Pre-Sale Confusion... Separate lines? DSL vs. # Transfer...

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 13

This stuff can get very confusing. But, I'll give it a shot:

The first thing to understand is that Vonage is an Internet-based phone service and does not connect to the phone system in a traditional way. When you sign up for Vonage, they will ship you an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) that you will connect to your DSL connection through an ethernet cable (it connects in the same way that your computer connects to your DSL line). At this point, your Vonage phone service will only work with a phone that is directly plugged into the ATA.

From what you are saying, it sounds like you want to have your Vonage service active throughout the house. This way all of your phone jacks will have service. The problem is, in order to do this safely, you need to disconnect your phone wiring from the Telco. This means that Vonage can only be put on your house's line 2 wiring because you can't disconnect line 1 from the telco (or you will lose your DSL service). You then need to rewire all of the jacks in the house (except the one that your DSL service is connected to) so that the jacks are on the line 2 copper. Once you do this, unplug the telco service, and plug in your ATA, you will have full phone service in your house.

Alternatively, you could pay the $31 to have the DSL moved to line 2 and avoid the frustration of rewiring jacks. Your line 2 wiring would not have a dial tone, just dry DSL. You would then unplug the telco service on line 1 and plug in your ATA.

I hope this is making sense...

As for the number porting, Vonage assigns you a temporary virtual number so that you can have phone service through Vonage until the port goes through. Your Qwest line will remain active until the port goes through. Once the transfer goes through, the number will start to ring your Vonage line and your Qwest line will go dead. So, while the transfer is being processed, you will have both Quest (with your original phone number) and Vonage (with a temp number).

You may have downtime for a few minutes while the number actually gets changed. (think of it as unplugging the number from one service and plugging it into the other)

Until the number is actually ported (i.e. port in progress), all incoming calls to that number will go to your Qwest line.

One last important detail: Do not call Qwest to cancel your service (other than moving DSL to line 2). Cancelling the service is automatic as part of the port process.

Finally, I would suggest that you sign up for Vonage and try it before you start to the port process. Use it for a few days/weeks and see if you like it. If you are satisfied, then you should put in an application to port your number. Vonage is different from traditional phone service, and you should know what you are getting yourself into.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 9

Okay, a trial does seem in order. However, how would that work without doing the whole DSL line transfer and phone number transfer?

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:31 pm Post subject:

just sign up and plug it in when it gets there. if you don't want to change anything yet, don't.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 13

Sign up for a line, but don't port your number. Once you are sure you want to keep Vonage, that's when you should start porting your number, etc...