VoIP as Line 1, POTS as Line 2

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 16, 2005 Posts: 3

Hi Everyone - I did a little searching and couldn't find this exact situation, so here goes:

I currently have Vonage hooked up (directly) to a cordless system and is working quite well. I've retained my POTS service to the other corded phones, of which one is a two-line phone.

I've read up a good deal on how to wire the house for Vonage service by disconnecting the bell at the demarc and attaching the ATA to a jack to give dialtone to other jacks. I've also read up a bit on using VoIP as a secondary line and keeping POTS as the primary for use with DSL or the like. However, because SOME of the phone I'm attaching are one-line systems (the wireless for example) I would like VoIP to be line 1 and POTS to be line 2.

There are also some extenuating circumstances that I'm a little unclear about. Foremost, the home wiring is about 15 years old and has been added to over the years by the previous owner. The Network Interface Unit has Blue/White-Blue attached as line 1 as it should have been, but there are 2 other home-runs that come directly to the NIU (whereas the rest of the house is apparently chained I can only assume)

I'm a little unclear about how I'd go about 'switching' the POTS service to be line 2, and if its as simple as switching the Blue for Orange pairs, if its then safe to attach the ATA directly to a port (or should the line 2 leads be disconnected in that jack?)

Any help is much appreciated. For what its worth, and if its of any use, I have only 1 POTS line and 1 Vonage line with the Linksys RT31P2. I don't have DSL or any other thing on the line, and will probably switch entirely over to VoIP when I've tested it out sufficiently.

Regards and Thanks in Advance,
Aaron

Posts: 196

abennett wrote:

Hi Everyone - I did a little searching and couldn't find this exact situation, so here goes:

I currently have Vonage hooked up (directly) to a cordless system and is working quite well. I've retained my POTS service to the other corded phones, of which one is a two-line phone.

I've read up a good deal on how to wire the house for Vonage service by disconnecting the bell at the demarc and attaching the ATA to a jack to give dialtone to other jacks. I've also read up a bit on using VoIP as a secondary line and keeping POTS as the primary for use with DSL or the like. However, because SOME of the phone I'm attaching are one-line systems (the wireless for example) I would like VoIP to be line 1 and POTS to be line 2.

There are also some extenuating circumstances that I'm a little unclear about. Foremost, the home wiring is about 15 years old and has been added to over the years by the previous owner. The Network Interface Unit has Blue/White-Blue attached as line 1 as it should have been, but there are 2 other home-runs that come directly to the NIU (whereas the rest of the house is apparently chained I can only assume)

I'm a little unclear about how I'd go about 'switching' the POTS service to be line 2, and if its as simple as switching the Blue for Orange pairs, if its then safe to attach the ATA directly to a port (or should the line 2 leads be disconnected in that jack?)

Any help is much appreciated. For what its worth, and if its of any use, I have only 1 POTS line and 1 Vonage line with the Linksys RT31P2. I don't have DSL or any other thing on the line, and will probably switch entirely over to VoIP when I've tested it out sufficiently.

Regards and Thanks in Advance,
Aaron

If the orane/orange-white pair is actually wired to the 2nd line pins on each of your jacks, that will work fine. Many times, the jacks are only wired for one line. That means you may have to open up each jack in your house and physically attach that pair to the jacks.