OK to house wire with existing other business telco lines?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 28, 2006 Posts: 4

Hi-Newbie to Vonage. Husband has home office with phone/fax lines. Want to install vonage (one line for residential only-keep existing office lines with telco.) via house wiring. Is this possible? Are there likely to be conflicts? What are potential problems?

Located in Maryland with Verizon phone.
Connection is Adelphia Cable: broadband 100mbps
cable>linksys BEFCMU10>Motorola VT2142-VD

Thanks for help. Trying to avoid any disasters....

G

Posts: 253 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 23, 2006 Posts: 253

any types of house wiring is possible.
just makes sure that you installed them in the right pattern and make really sure that the cables are still good.

additional infos>
instructions in how to install existing house wiring with vonage

Do-It-Yourself Home Wiring Guide

One way to use Vonage on multiple phones is to modify the existing telephone wiring in your home to distribute the Vonage service to all of your phone jacks. Then you can plug a regular telephone into any jack and make a call.

This option works best if you own your own single-family home. If you live in an apartment or a multiple-family dwelling, chances are your landlord and neighbors will not want you to alter your building's telephone lines. It is not very difficult to modify your home phone wiring, but it helps if you are handy around the house and have a basic understanding of telephone wiring. IMPORTANT: Because you are dealing with lines that carry voltage, there's always a risk of causing a fire or damage to your phone lines and equipment. If you are not comfortable doing the work yourself, you should hire a professional electrician or telephone technician to do the job instead.

It is important to understand that by modifying your telephone wiring to distribute Vonage throughout your home, you will be totally disconnecting yourself from the phone company. But the process is completely reversible. So if you sell your house in the future, for example, you can restore your old phone configuration with minimal difficulty. Note: If you plan to transfer your phone number to Vonage, you must wait for that process to complete before you begin rewiring your house.

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP ONE - ISOLATE YOUR INSIDE WIRING

To re-wire your home for Vonage, you first need to isolate your inside phone wiring from the lines that come into your house from the phone company. This is a step you shouldn't skip, even if you think your phone line is already dead. If you don't isolate your inside wiring, and the phone company decides to send voltage across the line you thought was dead, it could damage the telephone equipment inside your house or worse, cause a fire.
To begin, find the box on the outside of your house where the telephone lines come into your house from the street. This is called the Network Interface Unit (NIU). It's the legal demarcation point where the outside wiring from the street (owned by the telephone company) meets the wiring inside your house (owned by you). When you open the box, which is usually locked or fastened with a screw, you will have access to the side containing the wires going into your home, but not the side with the lines coming from the street. You'll also see a ground wire coming out of the phone company's side of the box. This wire protects you against lightning strikes, so make sure you never disconnect it.
Once you've opened your side of the NIU, you'll see one or more sets of screw terminals inside. Each will have a short piece of telephone wire coming out of it with a phone connector on the end plugged into a corresponding jack. If there's only one line coming into your house, you'll most likely have only one set of screw terminals. To disconnect from the phone company, simply unplug each of the short telephone wires from its corresponding jack.
Next, you need to make it obvious to others that you've unplugged the wires on purpose and they shouldn't undo your modifications without risking damage to your inside equipment. Start by wrapping the end of each of the telephone wires you just unplugged with electrical tape so it can't be plugged back in without unwrapping the tape. Then, clearly label the inside of the box with a message that says something like: "Do not reconnect! May cause damage to inside equipment!" A sign written or printed in waterproof ink and taped inside the box works well. No matter how you choose to label the box, be sure it is obvious, clear, and easy to read.
Once you've clearly labeled the inside of the NIU, close and refasten the box. Then, just to be safe, label the outside of the box as well. To be extra safe, you can also wrap a cord or nylon tie-wrap around the box so it can't be opened without cutting it. Remember, to avoid damage, you want to make it as inconvenient as possible for someone to change what you've done without your knowledge.

STEP TWO - CONFIRM THE LINE IS DISCONNECTED

After you've isolated your wiring from the phone company's, it's important to confirm the line is disconnected before installing Vonage.
Go back into your house and pick up a phone plugged into a jack that previously worked. You should hear absolutely nothing; the line should be totally dead. If the line's not dead, go back and check your work. If your work looks correct and the line's still not dead, it means that voltage is somehow still being carried on the line and it's not safe for you to proceed any further. Consult a professional electrician or telephone technician for help.

STEP THREE - CONNECT YOUR PHONE ADAPTER

If you've successfully isolated your wiring and you've confirmed the line is dead, the hard part's over. It's time to connect to Vonage!
Simply plug your DSL/cable modem into the Vonage phone adapter. Then plug your phone adapter into any telephone jack using a standard telephone cord. Finally, plug regular phones into the other jacks in your house. Telephone jacks are wired in parallel, so when you plug your phone adapter into any working jack, it will spread the signal to the other jacks in your home.
Like any telephone line, there is a limit to the number of phones you can connect to a single Vonage line. If too many phones are connected, the signal will fade, and not all of the phones will ring when a call comes in. Therefore, we recommend you only connect five phones maximum to a single Vonage line.

