Cable Modem, Router, and Phone Line Hook Up Questions

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 2

I did try that but when I use a Y adapter the phone in my office has a strange faint ring and the other phones in the house don't ring at all.

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

I gather that the phone rings correctly when it's plugged directly into the Vonage adapter and house wiring isn't involved?

Assuming the answer is yes, you have two issues. First is the strange ring and the second is the fact that the other phones don't ring at all. You need to work the first one first. What adapter do you have and what firmware is it running? I ask because the RTP300 adapters had problems like this is the early days until the firmware was improved. Other adapters may have similar issues. You need to be absolutely, positively sure that the external POTS line is disconnected. Once you're sure of that, give customer service a call and see if they can adjust the ring voltage on your adapter.

On the second issue, I think Booma misunderstood when you said that the phones where on different lines. It may well be that both lines are wired to both jacks but were "crossed" so that line 1 in one jack is line 2 in the other. If so, you can solve the problem with a special splitter like the one pictured here . This type of splitter allows you to access either line in a standard jack with an ordinary single line phone. Similar products are available in a variety of places; the key identifier is that one of the ports is labelled L1, one is labelled L2, and the third is unlabelled or labelled L1+L2. That's the port that plugs into the wall. Use this for the jack that currently isn't working at all and plug your phone into line 2. Keep the other wiring as indicated by Booma.

If that doesn't work, then you can go to the box outside and make very very sure that both landlines are disconnected. Then run a short piece of wire from the terminal in the top box with the solid color wire to the terminal in the bottom box with the solid color wire. Run a second piece of wire between the top and bottom terminals with the white-stripe wires on them. (If your wiring uses the old color scheme, you'll run red to red, green to green or red to yellow, green to black depending on what wires are there.)