Dial-tone works for a while, then nothing

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 13, 2006 Posts: 7

Let me apologize in advance if this is a well-known issue.

I am trying to help someone I know set up Vonage so that it works through their entire house. They have a cable modem going into a Linksys BEFSR41 router, which goes into the LinkSys RTP300 Vonage provided. They tried plugging a line from "Phone 1" into the wall jack, which seems to work for about 10 minutes, after which the dial-tone disappears.

They have NOT properly disconnected themselves from the PSTN. I have found a demark point above some ceiling tiles (this is a townhouse) and I am thinking of pulling the tip/ring pairs. Is this what's most likely causing the problem? Or, is this another issue altogether?

Thanks in advance!

Posts: 1125 · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:57 pm Post subject:

I'd say you better stop everything now and disconnect from the telco. As soon as some voltage comes down that line, you're probably gonna have a nice blue plastic paperweight. Most likely, that is causing the issue, but do it now, or a fried adapter awaits.

Posts: 1125 · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject:

Also, try to find the "main" line into the townhouse. It's usually the kitchen outlet. You'll find that most places connect the NIU outside to the kitchen outlet, then wire the townhouse from that one. IT sure beats the hell out of messing around outside, where the chance of screwing up lots of neighbors phones exist.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 13, 2006 Posts: 7

navydavy2001 wrote:

Also, try to find the "main" line into the townhouse. It's usually the kitchen outlet. You'll find that most places connect the NIU outside to the kitchen outlet, then wire the townhouse from that one. IT sure beats the hell out of messing around outside, where the chance of screwing up lots of neighbors phones exist.

Thanks for your response -- don't worry, currently, the router is plugged into a single phone.

As far as unplugging from the PSTN: we found what looks like the demark point above ceiling tiles in our basement. I am pretty sure this is for our house only. Is this not the right place to disconnect?

Posts: 1125 · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:09 pm Post subject:

Well, heck, if it's in YOUR basement, and not a public or shared space, I'd say go for it.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 13, 2006 Posts: 7

I am about to pull the wires, which will hopefully fix this problem. I haven't had time to look at it in detail (it's in a hard to see, akward spot), but I did spot green, red and yellow wires. I also saw what looked like an orange wire twisted over a white, and perhaps others -- I am guessing these are of no consequence in this situation?

Sorry for the dumb questions, I need to brush up on phone wiring.

Edit: Fixed a mistake -- orange and white, not orange and yellow. I think a second line was put in a few years ago, but the original wiring is from the 70s. It's really hard to see (I'll try to look closer), but perhaps we have red/green quad wiring for line 1, and orange/white cat3 wiring for line 2?

Posts: 1125 · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:38 pm Post subject:

This one is best answered by Mr Steve. Very Happy

Steve whaddya think?

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

Hard to say. The most important thing is to remember how things are before you start, so you can get back to where you were if things go wrong. The second thing is to try to indentify the land line(s) coming into the house. Disconnect those and leave everything else the same.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 13, 2006 Posts: 7

Steve48 wrote:

Hard to say. The most important thing is to remember how things are before you start, so you can get back to where you were if things go wrong. The second thing is to try to indentify the land line(s) coming into the house. Disconnect those and leave everything else the same.

Here is what I see -- I'll try to get a picture tomorrow if needed.

There is a shielded cable coming into the house. Out of it, there is green, red, yellow and black wires. (And maybe a white, perhaps ground.) Looks like typical quad wiring. The red and green are connected. Yellow and black are not.

There is another shielded wire coming in. This has a LOT of twisted pair connections, many of which are not connected at all. However, a blue/white and an orange/white ARE connected, as well. This house had two lines; the second line was installed recently.

Is this common? Why so many wires? I want to say I spotted more; I think there might have been another blue/white pair connecting something on the demarc point itself. (I can't see that side too well.)

Should I just pull the blue/white, orange/white, red and green?

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

twistah wrote:

There is a shielded cable coming into the house. Out of it, there is green, red, yellow and black wires. (And maybe a white, perhaps ground.) Looks like typical quad wiring. The red and green are connected. Yellow and black are not.

There is another shielded wire coming in. This has a LOT of twisted pair connections, many of which are not connected at all. However, a blue/white and an orange/white ARE connected, as well. This house had two lines; the second line was installed recently.

Is this common? Why so many wires? I want to say I spotted more; I think there might have been another blue/white pair connecting something on the demarc point itself. (I can't see that side too well.)

Should I just pull the blue/white, orange/white, red and green?

I wouldn't until we understand better. What is connnected to what? Can you identify what wiring goes from the demark to the house jacks, and what wiring goes to the outside world? How many house jacks are there? If you pull the covers from them, what color wires are there on the cables coming into them?