watts3000
join:2002-01-21
Birmingham, AL
| connect vonage to phone jacks
Guys I'm thinking about getting vonage and I would like to wire it into my home phone jacks. The only problem is I live in a condo and I really don't want to mess around outside trying to disconnect myself from the nid. So is there any other way to connect vonage to your home jacks without dealing with the nid for example can you create an internal loop by rewiring your home phone jacks thus never having to go outside to the nid? |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·Vonage
| Theoretically, maybe. If you can find the one jack that's wired to the NID and disconnect that one connection, AND if all the jacks are daisy-chained (connected jack to jack, with only the one connected to the NID) then you can do it.
The key is isolating that wiring from the telco. drop. That can be a chore, but if your wiring is daisy chained you ought to be able to figure out which is the first jack and disconnect that one from the NID. |
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watts3000
join:2002-01-21
Birmingham, AL | I'm a beginner at this so how do you identify which jack ties into the nid. So if I kill that one jack that should create the internal loop or is there any other wiring that would need to take place on the other jacks? |
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trekologer
join:2005-10-20
Old Bridge, NJ
| Typically, since a condo is owned by the individual owner, the phone NID isn't shared so there is only one for the condo unit, and usually on the outside but possibly in the basement/crawlspace or utility closet. In most cases, disconnecting at the NID is just a matter of opening the box and unplugging a short phone cord.
That is a lot easier than trying to figure out if the jacks are wired in series, and if they are, which is the first one. The other possibility is that each (or most) jacks are wired directly to a central point (either the NID or some other distribution point usually in the basement/crawlspace or utility closet) and, if that's the case, you're back to disconnecting at the NID.
So, its best to first figure out where the phone wiring comes into the condo and inspecting it to try to determine how its distributed. |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Vonage
| said by trekologer  :Typically, since a condo is owned by the individual owner, the phone NID isn't shared so there is only one for the condo unit, and usually on the outside but possibly in the basement/crawlspace or utility closet. In most cases, disconnecting at the NID is just a matter of opening the box and unplugging a short phone cord. I agree -- that's the best way to do it. There are too many ways that trying to break up a "hope it's really wired that way" loop can go wrong. |
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snolsen
join:2004-01-10
Hanford, CA | reply to watts3000
An easy way to resolve your issue is to have a cordless phone with extra handsets. That's what I use. |
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Mikeo131313
@comcast.net
| reply to watts3000
Is it just me or don't the vonage devices output a feeble amount of current to connect to traditional residential wiring????
I recently substituted a wire running from across a room for connecting my vonage router to a nearby home tel jack.
I did disconnect the little wire that comes out of the first jack that connects to the tel. co. but people have trouble hearing me talking from the phone in that distant room.
Can you buy anything to boost signal strength for traditianal wiring setups???? |
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watts3000
join:2002-01-21
Birmingham, AL | I have extra headsets now but it would be neat to actually use the jacks in the wall |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Vonage
1 edit | said by watts3000 :I have extra headsets now but it would be neat to actually use the jacks in the wall Is it really impossible to get to your NID?
Also, do you even have a NID? Depending on your condo's arrangement (e.g. converted from a multi-unit apartment) there may be no NID, just a 66 block for all the lines in the building.
As for how to wire the jacks without disconnecting the NID or the punchdown block, here's what I'd do. Note that phone lines can give you a significant shock if someone calls you while you're touching a wire (90 volts). Best bet is to NOT touch the copper wires.
- Pull all the jacks out of the wall and confirm that each has two separate cords, each containing the connected pair of wires, to each jack. Each cord should, depending on age, will likely have more than one pair of wires, at least one of which will be connected to the jack. Likely either a red/green or blue-white/white-blue (striped) pair.
If each jack does have two cables running to it that implies the house is daisy-chain wired. Not a guarantee, but likely.
- Find the source wire, this is trickier. Start at the jack closest to the NID and disconnect both wires. Then, see if you have a dial tone at the other jacks in the house. Test them all. If the jack you got was the first one, all other jacks should be dead. If not, reconnect your wires and repeat at another jack.
- Assuming you find a jack that, when disconnected, kills all the other jacks, you have to find the source pair. You'll have to make a test cord out of an old modular single line cord. Cut one end off and separate and strip the two wires inside. Use a couple of alligator clip leads (Radio Shack Catalog #278-1156 gets you ten for about $8) and connect the modular cord's newly stripped wires to one of the pairs of wires you disconnected from the jack. Polarity isn't important.
Plug the other end of your modular cord into a working phone and see if you have a dial tone. If not, try the other pair you disconnected from the jack. The one that gives you the dial tone SHOULD be coming from the NID.
Connect the non-NID pair of wires back to the jack and check EVERY jack for a dial tone. None should have one. If any of them do then you must have more than one connection to the NID and this whole thing likely won't work out.
If none of the jacks are live, tape up the NID pair so they won't short out and put everything back (jacks back into the walls). Confirm again that your jacks are dead and connect your ATA into any jack with a jumper, then confirm that all the jacks now DO have a dial tone. If so, you're done. |
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watts3000
join:2002-01-21
Birmingham, AL
| Guys I just remembered something a few weeks back I was setting up my home office and thus had to connect all my network gear and reconnect my callvantage. I decided to see if I could get callvantage to work by connecting my telephone adapter to a regular phone jack. Well callvantage came while being connected to a regualr phone jack. After that I walked around the house checking each jack to see if I could get a dial tone I was able to get a tone only ion a few jacks but not all. Also there was a lot of noise on the lines |
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garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Vonage
| It sounds like you connected your adapter to the phone wiring while it was still connected to the telco. Good to hear you didn't fry the adapter, that would likely happen if you got an incoming telco call while the ATA was hooked up.
BTW, I realized that it's possible that more than two cables could be connected to a given jack and still have daisy-chain wiring. At the first jack you could have one wire going to the NID and multiple others going to other jacks. You could also have multiple connections to the NID, breaking your house's phone wiring into different segments where the only connecting point is at the NID. There are a LOT of possibilities. |
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toro
join:2006-01-27
Scarborough, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to watts3000
See if you can get the VTA-PVR package. That one includes one Vonage ATA and 3 wireless phone jacks. I gout a couple on eBay for $25-30
»k1.stylefeeder.com/thumb/7b/9b/7···-200.jpg |
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mddg99
join:2009-06-26
Saint Augustine, FL
| reply to watts3000
Obvious question I'll ask anyway, but why not got with DECT 6.0 cordless phones? They cover a condo for sure; messing around with older construction is a real pain; newer construction has all home runs to a internal box; if you don't have an internal centroal box then you're asking for grief; |
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Thevonagevoipguy
@windstream.net
| reply to watts3000
Is it me? Don't most people use cordless handsets these days, in particular with the advent of the dect phones? Why use existing phone jacks other than one for the cordless base (or dsl connection) as most cordless systems now have 4 and more cordless handsets with them? Make life easy people!  |
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kustomjs
join:2006-12-12
Coldwater, OH
| reply to watts3000
well I did this to my new apt all I did was go out to my NID box and cut the 2 lines from verizon line and took cat 5 and connected the colors from cat 5 to the screws on the nid box then after cat 5 was re-ranned up to my apt I took my vonage adapter and telephone line to the jack I coming up from the NID box and connected it and now all my phones work inside of my apt. |
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