using Vonage with pre-existing phone jacks without rewiring?

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 08, 2005 Posts: 3

Hey all.

I plan on ordering Vonage in the next week or so and I had one more question I wasn't able to get answered by the Vonage salesman so hopefully this forum will be of some help.

First, I've searched the forums and haven't been able to find anything and it's probably my mistake. When I asked the Vonage rep if there was a way that I would be able to use all of my phone jacks he said there was a converter I could purchase at Best Buy for about $80 and he never told me the name or the model # etc. Any of you have a clue what this guy's talking about? The only way that I'll get Vonage is if I can use all the phones that I've already got, I don't want to be stuck with one wired to the Vonage box.
Just like to note that I've also read a little bit about rewiring the phone box for the service, but that'll be impossible where I'm at.

Thanks a lot for any help/recommendations.

Posts: 646 · Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:27 am Post subject:

If you want to connect all your existing phone jacks to the Vonage device, then you'll have to disconnect those lines from the telco at the interface box outside. Since you say you can't do that, you won't be able to use your existing phone jacks.

The are two other choices that I can think of:

1. Use cordless phones plugged into the Vonage box. (If you've got a wireless network, avoid 2.4GHz phones; use 900MHz or 5.8GHz.)

2. Use wireless phone jack extenders. This is probably what the tech was talking about. It basically turns a normal phone into a fixed cordless phone.

Here's an example of a wireless phone jack system, but they're probably cheaper elsewhere.

Posts: 176 · Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 10:03 am Post subject:

You don't have to totally rewire the Telco box, just remove the POTS line from coming in. You can't cut the wire loose? Then you could use your existing wiring.

Posts: 77 · Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:

Take you time and have a look to complete documentation on How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home at Resources for Michigan Telephone Users.

Abstracts
One obstacle to replacing traditional phone service with Voice over IP is that for your existing home phone jacks to work, it's necessary to make a change to your inside telephone wiring.

Fortunately, this change is very easy to make. In some cases it's as simple as removing a plug from a jack. Still, a basic understanding of how telephone wiring works is useful before attempting to make such a switch.
...
If your intent is to totally disconnect from your local phone company, you need to isolate your inside wiring from the lines feeding your home, that come from the telephone company central office. You need to do this even if the line seems to be dead, because at some point the phone company could place voltage across that line for one reason or another, and that could damage your equipment, and even possibly start a fire! So here is how to isolate your inside wiring from the telephone company's lines.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 08, 2005 Posts: 3

I've decided to go ahead and just get a new 5.2 GHz Uniden phone with a base that's hooked up to my Vonage router. Pretty damn cool since you don't have to plug the other expandable units into a phone jack, just a power cord. Exactly what I'm looking for and found one for under $60 on eBay.

Posts: 34 · Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:12 pm Post subject:

varg wrote:

I've decided to go ahead and just get a new 5.2 GHz Uniden phone with a base that's hooked up to my Vonage router. Pretty damn cool since you don't have to plug the other expandable units into a phone jack, just a power cord. Exactly what I'm looking for and found one for under $60 on eBay.

If you mean a 5.8 GHz Uniden phone, you will be very satisifed. I love mine (1 phone line to my jack, 2 base stations and 2 handsets).

Very Happy

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 08, 2005 Posts: 3

yep, was up all night and made a typo Twisted Evil

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 12, 2004 Posts: 22

Which model are you talking about? I too am interested in getting a good Uniden 5.8 GHz that works real well, especially for sound clarity. Thank you.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:56 am Post subject:

go to uniden.com and check out their TRU series. I've seen a lot of people very satisfied with them (myself included).
http://vonage-forum.com/ftopic2344.html

Posts: 34 · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:49 pm Post subject: Re: Uniden 5.8 GHz

Maurice2 wrote:

Which model are you talking about? I too am interested in getting a good Uniden 5.8 GHz that works real well, especially for sound clarity. Thank you.

I gotta agree with reebok... mine is the Uniden TRU5860-2 and I just love it. http://www.uniden.com/product.cfm?product=TRU5860-2&page=2