If only two, one in the kitchen near the end of a counter, but not by the fridge. The other in the MBR where someone would be likely to place a nightstand.

BTW, even if you use one of those systems that multiplex the telephone onto the AC wiring, at least one jack is still required.

$200 a jack is a total ripoff.

I am shocked by the $200 price.
If I could only pick two, I would choose the kitchen and MBR.
If you plan on having a home office, you would want one there, too.

If you will have a monitored security system, it will have to be tied into the phone system. Some may require a phone jack.

Our DISH system requires that each receiver be plugged into one.

I think for resale, each bedroom should have a jack. Any room used as an office should have two.

If you will have a monitored security system, it will have to be tied into the phone system. Some may require a phone jack.

Monitored security systems that use the regular phone line require a special RJ31X jack. It must be wired directly to the incoming telephone line. All regular jacks are then wired to the RJ31X. This is to allow the alarm system to seize the telephone line if an intrusion is detected.

Alarm system installers know this and install the RJ31X when they install the alarm. It needs to be mounted in or near the alarm system box.

The biggest regret of my build over 14 years ago was not thinking ahead of future AV needs. Once the house is closed up it gets a little difficult.

Wow - $200. I built with a tract builder (same size house) back 11 yrs ago. I'm sure they "gave" us more than 2 and it was less than $100 for more - I'm thinking $65. The new cost cutting is a bit scary.

What do you have for future wiring options - ie are you on a crawl space, do they run a chase to the attic? If wiring in the future is not bad then definitely just get 2. It would be easy to beat their price in retrofit.

In fact - what are they thinking? Who would pay $200 a jack and/or not be offended by that price. It costs them say $20. A reasonable price of say $80 and you might get a few and they would make more money. It is like they forgot basic pricing and supply/demand - or they are counting on uninformed customers.

Please let us know who the builder is. This kind of gouging must be done after the deposit is in hand. I'm wondering what other kind of prices they are giving you - and you should consider comparison shopping to do things after the fact (if possible).

Thanks, creek side. I wasn't willing to go downstairs to look at ours. ;D

I don't remember how many came standard in our (modular) house, and how much any extras were. We ended up with 3 and it's fine (though we don't have DISH or security system). We put 1 in kitchen for answering machine, 1 in master BR, and one in office/study. If you have DSL you will want one wherever you plan on putting the modem - probably in the office. You will also want a corded phone somewhere in the house in case the electricity goes out.

BTW, when the phone company comes out for installation, ask them to install a DSL filter outside in their NIB so you won't have to use the dongle filters on each phone jack inside. They can also change the jack where you plan on putting the modem to a dual (DSL and phone) jack at that time, so you can have both a phone and modem in that room.

David Cary, The OP mentioned in another thread the builder is Ryland homes in SC.

When we built, we put jacks in all the bedrooms, my office, family room, the security system and the kitchen.

My builder just asked where I wanted them.
I can not believe xine's builder would charge $200 extra for each over two.

Thankfully, The RE market in SC has not been hit quite as hard as other areas in the US but still $200 is way too much.

I apologize... I put the wrong price in the original posting. It's actually "only" $125. $200 is the price for a "dual purpose media jack - phone, cable" and I think that's if you pay $1075 (!) for the "structured media package."

$125 still seems like highway robbery to me... Especially since in my last house (semi-custom) the small town local builder let us put in our own structured wiring package on the weekend, which we swapped out with the electrician for additional electrical outlets. Every room (including bathrooms, patio, and garage) had wiring for speakers, iR control switch, and at least 2 CAT6/Quad shielded coax drops (4 in the office). It was also set up so that the receiver and dvd player could be in a closet and play anywhere in the house. Unfortunately, we ran out of money (and then had kids) and never bought the $5k piece of equipment necessary to make it all work right. Oh well!

Since we don't use Dish or DirecTV, I'll probably just stick with the MBR, Kitchen, and Office as phone jack locations.

And yes, it's Ryland in Charleston, SC.

My other favorite ripoff: You have to buy their garage door opener (which looked like some cheesy chain drive crap) for $450 or else the garage door warranty is voided. Just the fact that it doesn't already COME WITH a garage door opener is amazing to me.

I'm still agog at the $150 for a ceiling fan prewire (and since they only include 2 rooms, plus the 2 additional rooms we upgraded to, that still leaves me with 5 locations to pay for), and the $200 for a double flood light outside, and the $100 per can light, and on and on...

And yes, I'm trying to shop everything as much as possible before we have to sign on to everything at the design center... Of course, then it's not in the mortgage, and with only one income and two kids under 3, college funds, and IRAs, there's not always alot of extra money to spread around. Lighting and bath fixtures are things that we are thinking we'll just take the standard issue and then we'll upgrade later as bonuses and extra money come in. Another is flooring. I'll probably upgrade the carpet/pad, since that's a lot of area of the house, but I'll put vinyl in the wet areas, and upgrade to tile later. Plus I'll have a much larger selection if I go on my own later. We are mainly looking at things that are really "have to" do before the walls get closed up (pre-wire for TV above the fireplace, gas lines to the dryer and range, additional windows, etc.).

Thanks for your help!

Even at $125 a jack, it's still a ripoff for simple phone jacks. They would make money at $25 a jack.

The no GDO, no warranty on the door nonsense is disgusting. If they are conducting this part of the business in such an odious manner, what are they doing in the part that you can't see? Are you absolutely sure you want to deal with Ryland? Have you checked out their reputation for build quality?

why not put a phone jack by the fridge? whats the issue? also, phone jacks aren't going anywhere, dsl modems use them, many of the videogame systems use them, some satellite providers. i think you absolutely need one in your kitchen, tv/living room, office, and master.

Thanks for the heads up on dsl... I use cable modems, so dsl isn't something I had considered. Now I'm thinking that we had better put one in the kitchen, one in the main family room, another in the office and one in the MBR. If we need any others on the second floor (such as in the bonus room or a kids' bedroom) it's easy to fish one down later -- first floor, that might be another story! So I'll definitely do that one in the family room near where the AV equipment will be housed.

why not put a phone jack by the fridge? whats the issue?

You have to take that statement in context with the rest of my post. Remember, the OP wanted the two jacks for resale. If you only put in two, and one them is in the kitchen, you don't want it in a landing zone. The end of a counter next to a fridge is almost always a landing zone. Since future homeowners are the target, all we can do is make an educated guess at where they will and won't want a kitchen jack.

For DSL, you want your filter at the NIB (where the phone line enters the house). Then you want a dedicated line from that point to the modem for the DSL signal. The regular telephone signals run separately on their own line(s). It is unlikely that Ryland will supply that kind of wiring for $125 a jack.

We currently have our DSL filter, modem, and router housed in a closet on the other side of the exterior wall from the NIB. From the closet, all the data signals are distributed by wireless and CAT-5 cable. The telephone line runs to the alarm system in another location, then back to the closet where it reconnects to the original telephone jack wiring.

Works great and is way cheaper than formal structured wiring.

Just get a cordless phone system that uses only one base unit plugged into a jack. You can then have multiple phones throughout the house. The last one that we bought at our former house had one base unit and two remote units. All the remote units needed was to be plugged into an electrical outlet. You can buy these systems with any number of remote phones to suit your needs. Sure beats paying $125 a jack!

sorry creek side but what do you mean by landing zone?