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#1
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Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home -
the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. |
#2
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#4
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#5
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 18:55:05 -0500, philo wrote:
On 05/11/2016 06:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. No , don't mess with the incoming lines, there should be a phone out put jack on your gateway router...that's what you use. I always wondered what would happen if I switched all my phones to VOIP, on my dialup internet service, and then had my phone service disconnected..... ![]() |
#6
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On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 7:43:38 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. Yes, one way is to do what you said. Disconnect the house wiring from the phone company at the box and run a wire from the new hub to the house phone wiring. Or if there is a house phone jack near the hub, disconnect the phone company at the box, then run a wire from the house jack to the hub. Another way would be to put the hub where you have a cordless phone base station and just use cordless in the house. That's what I did. You can get a new 4 phones plus answering machine for $50 |
#7
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 16:59:55 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote: On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 7:43:38 PM UTC-4, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. Yes, one way is to do what you said. Disconnect the house wiring from the phone company at the box and run a wire from the new hub to the house phone wiring. Or if there is a house phone jack near the hub, disconnect the phone company at the box, then run a wire from the house jack to the hub. Another way would be to put the hub where you have a cordless phone base station and just use cordless in the house. That's what I did. You can get a new 4 phones plus answering machine for $50 Why not just unplug "the house" from the Dmark box outside and plug the output of your VOIP into any empty jack. They are all wired together. They don't know where the signal comes from. |
#8
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On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 11:29:52 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2016 16:59:55 -0700 (PDT), trader_4 wrote: On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 7:43:38 PM UTC-4, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. Yes, one way is to do what you said. Disconnect the house wiring from the phone company at the box and run a wire from the new hub to the house phone wiring. Or if there is a house phone jack near the hub, disconnect the phone company at the box, then run a wire from the house jack to the hub. Another way would be to put the hub where you have a cordless phone base station and just use cordless in the house. That's what I did. You can get a new 4 phones plus answering machine for $50 Why not just unplug "the house" from the Dmark box outside and plug the output of your VOIP into any empty jack. They are all wired together. They don't know where the signal comes from. That's what I posted. He doesn't need to run another wire. ^_^ [8~{} Uncle Phone Monster |
#9
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On 05/11/2016 06:59 PM, trader_4 wrote:
[snip] Yes, one way is to do what you said. Disconnect the house wiring from the phone company at the box and run a wire from the new hub to the house phone wiring. Or if there is a house phone jack near the hub, disconnect the phone company at the box, then run a wire from the house jack to the hub. Another way would be to put the hub where you have a cordless phone base station and just use cordless in the house. That's what I did. You can get a new 4 phones plus answering machine for $50 When I got cable phone, I had a multi-handset cordless phone, and put the base there their adapter (called a MTA) was going. The company (Suddenlink) insisted on sending an installer just to plug it in and that's all I let him do. After the old phone line quit working (it took almost a day), I disconnected the incoming phone line and used the existing wiring to connect other phones. Make sure you never have the new phone adapter connected to the old phone line. -- Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.us/ "Therefore we Christians, in turn, are obliged not to tolerate their wanton and conscious blasphemy." [Martin Luther,"On the Jews and Their Lies",1543] |
#11
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On 5/11/2016 7:04 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. [snip] The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. |
#12
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:14:10 -0500, Unquestionably Confused
wrote: On 5/11/2016 7:04 PM, Don Y wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. [snip] The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. Thanks for the ideas - much appreciated. I'm leaning toward the cordless phone option .. We have a 2-phone cordless now - buy another & a Y-adapter or replace with a 4 phone set ... I just hate the idea of scrapping these gadgets every 5 years ! .... my 3 home phones are all 20 years old & working fine. John T. |
#13
