Using phone wiring

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2005 Posts: 8

Hello all,
In my previous apartment, I was able to use all the extensions in my apartment by connecting a modular cable from LINE 1 on my Motorola VT1005 to a two-line splitter (the cheap kind you get at Radio Shack) and then that splitter into the nearest phone jack. All jacks thus had dialtone. In my new house, I did the same and get no dialtone. Any ideas?

Posts: 66 · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:01 am Post subject:

You need to make sure you IW (inside apt. wiring) is isolated from the telco facilities(outside telephone company infrastructure) for two important reasons: A: even though there may be no dial tone from the Phone co. on a jack doesn't necessarily mean there isn't hazardous voltage(ie. 48VDC Pair Gain) present to ruin your Voip adapter and B:even if there is no voltage present you could still be connecting your IW and adapter to thousands of feet of telco facilities and induce whatever noise problems exist outside your apt ie..hum from a ground or cross or no dial tone at all due to a short outside. Most older apt buildings do not have a demarc point (official place in the apt itself to isolate your own IW from the telco's)Some newer apt buildings have an obvious box inside a bedroom closet usually or a storage closet.Then, on top of that even if your IW is isolated you could still have preexisting trouble on the IW itself,ie shorts or opens..and your Vonage still wouldn't work. I would have to agree with Vonage's stance to go completely wireless as far as apartments go. I've only had one cup of coffee this morning..so forgive if I elaborated too much..Louis Cool

Posts: 66 · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:04 am Post subject:

Like, I said I had only one cup of coffee.. I'm sorry.. you said house not apartment. In that case, see if you have a telephone box on the side of the house to isolate your IW..Let me know if it worked then, we'll go from there. Louis

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2005 Posts: 8

Hi there again. I'm revisiting this old topic because my situation has changed somewhat. I am now in *another* house (and will take your earlier advice into consideration once again) -- but now I have an added wrinkle.

I am having an alarm system installed (ADT, Brinks, &c.) and it of course will need an alam circuit. So would they have to maybe wire a separate circuit that bypasses the internal wiring and goes out to the NID? What is the cleanest way to do this? Obviously due to the fact that Voip still doesn't have the reliability of POTS, I would want something as vital as an alarm system to use POTS. Smile

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

You're right to consider this issue. The first thing you need to do is to ask whether their system will work with Vonage. Some do and some don't, so you can't just take it for granted.

You're also right about the alarm circuit. What's normally done is that special wiring brings the telephone line to the alarm unit. During normal operation the alarm unit loops it back to a circuit that connects to the house wiring. During an alarm, the alarm unit preempts the line and disables the loopback. This is described in the sticky at the top of the Fax, Tivo, Alarm forum. In modern house wiring, a main panel for telephone services often includes a special plug to accommodate this function. In less sophisticated setups the special alarm wiring may go directly to the phone company's NID with the proper connections being made there.

One way to handle all of this with a new setup like yours, would be to locate the Vonage unit with the alarm unit, if that's possible. Then the Vonage connection could be run to the alarm panel and a connection to the house wiring could be made from there.