Congratulations! Your home is now wired with Vonage!

Posts: 135 · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:01 pm Post subject:

if youre going to connect the vonage line to your home wiring you have to make sure that there is no active line on your wall jacks,
well it seems you want to connect the vonage line and telco lin at the same time right?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 28, 2006 Posts: 4

Understand all the install info, but want to make sure it is OK to have existing phone lines non vonage (x 2) within the same house wiring as the vonage? That means I would only disconnect the one phone line from the NIU (network interface unit) and leave the 2 remaining lines intact. Is this OK?

Posts: 135 · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:15 pm Post subject:

well if that is the case your request is impossible, its like this, the home wiring is like a pipe line and your vonage device will be the main source of your water and the phones are the faucet, now if you will have another source for your water( which is telco) there will be a conflict in the pipeline(home wiring) so if you will hook up the vonage line to the home wiring you must make sure that the only source is the vonage line and no other lines is present on your home wiring system

Posts: 253 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 23, 2006 Posts: 253

laxldy wrote:

Understand all the install info, but want to make sure it is OK to have existing phone lines non vonage (x 2) within the same house wiring as the vonage? That means I would only disconnect the one phone line from the NIU (network interface unit) and leave the 2 remaining lines intact. Is this OK?

mmmmmmmmmm????
even though that this one was installed by telco,it will still
work. just make sure that you unplugged it on their system.

just check this one

just think these are you wirings
p1,p2,p3 are phone lines

Telco Box(device)
^
^
Main jack - - - - - - - - P1
I \
I \
I \
I \
I \
P3 P4

Internet modem
^
^
vonage - - ->computer
^
^
Main jack - - - - - - - - P1
I \
I \
I \
I \
I \
P3 P4

see the difference???
only the main box was replaced, right???

Posts: 135 · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:48 pm Post subject:

dheiy what he./ she is trying to figure out is that he/she has one home wiring system, 2 lines (vonage and telco) and both of that lines could work at the same time

well that will work but that is not the situation of laxldy

Posts: 2257

laxldy wrote:

Understand all the install info, but want to make sure it is OK to have existing phone lines non vonage (x 2) within the same house wiring as the vonage? That means I would only disconnect the one phone line from the NIU (network interface unit) and leave the 2 remaining lines intact. Is this OK?

Usually, houses have two pairs of wires (4 wires in total). One pair of wires would run each telephone line. "Line 1" on most standard phone jacks is hooked to the red and green wires. "Line 2" generally occupies the black and yellow wires. But if you previously had three phone lines in your house, then you would obviously be wired for at least three.

So...

If you are saying that your house has more than two pairs of copper (is wired for three lines, of which two are currently in use), then, YES, by all means you can use any pair of wires NOT currently being used by any other phone line to run your Vonage line. See the longer post above for more detailed instructions.

If your house has two pairs of copper and both are currently in use by your hubby's phone and FAX lines, then NO, you cannot use a Vonage line in your wiring. All the wires are currently in use, and two telephone lines (Vonage or otherwise) cannot ever coexist on the same pair of copper lines (except for specialized cases like ISDN).

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 28, 2006 Posts: 4

Sorry, need to clarify. We have 3 lines currently in use: #1 for residential (which I'd like to convert to vonage use) and #2 and #3 for business phone and fax. Do not wish to convert #2 and #3 lines to vonage at this time. Can I just disconnect #1 phone line from the NIU and leave #2 and #3 still hooked to telco? I've read it needs to be a closed system, so I want to make sure this is possible.

Thanks,

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:56 pm Post subject:

laxldy wrote:

Sorry, need to clarify. We have 3 lines currently in use: #1 for residential (which I'd like to convert to vonage use) and #2 and #3 for business phone and fax. Do not wish to convert #2 and #3 lines to vonage at this time. Can I just disconnect #1 phone line from the NIU and leave #2 and #3 still hooked to telco? I've read it needs to be a closed system, so I want to make sure this is possible.

Thanks,

That's what I thought you meant, wanted to be absolutely sure (since getting it wrong means frying equipment in a very warranty-voiding way - LOL).

Yes, disconnecting line #1 and using the two wires currently connected to #1 should work fine.

A Vonage line won't have the slightest issue with other phone lines occupying other wires nearby, as long as it has two dedicated copper wires for itself. The two specific wires that carry the Vonage line are the only parts of the system that need to be "closed" (ie. not getting voltage from anything else).

So as long as you pull the Telco NIU for #1, then test the wires you want to use to make sure you pulled the right one, it should work perfectly fine.