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On 5/11/2016 7:39 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:14:10 -0500, Unquestionably Confused wrote: On 5/11/2016 7:04 PM, Don Y wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. [snip] The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. Thanks for the ideas - much appreciated. I'm leaning toward the cordless phone option .. We have a 2-phone cordless now - buy another & a Y-adapter or replace with a 4 phone set ... I just hate the idea of scrapping these gadgets every 5 years ! ... my 3 home phones are all 20 years old & working fine. John T. John, if you follow through in the manner that Don, I and others suggest you can pretend that you're still bent over and taking it from Ma Bell/AT&T and buy what you want to use in the house, when you want to buy it. That said, the quality of the newer 5ghz cordless phones is really quite good. As I said, we miss landlines not at all. |
#14
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#15
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John,
I'm leaning toward the cordless phone option. When I first switched to VOIP, I simply disconnected the incoming cable from the phone company and fed back through the existing phone wiring in the house. It worked fine. However, somewhere down the line I had a problem with the phone wiring in the house. I have numerous cables running indoors and a few to outbuildings as well. Rather than fuss with tracking down the wiring problem, I just abandoned the wires and bought a cordless phone system. The base unit connects directly to my VOIP adapter, and all the other handsets are wireless. I can move them anywhere in the house, even if there are no phone jacks. We have a 2-phone cordless now - buy another & a Y-adapter or replace with a 4 phone set. I just hate the idea of scrapping these gadgets every 5 years! You might check to see if additional handsets are still available for your existing phone system. I bought an extra handset for my Panasonic so I could have a phone out in the garage. I got the part number right off one of the existing handsets. Otherwise, a new phone system is relatively inexpensive and will bring everything up to modern standards. Anthony Watson www.watsondiy.com www.mountainsoftware.com |
#16
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 20:39:15 -0400, wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:14:10 -0500, Unquestionably Confused wrote: On 5/11/2016 7:04 PM, Don Y wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. [snip] The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. Thanks for the ideas - much appreciated. I'm leaning toward the cordless phone option .. We have a 2-phone cordless now - buy another & a Y-adapter or replace with a 4 phone set ... Sometimes you can buy more extensions for the current phone. In my case it was cheaper to buy a whole second phone with a base station and a cordless phone, or maybe I bought that one first, but at least 3 extensions work with either base station (which has either a corded or non-cordedd phone.) One of the buttons to answer the phone is taking a little extra pressure and I should buy a spare before they're all gone from ebay. I just hate the idea of scrapping these gadgets every 5 years ! Absolutelyh ... my 3 home phones are all 20 years old & working fine. John T. I haved one phone that is 50 years old and working fine, though it's hard to get to and rarely used, and another phone that's 60 or 70 years old and works fine. I'd put it in the living room but there's no jack and hard to ilnstall. ...Wait, that must be why I bought the wireless jack. But the phones I use are about 10 y.o. |
#17
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On 05/13/2016 01:51 AM, Micky wrote:
[snip] Sometimes you can buy more extensions for the current phone. In my case it was cheaper to buy a whole second phone with a base station and a cordless phone, or maybe I bought that one first, but at least 3 extensions work with either base station (which has either a corded or non-cordedd phone.) I have a 3-handset cordless phone that allows up to 10 handsets. I looked on the internet for extra handsets and they cost so much I was better off buying another system (and that comes with an extra base, too). [snip] -- Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.us/ "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:14 |
#18
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:14:10 -0500, Unquestionably Confused
wrote: On 5/11/2016 7:04 PM, Don Y wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. [snip] The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. So iiuc, you end up using your cell phone to tallk on your voip line, for no extra charge. Or do you end up using your voip phones to talk on your cell phone line, paying whatever the cell phone charges, for international calls for example? Or both? |
#19
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On 5/13/2016 1:45 AM, Micky wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:14:10 -0500, Unquestionably Confused wrote: [snip] Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. So iiuc, you end up using your cell phone to tallk on your voip line, for no extra charge. Or do you end up using your voip phones to talk on your cell phone line, paying whatever the cell phone charges, for international calls for example? Neither, actually. We had the traditional POTS - no VOIP, Cable, etc. We found that we RARELY got any calls on the land line. They all went to the cellular phones. We simply told AT&T to take a hike and went total cellular but added the Siemens Gigaset for convenience of not having to carry the cells around with us at home. The transition was more or less seamless. We have our cells, we have our cordless and wired phones. Only difference is we now have TWO separate lines at home and no long distance or local charges. |
