Two phones on the same call?

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 25, 2008 Posts: 5

This might be a really dumb question, but on my old landline. One person could be on the phone downstairs and I could be on another phone upstairs both participating on the same phone call, anyone could just pick up aany phone in the house and join the conversation. I can't seem to do this with Vonage. Is this just the way it is with Voip? or have I configured something incorrectly?

Posts: 656 · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:02 am Post subject:

The question is how does your phone connect to the Vonage telephone adapter? If you only have 1 phone plugged into the telephone adapter then only that 1 phone is operating through the Vonage service.

Do you still have a line from the local telephone company at your house?

Your options to add more phones would vary depending upon cost and technical ability.

1) disconnect the demarcation point and plug the Vonage telephone adapter into a telephone jack in the wall which then outputs signal to all the other phones in the house.

2) buy a cordless phone system that has a base unit with multiple cordless phones.

3) buy wireless phone jacks.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 25, 2008 Posts: 5

VonTechMgr wrote:

The question is how does your phone connect to the Vonage telephone adapter? If you only have 1 phone plugged into the telephone adapter then only that 1 phone is operating through the Vonage service.

Do you still have a line from the local telephone company at your house?

Your options to add more phones would vary depending upon cost and technical ability.

1) disconnect the demarcation point and plug the Vonage telephone adapter into a telephone jack in the wall which then outputs signal to all the other phones in the house.

2) buy a cordless phone system that has a base unit with multiple cordless phones.

3) buy wireless phone jacks.

I have cancelled the landline service so the jacks are free. I connected my Vonage adapter directly into the landline port and the signal went to my other jacks upstairs, gaining the desired effect. Thanks.

This works with the two old corded phones I have lying around and is a good temporary workaround. However, my Uniden cordless system which consists of 3 phones with a single base unit does not seem to share the calls, perhaps this is a limitation of this particular cordless system as I have owned it for quite a few years. My goal would be to allow multiple people in different rooms to participate on the same call while ditching the corded phones. Perhaps it may be time for a new set of cordless phones. Thanks for your help.

Posts: 355 · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:55 am Post subject:

Quote:

However, my Uniden cordless system which consists of 3 phones with a single base unit does not seem to share the calls, perhaps this is a limitation of this particular cordless system as I have owned it for quite a few years. My goal would be to allow multiple people in different rooms to participate on the same call while ditching the corded phones. Perhaps it may be time for a new set of cordless phones. Thanks for your help.

It really depends on the cordless system. Some systems will not allow another phone on the line while one is talking (privacy issues). You will have to check to see if it allows more than one phone to talk at a time.

Posts: 656 · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:46 am Post subject:

Did you just plug the Vonage adapter directly into the jack without disconnecting the wires at your Dmarc? Just because you no longer have service with your local phone company does not mean that there isn't voltage in the wiring. While the wires in the Dmarc still connect to those at the pole, this leaves low voltage on the line. Enough so that even without dial tone, you could still connect up a phone and dial 911.

If this voltage is present, it will damage the Vonage adapter phone ports over time. Please make sure that the wiring coming into the Dmarc has been properly disconnected in order to prevent you from having service issues and a defective device.

As for the Uniden phones, just as kdf55 said, this could be a limitation to the phone or it could be a setting in the base unit. I have a few years older model Uniden 5.8ghz base unit with 3 handsets and I can go from phone to phone during a call. The model is the TRU8865-2 with an additional TCX800 handset. I went through my menu options on the base unit and handsets and there isn't any setting for something like this.

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

my Vtech phones won't let me listen in on a conversation or pick up once the phone has been answered.

Posts: 656 · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject:

That does make sense as security feature however I would think that phones that restrict calls to one phone have a setting to disable this. If the base unit treats each phone as a separate extension once answered, there should be a feature that disables extension isolation. For example, if the battery in one phone is about to die during mid conversation, there has to be a way to pick the call up on another phone.

Update: After just doing quick research it seems many phones were made this way and the people who own them are very disappointed that they are unable to use more then one handset at a time. The only thing that can be done is transfer the call from one handset to another on some models.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 25, 2008 Posts: 5

VonTechMgr wrote:

Did you just plug the Vonage adapter directly into the jack without disconnecting the wires at your Dmarc? Just because you no longer have service with your local phone company does not mean that there isn't voltage in the wiring. While the wires in the Dmarc still connect to those at the pole, this leaves low voltage on the line. Enough so that even without dial tone, you could still connect up a phone and dial 911.

If this voltage is present, it will damage the Vonage adapter phone ports over time. Please make sure that the wiring coming into the Dmarc has been properly disconnected in order to prevent you from having service issues and a defective device.

As for the Uniden phones, just as kdf55 said, this could be a limitation to the phone or it could be a setting in the base unit. I have a few years older model Uniden 5.8ghz base unit with 3 handsets and I can go from phone to phone during a call. The model is the TRU8865-2 with an additional TCX800 handset. I went through my menu options on the base unit and handsets and there isn't any setting for something like this.

Oops, I did just that. I guess I need to do some homework before I go this route as I certainly don't want to damage the new equipment. I will start doing a few searches here, so I don't fill this thread with questions that have been answered a thousand times but is the DMARC disconnect something I should attempt on my own? or Would it be better left for the telco? I think I am going to go out and buy a new set of DECT cordless phones as I have heard they don't interfere with the WI-FI signals I have all over my home. I have 4 wireless routers so I can get WI-FI over my entire property. Honestly, I got alot of bad reviews of Vonage from friends, but I see nothing wrong with the service. For the limited usage that my home phone sees, this is the best deal ever.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 25, 2008 Posts: 5

VonTechMgr wrote:

That does make sense as security feature however I would think that phones that restrict calls to one phone have a setting to disable this. If the base unit treats each phone as a separate extension once answered, there should be a feature that disables extension isolation. For example, if the battery in one phone is about to die during mid conversation, there has to be a way to pick the call up on another phone.

Update: After just doing quick research it seems many phones were made this way and the people who own them are very disappointed that they are unable to use more then one handset at a time. The only thing that can be done is transfer the call from one handset to another on some models.

I guess I am one of those unlucky ones, but phones are fairly cheap these days and hopefully the new spectrum will not interfere with my wi-fi setup. With the money I am saving over the old landline, I will have paid for the new phones in about 2 months. I'll just make sure that the phones work the way tha I want them to. Do you know of any 3 or 4 handset models, that will allow me to share a call? I doubt the sales rep will know anything about it.

Posts: 656 · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject:

I was actually looking into getting new DECT 6.0 phones so I just took a look for you. It seems the new phones will allow only 2 handsets to be on a call at the same time. I looked over the user manuals and they say that when the first phone is on the call, the second phone just needs to hit the flash or speakerphone button to join the call. So it might not be what your looking for if you would like to have more then 2 handsets on a call simultaneously.

http://www.vtechphones.com/vtechui/store/dsp_products_list.cfm?parent=23560

Pull up a user manual and search for Conference under Telephone Operation.

The Panasonic phones can conference in up to 2 handsets as well. I have looked at some of these models because they also offer call blocking of numbers you don't want calling you and talking caller ID.

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Phones-Fax/Telephones/DECT-6-0-Phones.list.75070_11002_7000000000000005702

The Uniden phones I looked at also say they can conference in up to 2 handsets with an external caller.

http://www.uniden.com/products/productlisting.cfm?cat=Cordless%20Phones%20DECT%206.0

So you will have to shop around and read through the user manuals to find the features you really want.