Vonage and Phone Communication Systems

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2004 Posts: 1

ive been trying to figure this out for a while. i would like to get Vonage soon, but i have a panasonic home/small business phone system in my home. i wanted to know if the Vonage box could hook up to my existing phone network, if you will, or do i have to replace the network, or not use it at all? any ideas or feedback would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 26, 2004 Posts: 4

Here is what happens.

You get a black box from Vonage, it's called an ATA. This connects to your broad band router, it also has a phone port that you can either plug a telephone into or patch into the existing phone wiring in your home. I've got 2 ATA's, one for business and one for home use. On the home side I have it going into an expandable phone system, works pretty well. On the business side I've patched it into the home phone wiring and just plug it into a wall jack in the basement - works well also. You have to physically sever the exiting phone wiring from the phone company because the low voltage in the system damages the ATA. Mine comes in the basement and I just cut it, make sure you mark it however in case you want to go back.

If you go into a wireless phone system try to get one that does not compete with any wifi system you have. They both operate at 2.4ghz (B&G wifi systems), lacking that set your router to channel 11.

I'm not sure why this is but I've noticed that different phones give you wildly different quality. I've got a small 900mhz panasonic that by itself is a nice little phone, plug it into the ATA and it's bad. So if you don't get the quality you want try a different phone.