Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
![]() |
|
Home Repair (alt.home.repair) For all homeowners and DIYers with many experienced tradesmen. Solve your toughest home fix-it problems. |
Reply |
|
LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#3
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#6
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#7
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#8
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#9
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#10
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#11
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#12
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#13
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#15
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#16
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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??" |
#17
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#18
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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". |
#19
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#21
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#22
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#23
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On Thu, 12 May 2016 04:47:41 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband
wrote: 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. I have enough UPSs here that we may not notice a power failure right away. My PC is on one and there are 2 in the entertainment center. If we don't have the light on in the living room and are just watching TV. not much changes. The real tip off is the dog goes nuts when those switchers turn on in the UPS. Evidently he can hear the 25kz or so. As for phones, they will pry my POTS line and my Western Electric phone out of my cold dead hands. It always works. My AOL dial up line always works too. I am not going to be streaming Netflix but I can get out an Email. Actually the DSL is almost as solid as the POTS. Cable? ... not so much. I had to fire Comcast because they were down so often and out so long when they went. The drop is swinging in the air in front of my house. |
#24
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On 5/11/2016 9:47 PM, HerHusband wrote:
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. ![]() Naw, just an extension cord running from a nearby light fixture to the nearest UPS! I.e., 4 or 5 feet would suffice to connect a nearby floor lamp to the UPS for this computer! 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. It depends largely on what we are "trying to get done" when the outage strikes. E.g., if SWMBO has settled down to watch a movie, it's annoying not to be able to *finish* that movie. In that case, I'll drag out one of the larger laptops and let her watch it "in her lap" -- not quite the same experience as on the big screen but better than having to come back to the MIDDLE of the story some time later (when she may want/need to be doing something else). Likewise, if you'd made time to read a book, you want to continue reading -- not have to return to it at a later time that's more convenient for the electric company! If I'm "writing code", I can quickly copy the file(s) onto a thumb drive and move over to a laptop to continue (none of my systems can stay up for that long even on the larger UPS's -- can you spell "powerhog"?) If it's daylight, then, chances are, we're outside or away from home and don't really care about the outage. As for "time together", that's already built into our schedules. So, we each know what time we can expect to address our individual wants/needs while still ensuring that we don't become "just roommates". That said, my VOIP adapter and phone base unit are connected to my computer's UPS system. ![]() The "backup" is important as you may want to USE that phone during the outage. E.g., to call to REPORT the outage! : 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. We *welcome* not hearing from people. But, aren't eager to be cut off from our ability to phone others! "Why don't we do our grocery shopping NOW and get it out of the way. Do you think stores X, Y and Z are suffering outages? Would it be a waste of time to drive over? Perhaps call first??" |
#26
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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 |
#27
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
The real tip off is the dog goes nuts when those switchers turn on
in the UPS. Evidently he can hear the 25kz or so. When my UPS switches to battery power it clicks a relay and turns on a fan. So it's easy to tell when it's running off the battery. It's annoying when the power blips on and off quickly, such as when a branch is on a powerline or something. Click-click-click-click.... As for phones, they will pry my POTS line and my Western Electric phone out of my cold dead hands. It always works. I couldn't wait to ditch our POTS line. They charged $100 a month, everywhere was a long distance fee, and we had zero features (caller ID, call blocking, etc.). I switched to VOIP for $20 a month, free long distance, and a full array of features. I haven't regretted it for a minute. My AOL dial up line always works too. I am not going to be streaming Netflix but I can get out an Email. Actually the DSL is almost as solid as the POTS. Dial-up was my only option until Comcast brought their lines out. We can't get DSL, the forest blocks satellite signals, and our hilly terrain and distance blocks wireless signals. We can barely even get cell signals here. Of course, my only dial-up option back then was long distance, so it got really expensive. Cable? ... not so much. I had to fire Comcast because they were down so often and out so long when they went. Our Comcast service has been very reliable. We've probably had fewer than 5 outages in the last 10 years, and most of those have lasted less than 30 minutes. Our longest outage was about 4-6 hours. That said, I did have issues with weak signals when I was splitting the signal to my cable modem and TV tuners. Comcast tried boosting the signal slightly, but said it was within "recommended specs". The TV's would often drop out, my computer tuners would lose the signal and stop recording, and my cable modem would drop out frequently. Thankfully, once I dropped cable TV and just use Comcast for internet, I haven't had any issues. The cable line now runs directly to my cable modem, that's it. Anthony Watson www.watsondiy.com www.mountainsoftware.com |
