No dial tone in the new house

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 30, 2006 Posts: 3

I just moved in this new house and when I hooked up my phone and everything, I didn't get a dial tone from the phone jacks in the walls. When I do not connect my phone to the phone jacks in the walls, but only use the phone adapter that Vonage sent me, it works, I have a dial tone and everything is good. The previous owners did not have phone service, only cable TV and Internet. Does anyone know what's going on ? Thanks.

Posts: 10 · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 7:32 am Post subject:

You have to remember that the jacks in the wall are more than likely connected to the terminal block that connects to the telco land line outside of your house. Since you have no phone service from the telco, you would not have a dial tone when connecting to the wall jacks. If you wanted to connect the wall jacks to the Vonage adapter you would need to isolate the house phone wiring from the telco block then connect the Vonage adapter to the wall jack feed. Theoretically, if your wiring was not defective you would be able to connect to any wall jack in the house and be able to use the Vonage line from there.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 30, 2006 Posts: 3

Thank you. Not having known how this works exactly, I have two questions.

1. I was planning on signing up for phone service to get the tone and then cancel the service to lose the tone and so, I was hoping be able then to use Vonage. Based on your reply, that wouldn't solve my problem. I'd be in the same situation....is that correct ?

2. How do I isolate the house phone wiring from the telco block? Can I do it myself? ...or, who does it ?

Regards,
Ionel -

Posts: 10 · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 2:35 pm Post subject:

Hi lonel,

I don't understand what you are trying to do in your question #1, maybe you can clarify your question. What do you need the tone for?

Question # 2: Yes, you can do it yourself. The telco block is usually a grey box on the outside of the house. One side is usually accessible by the customer, and you can disconnect the wires there. On an older house the block may be in the basement or where the phone line enters the house.

Maybe someone with more technical expertise on the Vonage phone adapters can verify if the phone adapter sends enough voltage for the ringer circuit to feed a whole house without excessive voltage drop. I believe the standard ringer voltage is 40+ VAC on a normal telephone line.Just something I thought of after the fact since I have never tried this myself.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:10 pm Post subject:

Guys,

We have a whole forum on this, the Hard Wiring forum. In addition there is a how-to manual Home Wiring and Installation Guide. Answers to all these questions and more can be found.

Enjoy!

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 30, 2006 Posts: 3

Thank you so much everyone. I'll look and see.
In the meantime, have a Happy 4th! Ionel -