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I live in a house built in late 50s. There are 2 long cords sticking out from the wall (exterior wall) picture is attached. How can I safely remove them? Can I do it DYI? They are super long and annoying.

image of the mystery wires

manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
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  • You haven't told us what country you live in, so "safely" might have to take into account whether the 'phone line is owned by a company (or a state monopoly) which will respond aggressively if you interfere with it. – Mark Morgan Lloyd Nov 12 '23 at 19:44
  • If you end up deciding not to cut, the best compromise between safety and comfort would be to tightly coil them with Velcro straps and affix them to the corner. – Luke Sawczak Nov 12 '23 at 23:57

1 Answers1

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One is phone, the other is coax, most likely cable TV.

Even if they are active, you can just chop them off with wire cutters. However, it is better to figure out where they are going and, more importantly, whether you are likely to need them in the future. If you can find the other end and disconnect (if they are not already disconnected) then you can pull the cables out. If not, you can cut them close to the wall.

If you can't find the other end then I would play it safe. Cut them off about a foot or so from the wall. That will leave enough cable that they could be used (either at this location or spliced to new cables) while still being mostly out of the way.

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    Note that coax is also sometimes used for computer networking, so if you can find the other end it might actually be useful someday even without cable TV per SE. (MOCA connection, defined by the Multimedia Over Coax Alliance) – keshlam Nov 12 '23 at 03:00
  • Simply cutting an active 'phone line is not good advice, because there will be an energising voltage on it which the cutters will short. – Mark Morgan Lloyd Nov 12 '23 at 19:43