AT&T U-verse → Another problem with AT&t Uverse and ADT alarm

I'm really stumped. AT&T installed a new NID and connected the same two wires originally connected-which I thought went to the alarm, and then back to the NID, where the house phone wiring was connected to the alarm phone out. I have my gateway working with phone and internet in the house. I know the alarm needs to be connected to the gateway as well. I was going to wire the alarm to the phone jack in the gateway. So I disconnected the wires going into and out of the alarm and my phone and internet still work? I have no idea how that's possible. Please help with any ideas.

Do you have pots voice service or uverse voip voice service
Can you post a picture of the inside of the nid

Hello, It is voip service only. The box is the newest one with the 4 small orange clips only. There is one solid blue, and one white with blue stripe connected to one clip which looks identical to the other wires at the end of the cable at the alarm box. Two other wires then exit the alarm box and run back to the nid (in the same cable) which are connected to the red and green house wires. This is why when I disconnect this pair of wires at the alarm box, I don't understand why my 2wire gateway is still functioning for voice and web.

OK, with VoIP the dialtone is generated by the RG. You should have a phone cable plugged into the Line 1/2 port on the back of the RG. Where does this phone cable go?

The diagram you want is the NID --> RG (generates dialtone) --> Alarm panel --> normally back to the NID to distribute dialtone back to the Inside Wiring ( IW ).

It appears that you currently don't have the alarm panel wired infront of your other phone devices. Do you have an RJ-31x jack that would allow the alarm panel to seize the phone line even if you are using it when the alarm is activated.

Here is the general diagram for U-verse and an alarm panel
»www.att.com/u-verse/expl ··· larm.jsp

Dave

I need to clarify my second note above. The blue wire is connected to one orange clip, and the white/blue stripe wire is connected to another clip in the NID. Thanks for the link to the att page. I don't think I can use this diagram. The blue and white/blue stripe wires are connected at the NID and then run to the alarm, and then run back to the NID where they are each connected to a (dangling) red or green wire, and then out of the NID back to the alarm-so I can't use the house wiring out of any of the house jacks for the phone. I would have to plug in the phone at the gateway. However, as above, I disconnected the jack at the alarm, which should open the connection for all 4 wires into and out of the alarm, right? But the gateway still works for the phone and DSL with the gateway plugged into house wiring. How is this possible?

I should add, the NID is not the one I've seen with jacks and other stuff. It is literally just 4 orange plastic clips-with only 2 used for the blue and white/stripe wires, one clip each. I am trying to just get the connection from ATT at the NID to the gateway so I can use my alarm/phone/DLS. Thanks

First by unplugging the jack at the alarm panel should have no effect on the gateway (RG), VoIP or DSL connection.

Do you have a cable plugged into the phone line with a green band it on the back of the RG? This would be the connection from the NID. It is also possible that the connection from the NID to the RG is via Coax. Do you see any Coax at the NID?

The alarm panel just needs to be wired in front of any phone devices that are connected to the VoIP ports on the back of the RG. That way it can seize the phone line even if you are on a call.

Since you have VoIP, the dialtone is actually generated by the RG. On the back of the RG is a set of RJ-11 phone jacks. What is plugged into the two ports with the gray band around them? They are marked Phones Lines 1&2 and Aux.

This is where your dialtone is distributed from the RG. We need to know where that cable is connected.

Dave

Thanks for the reply. I guess what I still can't wrap my head around is the fact, I think, that the two wires -blue and white- are the only two wires coming from the NID.

They appear to go straight to the alarm box, then out through two other wires off the circuit board back to the NID where they connect to the red and green wires, which appear to, or do, go to the house wiring.

Since the alarm box needs to be connected to the gateway in order to get a dial tone and call out, how can the alarm box work if just connected to the uverse service without the gateway Is anything I'm assuming above actually incorrect?

The gateway is connected to the house wiring with one phone cable and the phone and DSL is plugged into the gateway via the two connections on the gateway. I'm just not understanding this and I'm actually usually able to figure electronics out. Thanks

First question is does the Alarm panel work today, is it able to make a call to the monitoring site? Before you got U-verse did you have a regular AT&T phone line that was connected to the ADT Alarm Panel? It might stil be wired that way and not functioning!

What happens today if you call ADT and say that you want to test your alarm? ( Note: you should test your alarm on a monthly schedule ) Do they get the alarm? You should be able to pickup a phone and hear the MODEM on the ADT panel dialing.

In a previous landline install, often the DSL was split via a splitter in the NID and only the DSL signal was sent on to the gateway on a sep two wire connection. The regular phone line went from the NID to the Alarm panel and then back to the NID to allow dialtone to flow from the NID to the Alarm Panel and then back to the NID where it was connected to the normal Red / Green pair of the house wiring that provided dialtone to all phone jacks in your house.

It really sounds like your ADT alarm panel was not connected to the gateway.

You also need to be very specific as to what cables are plugged into each port on the back of your gateway. Please use the color of the cable and tell us the port that they are plugged into on the back of the gateway.

