket with a real call.
A handset on every socket: dial tone, a call out and a call in, so every phone is heard ringing.
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A handset on each socket for dial tone, a call out, and a call in from another number to hear every phone ring. Crackle or low volume at any one of them is fixed before we go, and you are shown which socket runs back to what.
Written by customers on Google. None are paid for, and every word here is theirs.
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Reviews
What people say after the job.
“As a retired engineer, I really appreciate the professionalism shown by Jason in connecting the NBN landline and internet from the main house to our separate "granny flat" at the rear of the block.”
A real job from the field
Guildford, NSW · Phone line · Filmed on site, 4 min
The NBN was going to the granny flat, and the owners wanted it in the house.
Guildford. The cabling under the house was toned out and the old bridge taps removed. The lead-in went straight to a socket in the main house for the internet, and dial tone went back over the second pair, through the cable already there, to the granny flat for the family member living in it.
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Guildford, a house with a granny flat behind it. The NBN connection had been going to the granny flat. The owners wanted it in the main house, with a phone line kept to the flat for a family member living there.
The existing cabling under the house was toned out, and the bridge taps left on it were removed. The lead-in from the street was run straight to a socket in the main house on one pair, with the internet on that socket. Dial tone was sent back over the second pair of the same cable, through the box on the side of the house and the Cat5 that already ran down to the granny flat.
The main-house socket is shown working at the end of the video. The granny flat end is not tested on camera.
Price
What does a new phone line installation cost?
Quoted not fixed
What's included
- Free quote within 5 km
- Free estimate from photos
- Written quote, valid 14 days
- 12-month cabling warranty
- Maker's warranty on parts
Free Spaces account with every job, if you want one. What's Spaces?
How many sockets, which NBN connection the building has, and whether new cable has to be run set the price. Labour and materials are listed separately, and nothing starts until you say yes.
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This work is quoted. Quotes are free for properties within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office. Beyond 5 km a site inspection is charged at $250 inc. GST, and the written quote follows the inspection; the inspection fee may be credited against the job at our discretion.
We are a specialised service, so we may not be local to you. If you are outside Sydney or more than 40 km from our office, we can still come to you, but the extra travel means an extra travel charge. All travel charges are set out in our terms and conditions.
Phone or photo estimates are free at any distance where the job allows, so most of this work is priced from photos and a rough distance before anyone drives anywhere.
What you get in writing
| Quote | Price | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Photo or phone estimate | Free | A ballpark from your photos, a rough distance in metres and your answers, before anyone drives anywhere. Free at any distance where the job allows. |
| Written quote | Free | Free for properties within 5 km of our Sutherland Shire office, after a look at the job. Valid 14 days. |
| Site inspection, further out | $250 inc. GST | Beyond that distance a site inspection is charged, and the written quote follows it. The inspection fee may be credited against the job at our discretion. |
Trusted on site by
Commercial fault and cabling work, done by the same technician who comes to your house.
Your options
Four ways to get a phone ringing in another room, and what each one takes
| What it needs | Who it suits | Where it falls short | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A cordless set with extra handsets | A base plugged into the modem's phone port and a power point for each extra handset. No cabling. | Most houses on one level, and anyone who wants it working today. | It goes off with the power, the range has limits in a long or double-brick house, and some people need a corded phone. |
| The sockets already in the house | The old street cable taken off them and the modem's phone port fed into them instead. | A house that already has sockets where the phones are wanted. | It only reaches rooms that have a socket, and chained old wiring may need tidying before it is clean. |
| A new socket on a new cable | One cable from the modem's position to the room, through the roof, the floor or a cavity. | A room that has never had a socket, a new build, a shop or an office. | It needs a route through the building, and on a slab that can mean surface conduit. |
| A phone point on the data cabling | Network cable run to each room, with one outlet used for the phone and the others for data. | A fit-out or a renovation, where data points are going in anyway. | It is more cable than one phone needs, so it only makes sense alongside the data points. |
SourcesHide sources
Sources: AS/CA S009:2020, the customer cabling standard this work is run to. Our own fees and reports are in our terms and conditions.
Whoever your provider is, the answer is the same.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Something not covered? Call 02 9188 1577 and ask, or send it through the contact form and you get the answer in writing.
What is your call-out fee for a new phone line?
There is no fee for an estimate. Tell us how many sockets, where the modem is and what the building is made of, send photos, and the price comes back before anyone attends. The terms set out when an on-site look is free and when it is charged, and the card at the top of this page says it in a line.
Do you need to come out and look before you can quote?
Not for one or two sockets in a house with a roof space or room under the floor. Photos of the modem, the spot for each socket and the path between are enough. A shop fit-out, a slab with no cavities or a building with its own frame usually needs a look first.
Can I send photos or a floor plan?
Yes. A floor plan with the modem marked and a cross where each phone should go is ideal, and a builder's plan does the job for a new build. Photos of the modem's back panel and of each wall you have marked tell us the rest.
Do I need a new phone line, or just a socket?
Almost always just a socket. The line itself is now a service your provider switches on over the NBN, and it comes out of the phone port on the modem. What is missing in most homes and shops is the cable from that port to the place the phone should sit, and that is the installation.
Who do I order the phone service from?
Your internet provider. Ask for a phone service on your NBN connection, and check that the modem they supply has a phone port. We do not sell phone services and have no arrangement with any provider. Once the port has a dial tone, the cabling can go in.
Can I keep my number?
Usually, and it is your provider who moves it, not the cabler. Ask them to port the number to the new service when you order. The cabling does not care what the number is: once the port on the modem rings, every socket fed from it rings.
How many phones can I have?
More than one, within reason. The phone port on a modem can only ring so many corded handsets at once, so a house full of old phones may need thinning out. A cordless set counts as one phone however many handsets it has, which is why it is often the answer for a big house.
Will my old phone work?
A push-button corded phone or a cordless set will, on any working socket. A very old rotary-dial phone uses a kind of dialling the modem does not understand, and needs an adapter to do more than ring. Bring it out when we are there and we will test it on the new socket.
Can the phone and the internet go to a granny flat on one cable?
Yes. A single outdoor-rated cable from the house can carry a data point and a phone point to the flat, and both come off the house's connection. If the flat needs its own service and its own bill, that starts with your provider, and the granny flat guide explains what that involves.
Dig deeper
Guides for this job
5 guides
- 04Oct
Guide
Modem vs Router: What Is the Difference, and Do I Need Both?
Modem vs router: are they the same? A modem connects your home to the internet, a router shares it and makes the WiFi. Which box is which on the NBN.
Read the guide › - 20Aug
Guide
NBN Box Lights Explained: Flashing Blue, Red or Clicking
What the lights on your NBN box mean on fibre, HFC and fibre to the curb: why it clicks, flashes blue or shows red, and what to do before you ring anyone.
Read the guide › - 15Aug
Guide
Sharing NBN With a Granny Flat: A Cable From the Main House
How to share the main house's NBN with a granny flat: one data cable through a conduit across the yard, the box at the flat, the router, and when to share.
Read the guide › - 16Dec
Guide
Does Weather Affect Your Internet? Rain, Wind and Heat
Why your internet drops out when it rains, how wind, heat and lightning affect each type of NBN, and what to do about a fault that follows the weather.
Read the guide › - 16Dec
Guide
How to Set Up a Wired Home Network with Ethernet
How to set up a wired home network: plan the hub, route Ethernet cable in a unit or a house, and add Ethernet ports to each room that needs one.
Read the guide ›
Phone Line Installation
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