#20
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On Fri, 13 May 2016 05:52:48 -0500, Unquestionably Confused
wrote: On 5/13/2016 1:45 AM, Micky wrote: On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:14:10 -0500, Unquestionably Confused wrote: [snip] Taking into account the REN situation that Don mentions, his second option is exactly what I did when we gave up our landline in favor of our cellular phones. We bought a Siemens Gigaset which connects via Bluetooth to our cell phones whenever we are in range (our model will accept up to three cell phones and port them to the hardwired home phone system. All we do is plug in a single RJ11 cable from the Gigaset to the nearest telephone jack and we were done. The Gigaset gives us incoming and outgoing call capabilities on all three lines through a Panasonic cordless phone with FOUR extensions and an POTS or two scattered throughout the house. We do not miss the landline at all. So iiuc, you end up using your cell phone to tallk on your voip line, for no extra charge. Or do you end up using your voip phones to talk on your cell phone line, paying whatever the cell phone charges, for international calls for example? Neither, actually. We had the traditional POTS - no VOIP, Cable, etc. We found that we RARELY got any calls on the land line. They all went to the cellular phones. We simply told AT&T to take a hike and went total cellular but added the Siemens Gigaset for convenience of not having to carry the cells around with us at home. The transition was more or less seamless. We have our cells, we have our cordless and wired phones. Only difference is we now have TWO separate lines at home and no long distance or local charges. Very interesting. Copy to MissA, who might have some use for this information. |
#21
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 17:04:07 -0700, Don Y
wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. frown Your choice. (We keep our land line because it has mandated availability/reliability guarantees) The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? Presumably, all that same "number"? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface You need to see what the VoIP gateway is capable of driving before you saddle it with 4 loads. At the very least, you will need to verify how many "REN's" (Ringer Equivalence Numbers) it can drive. Then, examine each of your "3 or 4 home telephones" to see what sort of REN's each represents. If your loads exceed the capabilities of the VoIP gateway, you'll have to take other steps to make them work. 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Thanks Don - appreciate the input. I never considered the "loads" of my old telephones .. maybe someone here has actual experience ? I did keep my phone number. I will lose phone service for power outages and for internet system outages, and also the 911 will be less effective. But the Bell bill has been climbing steadily for 20 years - ~ $ 75. per month compared to $ 20. for the internet phone. I also switched sat TV from Bell Expressvu - to Shaw - free receiver; install; no contract ; slightly better programming - for slightly less money .. ~ $ 65. per month. The "stay with us " phone calls from Bell were quite lame - they are not interested in keeping the minimal users - they are looking for the bigger fish. I suggested that they sell a " 911 only " plan - for people who cringe at losing this great feature - it would generate a little income from otherwise lost customers and provide a continued contact to customers for future business .. and be a feel good thing - something lacking - I'd pay a few bucks for it. John T. |
#22
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On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 7:29:06 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2016 17:04:07 -0700, Don Y wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. frown Your choice. (We keep our land line because it has mandated availability/reliability guarantees) The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? Presumably, all that same "number"? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface You need to see what the VoIP gateway is capable of driving before you saddle it with 4 loads. At the very least, you will need to verify how many "REN's" (Ringer Equivalence Numbers) it can drive. Then, examine each of your "3 or 4 home telephones" to see what sort of REN's each represents. If your loads exceed the capabilities of the VoIP gateway, you'll have to take other steps to make them work. 