#28
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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] |
#29
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On Thu, 12 May 2016 02:25:37 -0600, Bill wrote:
On 05/11/2016 11:36 PM, wrote: Actually the DSL is almost as solid as the POTS. Cable? ... not so much. I had to fire Comcast because they were down so often and out so long when they went. The drop is swinging in the air in front of my house. Way back in 2003 when Comcast launched internet service, reliability was a little sketchy. But for the last 10 years, Comcast has provided awesome reliability. At&T U-verse is very reliable as well but all T offers is 6Mb down and less than 1 Mb up. Basically useless for today's web. My wife still has Comcast at the club and they suck there too (commercial account) When she talked to the senior tech (25 years in this area) he said Comcast bought out all of the mom and pop cable companies in SW Florida but they have not done much to upgrade the 40 year old infrastructure and the service sucks at his house too, Calling customer support is it's own nightmare. OTOH when Sprint bought out the mom and pop phone company here they replaced everything with new. The stuff is still pretty old now (20 years) but the backbone is buried fiber and it works very well. Century link (the latest owner) installed the equipment to allow DSL to run at 10mb and that seems fast enough for anything I do. It is very reliable. I would rather have 10m all the time than 50m intermittently. |
#30
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#31
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Naw, just an extension cord running from a nearby light fixture to
the nearest UPS! I.e., 4 or 5 feet would suffice to connect a nearby floor lamp to the UPS for this computer! I wouldn't have thought to do that, but we don't have any table or floor lamps. All of our lighting is ceiling or wall mounted. I do have an LED lantern that runs off of 4 D-cells though. I haven't changed the batteries in years and it's still going strong. We also have a few rechargeable lights that come on automatically when the power goes out. It depends largely on what we are "trying to get done" when the outage strikes. E.g., if SWMBO has settled down to watch a movie, it's annoying not to be able to *finish* that movie. In that case, I'll drag out one of the larger laptops and let her watch it "in her lap" Yep, I have a laptop with extra oversized batteries that I use for similar things. I typically pull it out when the power goes out during the day when I'm home alone. There's nothing else to do, so I'll fire it up and watch a movie or something. Likewise, if you'd made time to read a book, you want to continue reading -- not have to return to it at a later time that's more convenient for the electric company! Book? That's one of those rectangular paper things, right? ![]() If I'm "writing code", I can quickly copy the file(s) onto a thumb drive and move over to a laptop to continue (none of my systems can stay up for that long even on the larger UPS's -- can you spell "powerhog"?) If I'm writing code, I usually just save what I'm doing and do something else till the power comes back on. My laptop isn't really set up for programming, and the interuption kind of ruins my thought process anyway. Depending on what my computer is doing, I can run between 60 and 90 minutes on my UPS (my computer uses less than 60 watts in normal use). If it's daylight, then, chances are, we're outside or away from home and don't really care about the outage. Around here, it always seems like it's rainy, snowing, or extremely windy when the power goes out. I'm not about to go outside! ![]() As for "time together", that's already built into our schedules. So, we each know what time we can expect to address our individual wants/needs while still ensuring that we don't become "just roommates". Sex at 7pm, check. ![]() The "backup" is important as you may want to USE that phone during the outage. E.g., to call to REPORT the outage! : I've called to report an outage twice in the past. Both times they said "we already know". ![]() more likely to use their web site than their phone line anyway. We *welcome* not hearing from people. But, aren't eager to be cut off from our ability to phone others! "Why don't we do our grocery shopping NOW and get it out of the way. Do you think stores X, Y and Z are suffering outages? Would it be a waste of time to drive over? Perhaps call first??" I hate phones and almost never make a call out. We don't get many incoming calls either, and those that do can wait till later. We're several miles from town so they usually always have power when ours is out. Sometimes I do take care of shopping when the power goes out, but it always seems like the power goes out AFTER we have just gone shopping. ![]() Anthony Watson www.watsondiy.com www.mountainsoftware.com |
#32
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On Thu, 12 May 2016 14:19:22 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband
