slagburn

1) About 50 volts floating around 10 volts when off hook (decreases as more stations pickup in a bridge) and right around 90 volts during ring.

2) There is very little difference in the voltages on the PSTN than the PBX, usually things will be a bit lower at your house because you're further away from the CO than you are from the PBX at work, also the carrier might use some additional equipment in the line depending on how far its going.

3) See the end of 1... enough to make ya feel it.

sc2825

1) 48-52 volts
2) Too lazy to look it up or check it with meter
3) 90- 110 volts ringing current for your home line

gwebster

3) Anybody who has been leaning against a cross-connect or working a junction box when an incoming call hits an analog line will definitely support slag's description.

slagburn

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/telephone.htm

HCJes

Lamp voltage for message waiting is up there too. You will feel that too...


Here is one for ya...

I was redoing some trunk cable between buildings (still live). I was relocating the trunk cable and a bunch of the ends grazed my face.... a bunch of them at one combine into powerful amperage. I actually had burn marks on my face.

slagburn

That'll teach ya!!! Hopefully they went away as some electrical burns kill the skin cells in such a manner as they never reproduce. I have a few RF burns on my hands from the military that are like that.

telecom116

What's even worse these days are some of the HDSL voltages used by telcos between the CO and the network interface. Working on a 66 block one day I got the back side a knuckle across the 66 terminals feeding my T1 frame circuit. Boy that turned my brown eyes blue. Those prongs stayed burned in for a few days.

slagburn

Around these parts they run about 180volts on those circuits before the NI.

Got hit by one in the past metered it for the heck of it, thankfully not enough current to do a lot of damage.

telecom116

Its not the voltage 'll kill you, its the amperage.