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Thanks Don - appreciate the input. I never considered the "loads" of my old telephones .. maybe someone here has actual experience ? I did keep my phone number. I will lose phone service for power outages and for internet system outages, and also the 911 will be less effective. But the Bell bill has been climbing steadily for 20 years - ~ $ 75. per month compared to $ 20. for the internet phone. I also switched sat TV from Bell Expressvu - to Shaw - free receiver; install; no contract ; slightly better programming - for slightly less money .. ~ $ 65. per month. The "stay with us " phone calls from Bell were quite lame - they are not interested in keeping the minimal users - they are looking for the bigger fish. I suggested that they sell a " 911 only " plan - for people who cringe at losing this great feature - it would generate a little income from otherwise lost customers and provide a continued contact to customers for future business .. and be a feel good thing - something lacking - I'd pay a few bucks for it. John T. My brother just got cable Internet only service and the modem has VoIP capability if he wants to purchase it from the cable company. He has his own VoIP adapters already. The modem has a compartment for a backup battery so it will continue to operate during a power outage. He already has APC battery backup units and has plugged the modem into one of those. Check your modem to see if it has a battery or plug it into a backup unit. ^_^ [8~{} Uncle Backup Monster |
#23
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#24
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On 5/11/2016 5:53 PM, Unquestionably Confused wrote:
A good uninterruptible power supply will keep you in business through MOST power outages. We have probably a dozen 1500VA UPS's scattered around the house. They come in handy in an outage as you can plug a CFL or LED lamp into one and have LOTS of light (instead of living with flashlights or candles). Figure 10-15W for a CFL gives you many HOURS on one of these beasts (battery capacity is ~170WHr; assume 70% efficiency gives you 120WHr -- so, almost 10 hours for a "60W equivalent" CFL) [Neighbors always wonder why our house is so brightly lit when they are in the dark! : ] We can access our internet provider as this computer and "modem" are similarly powered. I keep a handheld UPS on the bookshelf that I can carry to wherever (very small capacity. We don't use one with the Gigaset but only because if we go to fire up the standby generator in a prolonged outage, the wall warts for the Gigaset and the Panasonic cordless phone is on one of the "emergency" circuits. The "base station" for our cordless phone uses the battery in the *phone* (if it is sitting in the cradle) to power the base station in an outage. So, the answering machine continues to work -- as do the *other* cordless handsets (you just can't remove the handset that happens to be *in* the base station!) This is one of those "Why the hell didn't folks think of this 20 years ago??" |
#25
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We have probably a dozen 1500VA UPS's scattered around the house.
They come in handy in an outage as you can plug a CFL or LED lamp into one and have LOTS of light (instead of living with flashlights or candles). Figure 10-15W for a CFL gives you many HOURS on one of these beasts (battery capacity is ~170WHr; assume 70% efficiency gives you 120WHr -- so, almost 10 hours for a "60W equivalent" CFL) Novel idea, but that's one expensive flashlight. ![]() We kind of enjoy the rare power outage. It's an excuse to take a break from technology, build a fire, light some candles, and spend some quality time together. That said, my VOIP adapter and phone base unit are connected to my computer's UPS system. ![]() If the outage lasts more than an hour or two (rare), we can always fall back to our cell phones. Or, people can just call back later. Anthony Watson www.watsondiy.com www.mountainsoftware.com |
#26
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#27
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![]() Thanks Don - appreciate the input. I never considered the "loads" of my old telephones .. maybe someone here has actual experience ? "Old" phones (i.e., from Western Electric -- the sorts with real BELLS in them) tend to be 1 REN -- the telco actually had to deliver the power to move the clapper to strike the bell. Newer phones tend to have much lower REN's -- they "sense" the "ring voltage" (90 volts) and tell the little computer (damn near everything has a computer of some type!) "Hey, there's an incoming call!". I got it done this morning - thanks all. 1. disconnected Bell cable at the outside interface box 2. re-routed the internet cable to a better location modem, hub, router in a central location near a phone jack 3. RJ-11 splitter into the phone jack 4. hub + 1 old phone into splitter 5. 1 other old timey phone in basement 6. 1 cordless pair for main floor and master bedroom 1 old timey phone relegated to spare-dom Everything seems to work OK - fingers crossed. .... just need to read-up on the cordless set - it wants to call out the incoming calls ! ... we never knew they could talk ! never had call display before .. John T. |
#28
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#29
