News: Run USB through phone lines

Run USB through phone lines

One of the many reasons Circuit City should go out of business is their sale of ridiculously expensive cables, wire and cords. The secret to the industry of Monster Cables is that it is unnecessary and ineffective. Gold-plated or otherwise, Monster's $100 cables are not intrinsically better than the cheaper versions they're stocked next to. Don't believe us?

Instead of buying a $20 Belkin USB cable, make your own using an old 'obsolete' telephone cord. This Tinkernut-authored tutorial shows how easy wire splicing can be. They create a USB extension cord using parts for pennies on the dollar.

Stop hesitating; start hacking. This homebrew cable works just the same. The printer prints. The mouse moves.

Run USB through the phone lines

Just updated your iPhone to iOS 18? You'll find a ton of hot new features for some of your most-used Apple apps. Dive in and see for yourself:

11 Comments

Coooooooollllll

Wow, great idea. Anyone know how long you can go before the signal is lost.

the answer would be probably about 8 to 12 feet, though it depends on what your doing. if you are just powering somthing you might be able to get away with more. bonus is that phone cords are designed to safely conduct 90 volts. just make sure you dont plug a USB devide into a live phone jack or you will fry it

Can you take the phone cord, plug it in and attach aa device to the usb to charge or etc.?

A USB device runs on 6 volts, so you would have to build a voltage converter that could do it. I don't imagine that there is an off-the-shelf device that can do it. If I knew how to actually make one i would post a video.

good one

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