Sorry for the top post, but I just want to thank both of you for your
very helpful response. I will report back my results when my POTS ends
Oct 22. BTW, this is a single family home, and my neighbor's home has
the standard RJ-11 plugs whereas mine has this funky setup.
John McHarry wrote:
> On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 11:52:19 -0700, Brian E Williams wrote:
>> http://tinyurl.com/9jqae
>> Above link is a picture of the inside of my outside telecom box here
>> in the USA. I want to route my Vonage VoIP service to my internal
>> phone network, so first I am going to disconnect the internal network
>> from the POTS provider as a test. I am guessing that I just flip
>> those little connectors up and then pull out the solid blue and
>> blue-white wires, being careful to keep them arranged for easy
>> reconnection.
> That doesn't look like a standard demarc to me. Maybe you are in a
> multifamily dwelling, or maybe I am out of date. The demarcs I am
> familiar with use an RJ-11 plug on your side to plug into a socket on
> the telco side. This allows you to test whether a problem is inside
> wiring or telco by unplugging your whole inside plant and plugging in
> a known good phone.
>> Is there anything else I need to worry about? Also, is having four
>> wires standard for a single line? Maybe that is how I can do three
>> way calling and call waiting, but I never thought about it before.
> Four wires are standard for residential wiring. As PAT notes, only red
> and green are used for the first line. This allows a second pair for a
> second line, or a ground connection for grounded ringing (mostly used
> in old two party lines).
> As PAT also notes, getting the telco hooked up across your VOIP
> service is ungood. The trouble with doing your connection at the
> demarc is that telco has access to it and may, possibly inadvertently,
> reconnect themselves. Also, some telcos leave disconnected lines
> connected to the switch and able to call 911, much like an unassigned
> cell phone. You might be better off to cut into your house wiring
> before the first tap and either disconnect the telco there, or move it
> over to line two, so you could use their 911 service in an emergency.
> I don't know how many terminals you intend to bridge onto your Vonage
> box, but, if it is like the Packet8 DAT310, it may have trouble
> driving some of them. I can ring two phones just fine, but there
> doesn't seem to be quite enough talk battery to keep my speakerphone
> happy. Of course, that may be more the phone's fault for being overly
> greedy.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What I do here is the Bell System
> demarc box is on the wall of my house outside with _two_ lines there
> from telco but I only use one. I have tape around the modular
> connector of the second, unused line. I have a small PBX unit inside
> my house, in a closet near my computer area. From the outside demarc,
> I bring the one working pair there into my house on my own wires, and
> into the PBX where it becomes 'dial 9' for outgoing local calls. Then
> I have my Vonage (VOIP) adapter box near the computer with a
> connection into the broadband cable line. I go from there with my
> personally owned modular cable to another input on the PBX, where it
> becomes 'dial 8' for long distance calls. Both lines (Vonage VOIP) and
> telco also go through a two-line splitter to which I have a caller ID
> device and an extra loud ringer (in my old age and feeble condition I
> am also a wee bit hard of hearing these days as any of you who
> telephone me know when I periodically ask you to repeat yourself. Then
> I have several pairs running from the PBX back down the cable to the
> outside and back to the telco demarc box where _everything_ telco
> related has been disconnected except for the aforementioned one
> incoming line.
> So to make a local call from any extension, it travels down the pair
> to the demarc, back in to the PBX, and dial 9 sends it back out the
> cable to the demarc and off to telco. To make a long distance call from
> any extension it travels down the pair to the demarc, back in to the
> PBX where dial 8 sends it across the room to the VOIP box and the
> broadband internet. To call around my house, it travels down the pair
> to the demarc, back inside to the PBX where dialing 100 through 105 or
> 0 Zero treats the call as needed, ships it back through the cable to
> the outside demarc where it gets distributed to where it should go. PAT]
BrianEWilliams (sorry_no_email@yahoo.com)