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On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 8:29:06 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2016 17:04:07 -0700, Don Y wrote: On 5/11/2016 4:43 PM, wrote: Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. frown Your choice. (We keep our land line because it has mandated availability/reliability guarantees) The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? Presumably, all that same "number"? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface You need to see what the VoIP gateway is capable of driving before you saddle it with 4 loads. At the very least, you will need to verify how many "REN's" (Ringer Equivalence Numbers) it can drive. Then, examine each of your "3 or 4 home telephones" to see what sort of REN's each represents. If your loads exceed the capabilities of the VoIP gateway, you'll have to take other steps to make them work. 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. The obvious other option is just to disconnect TPC from your interface box (so YOU aren't trying to push signal OUT onto the incoming line). Then, run a RJ11 cable from the VoIP gateway to the nearest "telephone jack" inside your home. It will be wired to all of the other, similar, jacks throughout your home. If they made provisions for TWO lines to come into your home (often on an unused pair of a 2-6 pair cable), then you can also try to chase down the uncommitted end of that cable and use it as a vector onto the "used" pair). Again, disconnecting the phone company from your home AT the network interface for the reason outlined above. Thanks Don - appreciate the input. I never considered the "loads" of my old telephones .. maybe someone here has actual experience ? I did keep my phone number. I will lose phone service for power outages and for internet system outages, and also the 911 will be less effective. But the Bell bill has been climbing steadily for 20 years - ~ $ 75. per month compared to $ 20. for the internet phone. Even $20 sounds high to me. I switched to Ooma a year ago. Cost me $60 for a used unit on Ebay and $4 a month for unlimited US calling for $4 a month. I only have to pay the taxes each month, that's the $4. Very happy with it, reliability has been excellent, voice quality is good too. |
#30
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On Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 6:43:38 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. Disconnect the the phone company line at the interface box outside. Then plug a phone cable from your VoIP box to the phone jack on the wall and it will backfeed all the other phones from the outside phone box. You don't need a new wire. You may need a doubler for the jack where you plug in your VoIP box if you are going to use a phone there. K.I.S.S. ^_^ [8~{} Uncle Simple Monster |
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On Wed, 11 May 2016 19:43:45 -0400, wrote:
2. other ideas ? +1 (What everyone else said.) The only advice I want to add is not to overload the 'ring' generator. If you have too many phones, often the output stage on the hub does not have the capacity to drive them all simultaneously, especially if they are old phones with real solenoid-operated ringers. Other advice is to REALLY MAKE SURE that the cordless units are the same, i.e. I took great pains to ensure that my 2nd set of cordless Panasonic phones corresponded to the same electronic 'standard', but the new ones don't fit into the old charging bases, not even as required to 'mate' the handset to the radio ID of the base, let alone charge the batteries. So I have to remember which handsets go into which charging bases. (Actually, I don't. I just try whatever handset needs charging into a succession of bases until I find one that fits...) -- http://mduffy.x10host.com/index.htm |
#32
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On 5/11/2016 6:19 PM, Mike Duffy wrote:
Other advice is to REALLY MAKE SURE that the cordless units are the same, i.e. I took great pains to ensure that my 2nd set of cordless Panasonic phones corresponded to the same electronic 'standard', but the new ones don't fit into the old charging bases, not even as required to 'mate' the handset to the radio ID of the base, let alone charge the batteries. So I have to remember which handsets go into which charging bases. (Actually, I don't. I just try whatever handset needs charging into a succession of bases until I find one that fits...) Even this can go wrong! My folks picked up two sets of "dual handset" units. In short order, NONE of them were working! Seems they really wanted to be recharged in the same place that they were initially "paired". You couldn't just stick them into any place that *seemed* appropriate. I ended up having to put colored dots on each handset and base/charger so they would know where each one "belonged". Our current cordless set allows you to type in a name for the phone (e.g., Kitchen, Living Room, etc.). While not essential, one of the "speakerphones" has failed (and I am too lazy to take the flimsy plastic thing apart to figure out why!). So, we are careful about where we leave that handset "charging". |
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#34
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wrote in message ...
Today I got connected to internet telephone service for my home - the old land line still has dial tone but only gets the "not connected" message when used. The hub that the internet company provides has only one RJ-11 phone port - but four 3 unused RJ-45 LAN ports. What is my easiest route to connect my 3 or 4 home telephones to the new system ? 1. go to the interface box on the outside wall of my house and disconnect the incoming Bell line ; then run a new phone line from here to the hub ? the hub needs to be located centrally in the house - not near the Bell interface 2. other ideas ? Thanks in advance. John T. You can use the existing house telephone wiring. Last year I disconnected Verizon and went with Time Warner Cable for land line and internet. The TWC modem has a connection for a telephone which I connected to one of the existing wall outlets. That allowed me to use any of the other receptacles in the house. |
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