Need 1 Vonage Line and 1 AT&T Line - Will this work?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 08, 2009 Posts: 1

I am thinking of signing up for Vonage for my home line. I also have a business line that my company pays for through AT&T. They won't change.

My question is can I get one Vonage line and keep the AT&T line? What do I have to do?

Also, the sales person at Vonage told me that I can connect the line going out from the Vonage adapter to any open jack and that I will be able to connect wired phones throughout the house and use them with Vonage. Is this true? If so, can I do that and still have the 2nd AT&T line with no issues?

Jeff

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

Yes you can, as I have a Cincinnati Bell Line for Business and a Vonage line for home.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING when using your house wiring is MAKE SURE the wires that are connected to your Vonage ATA (the Vonage Deivce) are TOTALLY disconnected from any incoming phone wires (from the phone company). Voltages that MAY be present WILL damage our Vonage ATA.

If using the second pair of wires that are already wired in the phone jacks, you will need a Two Line Adapter for the phone that uses the Black and Yellow pair in your house phone cable (if your house has a 2 pair cable) - otherwise check the phone company's box and a jack in the house to see how it is wired - These adapters give you separate jacks for two lines. the third position has both lines wired for a two line telephone (see below)

Then simply use one of these splitters to plug your Vonage ATA device in to (I am assuming the 2nd line) which will energize the 2nd line throughout the house. (NOTE: I would tape over the other line connections at the Vonage ATA location to eliminate errors of plugging in to the wrong connection in the future.) Then use a splitter at each Vonage phone location.

The other option is to use the primary (1st line) for the Vonage connection and make sure AT&T wires to the 2nd line and use a splitter at those AT&T phone locations. But it sounds as though AT&T already has the primary (1st line) wires. You could change those yourself, or use Vonage as above on the 2nd pair of wires.

One extra hint. It is best to use a 2 wire phone cable from your Vonage ATA to the house wiring to add extra safety in not putting any voltage in to your Vonage ATA. You can identify a 2 wire vs a 4 wire cable at the clear connector plug.

Also, check out the do it yourself guide at http://www.vonage.com/support.php?article=649&category=3

For house cables that use more than 2 pair of wires, see http://www.homephonewiring.com/clr-code.html

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 09, 2009 Posts: 3

ed56 wrote:

Yes you can, as I have a Cincinnati Bell Line for Business and a Vonage line for home.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING when using your house wiring is MAKE SURE the wires that are connected to your Vonage ATA (the Vonage Deivce) are TOTALLY disconnected from any incoming phone wires (from the phone company). Voltages that MAY be present WILL damage our Vonage ATA.

If using the second pair of wires that are already wired in the phone jacks, you will need a Two Line Adapter for the phone that uses the Black and Yellow pair in your house phone cable (if your house has a 2 pair cable) - otherwise check the phone company's box and a jack in the house to see how it is wired - These adapters give you separate jacks for two lines. the third position has both lines wired for a two line telephone (see below)

Then simply use one of these splitters to plug your Vonage ATA device in to (I am assuming the 2nd line) which will energize the 2nd line throughout the house. (NOTE: I would tape over the other line connections at the Vonage ATA location to eliminate errors of plugging in to the wrong connection in the future.) Then use a splitter at each Vonage phone location.

The other option is to use the primary (1st line) for the Vonage connection and make sure AT&T wires to the 2nd line and use a splitter at those AT&T phone locations. But it sounds as though AT&T already has the primary (1st line) wires. You could change those yourself, or use Vonage as above on the 2nd pair of wires.

One extra hint. It is best to use a 2 wire phone cable from your Vonage ATA to the house wiring to add extra safety in not putting any voltage in to your Vonage ATA. You can identify a 2 wire vs a 4 wire cable at the clear connector plug.

Also, check out the do it yourself guide at http://www.vonage.com/support.php?article=649&category=3

For house cables that use more than 2 pair of wires, see http://www.homephonewiring.com/clr-code.html

I live in eastern Pennsylvania, I currently have two Verizon landlines. I'm seriously considering switching the second line to Vonage, specifically for the unlimited long distance.

Your post above specifies that introducing a landline voltage into the Vonage adapter will damage it. I have several old style two-line hard-wired business-type phones that I occasionally use to conference calls between my two phone lines. Will this work with Vonage, or if I hit the conference button will it kill the Vonage adapter?

This feature is important to me. If I can't conference a Vonage line and a landline, it will most likely mean that I will not order Vonage.

Thank you very much.

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

I have done so with a similar two line phone (Cin Bell and Vonage), but for a definitive answer, would someone else with more expertise answer this?

Posts: 183 · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:12 am Post subject:

It depends on your setup. If you have a multi-line phone that each line connects to the back of the phone, you should be able to conference like normal. If you're using a jack that does a line-1 line-2 split, I doubt that would work.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 09, 2009 Posts: 3

ksig wrote:

It depends on your setup. If you have a multi-line phone that each line connects to the back of the phone, you should be able to conference like normal. If you're using a jack that does a line-1 line-2 split, I doubt that would work.

I have two-line office phones with two input jacks:
one is line 1 PLUS line 2, standard 4-wire telephone connection;
one is line 2 by itself.

I am currently using the standard 4-wire telephone connection from the wall. My idea is to disconnect line 2 from the outside world at the exterior Verizon junction box, and connect the Vonage adapter into a wall jack that I've already rewired for line 2 only; this should make Vonage available as line 2 to all of my home phones. Wired that way, on any standard 4-wire telephone connection, Verizon should be line 1, and Vonage line 2. The conference feature simply connects the two lines inside the phone, which is what prompted my original question.

Am I going in the right direction, or are my ideas all wet? Thank you very much in advance for any constructive feedback.

Posts: 227 · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:27 pm Post subject:

Your two-line phone should be designed to provide AC coupling between the two lines in conference mode, but not DC connectivity. Connecting two telco lines directly to each other is not good design, and connecting a telco line directly to a Vonage adapter is likely to damage the adapter. Are you sure that your phone makes a direct connection between its two lines? That is not typical of these devices.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 09, 2009 Posts: 3

DLevenson wrote:

Your two-line phone should be designed to provide AC coupling between the two lines in conference mode, but not DC connectivity. Connecting two telco lines directly to each other is not good design, and connecting a telco line directly to a Vonage adapter is likely to damage the adapter. Are you sure that your phone makes a direct connection between its two lines? That is not typical of these devices.

No, I'm not sure. I'm not familiar with the internal workings of these telephones.

I have an AT&T/Lucent 952, and an older version of the same phone, an AT&T 732. These two-line wired business phones have been solid and reliable.

I wasn't aware that AC coupling is typically used to conference two phone lines, instead of a direct connection. Since these phones were originally an AT&T design, I would suspect that they comply with industry standards.

Thank you very much for your feedback.

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

DLevenson wrote:

Your two-line phone should be designed to provide AC coupling between the two lines in conference mode, but not DC connectivity. Connecting two telco lines directly to each other is not good design, and connecting a telco line directly to a Vonage adapter is likely to damage the adapter. Are you sure that your phone makes a direct connection between its two lines? That is not typical of these devices.

Ok, I bit and had to look up AC coupling:

"Circuit that passes an AC signal while blocking a DC voltage." Seems to be tyically done with capacitors in series.

I would think that all two line phones would employ this.