Do you know where those wires go? Are you sure they're not live? Do you have an old analog phone to test them with? If you're not sure if they're live or not, then tape each wire separately and push them into the hole.

The right way to do it is to disconnect cable at its source. That will probably be at a punchdown block in the cellar or utility closet. It might also be at the grey plastic demarcation box on the outside of the house.

Once the source end is disconnected, you can cut the cable off at the wall and ignore it. No need to tape the end.

If you absolutely can't get to the cable's source, cut and tape each wire individually. Keep the taped ends separated.

Be careful. The idle phone voltage (48 volts) won't hurt you, but if the phone happens to ring while you're doing this and touching the right (or wrong) wires, you'll get a surprising and unpleasant 90 volt shock!

@mtvhike no idea if they are still live and i don't have an analog phone to test it.

@DavidR thanks i will cut carefully and where rubber gloves for protection. Will they be safe to tuck under the base board through the hole once cut and taped? What happens if they touch once taped?

What DavidR said. Are there any analog phone lines in your house at all? Do you intend to ever use them?

No i don't intend to use but its only 1 i want to remove as it is making a dresser unstable.

Don't worry too much about getting shocked by a standard residential telephone line. You will feel the ringing voltage, but its not constant and its very low amperage. It will get your attention, but it won't kill you.

A standard 4 wire phone cable has red and green wires for a the primary line and a 2nd pair of yellow and black lines for a 2nd phone line. Standard modular jacks and phones with modular cords will be wired so that the phone connects to the primary pair (red/green), and the phone company Demarc box on the wall of your house will connect that pair to the incoming phone service.

The preferred way to prewire phone lines is to run home-run wiring back to a punchdown block or junction near the Demarc box. However, if someone was trying to be cheap they may have daisy chained phone jacks together in one path through the house.

Bruce

thank you s much for all the help:) wire cutters here i come :P

Is this your house? Does it have a basement? If so, go down there and see if there are any phone wires, either loose or connected to something. If they are connected to something, where to the wires then go? If they go outside, then look there and see if there is a Demarc or other box. It may be that your connection is the only one left from the previous owner(s). Although the surface mount phone jack is probably at most 50 years old, phone wiring may be much older than that (If the house is older!). That kind of jack was not usually used for initial installations.

thanks:) i will try and check