Yet another REN question

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2005 Posts: 8

I'm a new Vonage customer and quite happy.
I have more than the normal number id phones, caller id boxes, etc, about 8 total.
So obviously, I have trouble with them all ringing.
I understand about REN and I don't think there's anything wrong with Vonage's REN of 5.

Anybody know any ways around this? (I know aout getting new mutiple handset phones)

The phones jacks in my house are "star" like. I know in most houses the phones wiring goes from one room back out to the next room, etc in a long string.

Mine goes from the adapter to a patch panel. The each room goes out from there in a star configuration.
Does that make a difference in the amount of phones I can ring?

Does a "Radio Shack" type place sell any device the amplifies the REN?

I heard Vonage can up the REN voltage on the adapter. Is that true?

Thanks a lot.

Posts: 206 · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:50 pm Post subject:

I have seen REN amplifiers for sale, but I've never used one. I also am not sure if they'd work with Vonage.

That being said, can you shut off the ringer on any of the phones you don't need rings for? For example, I have 2 phones, but the one in the study is so freaking loud I can hear it from everywhere. I could shut off the other ringer and it wouldn't bother me.

Is that an option for you? It may be the simplest one.

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 16, 2005 Posts: 16

Have you had problems ringing all your phones or are you assuming you will? Do you have any old style mechanical bell ringers in the house? If so, you should disconnect that particular phone and see if that makes a difference.

If it turns out you have a phone with an unusally heavy load like an old bell phone, it may be a safer bet to go out and buy a new, low feature single line phone. I'd hesitate on getting a REN amplifier for a couple of reasons:

1) Could be incompatible with Vonage phone port.
2) Could degrade voice quality since your signals will likely pass through an additional driver stage
3) It is probably more expensive than a new phone
4) Just one more thing to plug in

best of luck!

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 21, 2008 Posts: 1

Get a ring booster model RG-10A from Viking Electronics. You plug it in between your Vonage modem and your house wiring. It looks for the ring voltage from the modem and then regenerates it at a higher REN (12) into your house lines. It will duplicate the cadence as well. It's a little pricey $300, but this place sells it at a discount $237

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