wrote: As for phones, they will pry my POTS line and my Western Electric phone out of my cold dead hands. It always works. I couldn't wait to ditch our POTS line. They charged $100 a month, everywhere was a long distance fee, and we had zero features (caller ID, call blocking, etc.). I switched to VOIP for $20 a month, free long distance, and a full array of features. I haven't regretted it for a minute. My landline adds $11 a month to my Century link bill plus another $10-15 in taxes but I probably pay those taxes, just for having DSL. That includes free long distance and a bundle of phone options (caller ID, conferencing, call waiting, voice mail and about a dozen other options) Cable? ... not so much. I had to fire Comcast because they were down so often and out so long when they went. Our Comcast service has been very reliable. We've probably had fewer than 5 outages in the last 10 years, and most of those have lasted less than 30 minutes. Our longest outage was about 4-6 hours. That is not what we see here. My weather station logs downtime and I was filling up the logs when I was on Comcast. After any kind of little storm, it was down for weeks. Part of the problem is Comcast is still up on poles and the Telco is buried. Now days Weather Underground sends me an Email when the station is down and I get about one or two a year on my DSL, Usually I get the "it's back up" message a minute or so later. The exception is when it is on my end. |
#33
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On Thu, 12 May 2016 14:42:50 -0000 (UTC), HerHusband
wrote: I do have an LED lantern that runs off of 4 D-cells though. I haven't changed the batteries in years and it's still going strong. We also have a few rechargeable lights that come on automatically when the power goes out. I have lots of LED portable lights here and we have the standard "emergency light" you see in commercial installations in the hall. I swapped out the sealed beams for smaller LED lights and I imagine they will run for days on those gel batteries. I do have a switch on them so they can be turned off. That is handy if the power drops at night and you are suddenly in the dark. |
#34
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On 05/12/2016 09:19 AM, HerHusband wrote:
[snip] Of course, my only dial-up option back then was long distance, so it got really expensive. I first got internet in 1995, when the local phone company started considering a nearby (30 miles) city to be "local". Cable? ... not so much. I had to fire Comcast because they were down so often and out so long when they went. Our Comcast service has been very reliable. We've probably had fewer than 5 outages in the last 10 years, and most of those have lasted less than 30 minutes. Our longest outage was about 4-6 hours. Here (with Suddenlink) there haven't been many outages. The only one that lasted more than a few minutes was a 5-day one in May 2015 when we had a tornado what broke a lot of poles. Power was out for 4 days. [snip] -- 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] |
#35
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On 05/12/2016 10:55 AM, wrote:
[snip] My landline adds $11 a month to my Century link bill plus another $10-15 in taxes but I probably pay those taxes, just for having DSL. That includes free long distance and a bundle of phone options (caller ID, conferencing, call waiting, voice mail and about a dozen other options) One of the features I have with cable phone is "call forwarding". I find that very useful at times, to transfer calls to my cell phone when I'm out. I don't want that all the time because of junk calls, but it's helpful when I'm expecting a call and want to go out. BTW, I'm still getting a bunch that have caller ID showing "TOLL FREE CALL" and mess up my answering machine if it's set for 4 rings. It looks like there's a message, but it's just some clicking noises followed by a dial tone and an error message from Suddenlink. [snip] -- 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] |
#36
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On 05/12/2016 11:02 AM, wrote:
[snip] I have lots of LED portable lights here and we have the standard "emergency light" you see in commercial installations in the hall. I swapped out the sealed beams for smaller LED lights and I imagine they will run for days on those gel batteries. I do have a switch on them so they can be turned off. That is handy if the power drops at night and you are suddenly in the dark. I have an old UPS that won't put out enough current for a PC, but works OK with a string of LED holiday lights I have in the hall. I call these "Lilly's lights" after a cat I used to have who slept in the hall and didn't want to be stepped on. That cat is gone now, but they make good emergency lights. There was a short (44 min.) power outage this morning and they worked. -- Mark Lloyd http://notstupid.us/ |
#37
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On Thu, 12 May 2016 11:30:55 -0500, Mark Lloyd
wrote: On 05/12/2016 11:02 AM, wrote: [snip] I have lots of LED portable lights here and we have the standard "emergency light" you see in commercial installations in the hall. I swapped out the sealed beams for smaller LED lights and I imagine they will run for days on those gel batteries. I do have a switch on them so they can be turned off. That is handy if the power drops at night and you are suddenly in the dark. I have an old UPS that won't put out enough current for a PC, but works OK with a string of LED holiday lights I have in the hall. I call these "Lilly's lights" after a cat I used to have who slept in the hall and didn't want to be stepped on. That cat is gone now, but they make good emergency lights. There was a short (44 min.) power outage this morning and they worked. A battery will usually fix those "Bad" UPSs. They are not horribly expensive online. That is why I have so many units around here. They all came with bad batteries for free. I still have a few dead soldiers back in my shop but I am UPSed out here. ;-) There only seems to be 2 basic sizes with either 1 or 2 in each UPS (APC). |
#38
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
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. |
#39
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]() 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. |
#40
![]()
Posted to alt.home.repair
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
On 5/12/2016 7:42 AM, HerHusband wrote:
Naw, just an extension cord running from a nearby light fixture to the nearest UPS! I.e., 4 or 5 feet would suffice to connect a nearby floor lamp to the UPS for this computer! I wouldn't have thought to do that, but we don't have any table or floor lamps. All of our lighting is ceiling or wall mounted. No overhead lights in the bedrooms -- all on "bedside tables", etc. Living room has overhead lights -- but also floor lamps (for reading). If I need/want a light someplace that doesn't have one handy, I can grab a table lamp from one of the bedrooms and carry it to wherever. I do have an LED lantern that runs off of 4 D-cells though. I haven't changed the batteries in years and it's still going strong. We also have a few rechargeable lights that come on automatically when the power goes out. I don't like buying things for a specific (esp rare) event. E.g., our flashlights are not intended for use in the absence of power but, rather, in teh absence of *light* (e.g., under the hood of the car, under my workbenches, inside the furnace, etc.). I have one large "flashlight" that runs off 8 D cells and has a CFL "bulb": http://images.drillspot.com/pimages/000/415/926/415926_300.jpg You can tug on the front bezel to convert it to a "lantern": http://content.backcountry.com/images/items/large/CMN/CMN0108/ONCO_D1.jpg But, it eats batteries. Someday, I'll make a wallwart adapter to use it as a lantern for these occasions. (The idea of installing rechargeable D cells is almost laughable) It depends largely on what we are "trying to get done" when the outage strikes. E.g., if SWMBO has settled down to watch a movie, it's annoying not to be able to *finish* that movie. In that case, I'll drag out one of the larger laptops and let her watch it "in her lap" Yep, I have a laptop with extra oversized batteries that I use for similar things. I typically pull it out when the power goes out during the day when I'm home alone. There's nothing else to do, so I'll fire it up and watch a movie or something. Likewise, if you'd made time to read a book, you want to continue reading -- not have to return to it at a later time that's more convenient for the electric company! Book? That's one of those rectangular paper things, right? ![]() We read a lot (in my case, ~500pp every week). We both consider it a "guilty pleasure" as it is a "selfish" act -- totally exclusive of other people. If I'm "writing code", I can quickly copy the file(s) onto a thumb drive and move over to a laptop to continue (none of my systems can stay up for that long even on the larger UPS's -- can you spell "powerhog"?) If I'm writing code, I usually just save what I'm doing and do something else till the power comes back on. My laptop isn't really set up for programming, and the interuption kind of ruins my thought process anyway. All I need is a text editor to write code. I'm not the sort that writes 5 lines and then needs to see (if) it runs. I can write an entire module before ever seeing a compiler or debugger. Depending on what my computer is doing, I can run between 60 and 90 minutes on my UPS (my computer uses less than 60 watts in normal use). Ah, my workstations are big power hogs. I spin 1T on each, have each configured for 4 monitors (though I only use three), a pair of SCSI HBA's in each, etc. I have a separate UPS just to power the monitors... We could probably save a fair bit in our monthly electric bill if I moved to a laptop for most of my work. But, getting all the various I/O devices attached (tablet, motion controller, scanner, etc.) makes that impractical. Also, I've not found a laptop keyboard that I'm happy with... If it's daylight, then, chances are, we're outside or away from home and don't really care about the outage. Around here, it always seems like it's rainy, snowing, or extremely windy when the power goes out. I'm not about to go outside! ![]() As it says in the airport: "360 days of sunshine" I.e., we KNOW when it is NOT sunny! As for "time together", that's already built into our schedules. So, we each know what time we can expect to address our individual wants/needs while still ensuring that we don't become "just roommates". Sex at 7pm, check. ![]() Sorry, I'll be busy. Maybe your wife can take care of that for you?? The "backup" is important as you may want to USE that phone during the outage. E.g., to call to REPORT the outage! : I've called to report an outage twice in the past. Both times they said "we already know". ![]() more likely to use their web site than their phone line anyway. I tend to be awake at hours that most people are asleep. So, the neighborhood will be dark -- save my office light. Also, the way the power feeds this area is wonky. The folks a block from here are on a different feed -- yet still very much part of "our neighborhood". We *welcome* not hearing from people. But, aren't eager to be cut off from our ability to phone others! "Why don't we do our grocery shopping NOW and get it out of the way. Do you think stores X, Y and Z are suffering outages? Would it be a waste of time to drive over? Perhaps call first??" I hate phones and almost never make a call out. We don't get many incoming calls either, and those that do can wait till later. We keep the phone for contact our "providers" (doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc.) and for the few random calls to other vendors (e.g., I ordered replacement rollers for the refrigerator and we'll get a call when they come in). We're several miles from town so they usually always have power when ours is out. Sometimes I do take care of shopping when the power goes out, but it always seems like the power goes out AFTER we have just gone shopping. ![]() Shopping is one of our weekly rituals -- always done as a couple (unless one of us is incapacitated). It lets us plan our menu for the coming week based on what we encounter in the stores ("Hmmm, asparagus looks good! We can do that meal Wednesday...") Our outages tend to be infrequent -- I think in large part due to below grade services. OTOH, we had a distribution transformer kick the bucket in the neighborhood, once. Another time, a fire in a cable vault. But, never "some drunk hit a light pole"... |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Self-testing Telephone Line | UK diy | |||
Switching Land Line Phone Companies | Home Repair | |||
dropped calls from my land line | Electronics Repair | |||
Telephone Line Fault? | UK diy | |||
Telephone Line 1/ 2 | Home Repair |