inside wiring for voip

Hi Al,

Yes you can do couple of things short of calling a pro.

Since your Internet broadband connection seems to be DSL, not CATV cable modem, the only solution would be to either move the gizmo very close to the phone box outside and hook it up to the spare line in the box or use a jack in your house that's wired for two phone lines (green/red and black/yellow wires or could be white/blue-blue and white/orange-orange) back to the phone box outside.

The first option requires some considerable effort to get the cable through the wall outside. The second option is sort of plug-and-play as long as you have a few extra parts and as long as all your other phones are already wired back to the phone box outside (single line wiring is OK for the other phones)

So, you are going to need:

• a jack with two lines (hopefully the one the gizmo already connected to: will make it easier

• a two Line Phone adapter such as this one:
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• a phone line slitter such as this one:
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• an extra phone cord (length as required):
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once you got the ingredients, you will have to do the following:

• Open your phone box outside and connect all green wires of the cables going to other phones to the back wire of the cable going to your gizmo

• Connect all red wires to the yellow wire going to your gizmo

• Now, back in house disconnect the DSL modem (device the VoIP gizmo plugs into) from the wall jack

• plug the two-line adapter into the wall jack

• plug the DSL modem back into Line 1 (L1) port of the two-line adapter

• unplug the phone from the gizmo, plug the phone splitter instead

• plug the phone back into any one of the ports on the splitter

• plug the extra phone cord into the other port on the splitter and then the other end plug into Line 2 (L2) port of the two-line adapter

This should conclude your install! Obviously do the testing first. If some of the phones are not working, check if they actually were connected to Line 1 (green/red) and not Line 2 (black/yellow). Change accordingly if discrepancy is found. If NONE of the phones are working, check the Line 2 of the cable that goes to the gizmo. It won't work without a second pair (black/yellow wires) connected to the jack and continuous all the way through to the phone box outside (NID, by the way - Network Interface Device). Sometimes wires are spliced in the house (and often multiple times), so if you get into situation where the wires are leaving into the wall but not appearing on the other side, I suggest that you actually do call the pros. It does not have to be the phone company - it's your (inside!) wiring - you can hire whomever you want.

Even if the plug and play did not work, you would have done a good reconnaissance (what cable goes to what phone, how many pairs etc.) that the pros will be able to use later to your advantage (read: less billable hours on the job). Hopefully the extra parts needed for the plug-and-play option can either be found laying around the house (cord, splitter) or purchased for under $10 ($20 with shipping) online. I can also think of RadioShack as a possible place to buy the parts. Just don't try to ask them questions. If your RadioShack is anything like the one in my hometown, they will just further complicate the picture with their confusing suggestions.

Before I go: depending on how old the wiring to the phones in the house is your green wire could actually be white/blue, the red can be blue. The black can be white/orange and the yellow can be orange. Hope it's easy enough ;-)

Good luck!

If you have a cable modem, then the instructions from ViaTalk may be helpful. I have all my phones and one fax machine connected to one pap2 adapter. See:

Thanks,

Thomas

al wrote:

Thanks for your resp> > Help guys. I am 72 years old and a newbie to a lot of gadgets. I live

Your response is appreciated greatly, however I still have some questions. At the box outside I have one line only. The red has a blue wire and the green white wire. All the extension phones worked before Horizon disconnected and VOIP took over. What do you mean connect all green wires going to other phones to the back wire of the cable going to the gizmo? I have the extra extension cord, the splitter, and a three line adapter. Al

al wrote: ...

I assume that your old line is disconnected (none of the extensions now work) - so you must disconnect all (all) of the old outside wires. This leaves you with interior wiring going nowhere.

You also need to calculate the REN (RInger equivalent Number) of the phones that you have. Read the backs of the phones and write it down.

Now unplug all the extensions.

Unplug the main phone that goes to the gizmo, and connect the gizmo to any nearby phone jack/plug.

Plug the main phone into any extension jack/plug - does it work? If not, call a professional.

If it works, plug in one other extension phone and have someone call you. - do both phones ring? If so, plug in another extension phone and try again. If they do not all ring, then you have exceeded the REN capacity of the gizmo.

Rick: Thanks for answering my query. It seems that now that I am getting calls at the VOIP, the provider has told me that they have not yet completed their end and even though Verizon has disconnected me, they advised me not to do anything with the inside wiring. They will tell me when. That's probably the reason I am having trouble. I am keeping your instructions just in case. Al