garys_2k
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·Vonage
1 edit | reply to watts3000
Re: connect vonage to phone jacks
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. |
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. |
