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Moved into an older apartment and it has two wires running along the baseboards. One appears to originate from this socket (pictured) and is cut in one place. I’m not sure where the other starts, but it ends in a big pile of wire not plugged into anything. Can I remove them? enter image description here

Thanks for the answers!

  1. I own the apartment and am trying to spruce it up
  2. Nope, not planning on using a landline (although there is a wall telephone in the kitchen, haha)
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  • Do you have or plan to get any regular phone service? ("land lines", not cellular or VOIP)
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 3:17
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    This cable may also be relevant for wired internet connection, as older apartments often use VDSL.
    – jpa
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 11:33
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    Do you rent, or own? It's old telephone wire, but if in a rental, removing it is not your business.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 11:43
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    If you (ever) get VoIP you might find it cute and nostalgic to have the kitchen wall phone working. So clean up useless wires like this but try not to utterly destroy the in-wall wiring.
    – jay613
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 13:17
  • Once again, geographical situation is paramount. Where in the world is this?
    – Tim
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 13:21

3 Answers 3

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It looks like it is from Phone land line service.

If you do not plan to use it then by all means remove it.

You can just open the box and disconnect that cable and leave the box, or get a cover for it.

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    It's an ugly installation, too, with that POTS wire going under the plate. I second the motion.
    – Wastrel
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 16:13
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    I have this exact setup. I'm guessing they did it that way so you can relocate the phone without having to do major wiring work across the apartment. There should be another RJ11 at the end of the wire. In my case, my internet connection uses that telephone line, just something you might want to be aware of before removing it entirely.
    – Link14
    Commented Jun 19, 2023 at 23:16
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That looks like a fairly old style of phone jack (before punch-down jacks became common). That style of jack took up an entire 1-gang box. Installations like you have in your photo are typically someone's attempt to expand the system without needing to bust open the wall to run more wires or install a larger box.

If you take off the faceplate you'll likely see that both the phone line inside the wall and the protruding wire are connected to the back of the jack. If this is the case, you should be able to easily disconnect the protruding wire without altering the jack's function.

If you find that the protruding wire is not connected to the jack, then it might be a second phone line that was fished through the same wall opening and then run directly to a device in another location. I've seen this in several instances where a second line was added after the fact. If this is the case, then I recommend replacing your existing jack with a modern keystone-style jack which will let you fit two jacks into the existing 1-gang box. Connect the line from the existing jack to one of the new jacks, then cut the protruding cable inside the box and connect it to the other jack. That will eliminate the annoying cables while making it easy to connect to either line in the future if desired.

Even if you never plan on getting land-line phone service, I encourage you to avoid doing anything that might prevent this line from working. You never know when you'll change your mind, and re-running cables inside the walls is a pain. Some alarm systems require a phone line, which is a common use case for the "hard-wired cable running into another room" scenario. You can still call 911 on inactive phone lines in some locales, so keeping the wiring intact (plus a simple, corded telephone in the closet) might save your life in an emergency.

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The wire is most definitely old Phone line.

Removal may be the wise choice or the wrong choice depending on some factors.

If it is an apartment that you rent you would need the approval of the landlord or management company before any modification.

Why, You say?...Because it is not your property. Modifying anything like any wiring can be a violation of your lease.

But It's old and nobody uses landline anymore. This may not be the norm in that particular area.

Often older people do not fully embrace newer technology. The owner/ landlord may recognize this and know that there is value in having the landline there for those that feel more secure with line based features.

Removing this may put you in a spot of footing the bill to replace everything when you move, because the landlord sees its removal as a degradation to the property.

Best thing to do is ask first. If you get a "no", live with it.

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    As Link14 commented, (A)DSL high-speed internet runs over phone lines like this one, so in some areas it's not true that "nobody uses landlines" for any purpose. You could literally plug an ADLS modem into that jack. If that's the only (conveniently-placed) legacy phone jack in the apartment, that's something to keep in mind.
    – Peter Cordes
    Commented Jun 20, 2023 at 2:27
  • If you want a non-destructive means of getting rid of it, you can open that plate and just stuff the loose wire inside the wall and put the plate back on. If you're being nice, maybe tape the end of it somewhere easily visible through the hole so it can be retrieved by future residents if they really want to.
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Commented Jun 20, 2023 at 17:25

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