They each port have a color band that will help explain what they are used for. The Green one is for the connection between the NID and the gateway. Do you have a green cable connected between the gateway and the wall and that port with the green band? This is what provides the DSL service to the gateway. If you do not have a green cable plugged into this port with the green square around it, then you might have a Coax connection from the NID to the gateway. We really need to know exactly what is plugged into each port on the back of the gateway.

This is the normal connection from the NID to the Gateway. I would exect that if your remove the wall plant you will see a white and a white/blue wire pair that runs directly to the NID. This will be the connection that carries your xDSL signal from the NID. Special note: do you have a Coax cable connected at the back fo the Gateway? This can provide the input xDSL siignal and also the IPTV signal out to TV locations.

Dial tone generation is only created at the gateway when it is connected to the AT&T network. This allows the gateway to generate a dialtone for any phone devices and the ADT alarm panel. Do you have a batter backup for the gateway and the Alarm panel?

Unlike a traditional POTS phone line, the Gateway generates the dialtone for VoIP and you should have a cable plugged into the Line 1&2 port with the silver band and a silver or black cable connected What type of wall jack do you have this cable plugged into? Is it a single RJ-11 plug or do you have a wall plate with other ports? It would also be very helpful to remove the wall plate and see what colors are terminated on the back of the wall plate. Just tell us the color.

This signal that needs to reach the Alarm panel if you want it to be able to use it's modem to call the monitoring site provides the dialtone that is generated by the gateway.

You might want to take the wall plate off where the cable from the Line 1&2 silver or black cable connects between the gateway to the wall and see what color cables are conected behind the wall plate. This might provide a clue if they are the same white and white/blue band cables.

These wires need to run directly to the Alarm panel. The most direct route is from the wall jack to the Alarm panel. However, it is also possibe that the installer chose to run this cable pair back to the NID to connect to a pair of cables that run from the NID to the Alarm Panel.

If you want the Alarm panel to be able to seize the phone line and call ADT even if you are on the phone, an XJ31 Jack needs to be installed in or near the alarm panel so that is can break into an existing phone connection and call the central monitoring system.

Dave

Thanks for all the info. I'll try to include everything I missed before. Since I think only a rerouting of wires is required, I can do this and avoid the $200 fee for a tech to come out.

The ADT alarm was installed in a way that the wires go back and forth to the NID without a jack other than the larger one you mentioned where the red/green and brown/silver pass through.

The multiple modular jacks in the house have the red/green wires attached.

The alarm does not work

I had regular phone service before uverse.

The alarm does not pass call test-no call to ADT.

No coax cable or jack on the gateway.

The green cable goes from the house wiring via a modular jack to the gateway. I have the computer connected via a cable to the ethernet connection on the gateway, and a phone connected to the Line 1/2 jack on the gateway. The jacks all have the red/green wires connected as i the past.

The ATT tech did not seem to care if I had an alarm or not, since he did the install without asking me anything.

I just can't figure out how in the world a signal can get to the house wiring through the alarm panel (which leads to the NID via the blue/white wires) after I disconnected the only connection it has though the XJ31.

I would have connected the alarm panel to the gateway a long time ago since I just knew it needed to go from the gateway to the alarm, but I can't figure out the wiring as mentioned above. I would also like to set it up to seize the line as before but again I can't figure out the proper wiring since everything I know tells me that my gateway should not be getting a signal when I disconnect the only apparent link my house wiring has with the NID though the alarm panel. Hope some of this makes sense. Thanks again for trying to help.
Steve

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Can you post a picture of the open Nid?

Hi, I've been trying to locate help for posting a pic with no luck. If you can direct me where to look I'll post it. Thanks

said by Florida223:

Hi, I've been trying to locate help for posting a pic with no luck

This link should help
How do I post attachments and screenshots?

The picture of the nid shows three cables do you know where each one goes

Blue/white are from NID-I "believe" these wires run back to alarm,

green/green-white wires are shorted at NID and each tied to a wire in alarm panel which are connected 2 terminals in alarm,

yellow/black are not connected at either end,

red/green (house wires) In NID are connected to Brown/Silver wires which originate and run from alarm panel.

You need to find out where the wire pair is [both ends] that you connect the the modem to

The nid picture shows that the blue white is the pair with the dsl signal is that the same pair at the alarm

I have a2wire gateway that can be plugged into any house jack for uverse service.

My big problem is figuring out why my gateway still works when I disconnect the blue/white from the alarm panel

The wire pair that has the dsl signal needs to be isolated from all wall jacks except the one that the dsl modem connects to this includes the alarm

is uverse service the same as DSL service?
I have ATT Uverse service, so I don't have any traditional phone service-phone gets connected to uverse gateway only

The traditional phone will not work out of the wall jack since the uverse service is connected to every outlet in the house

uverse is vdsl the other dsl is adsl

Do this take a phone that needs no eletricty and connect it to the test jack inside the nid

What happens if you disconnect the blue white wire pair

there must be a splice somewhere since the gateway still works for phone and dsl

I don't believe that's the case. I think you aren't understanding how the RJ31x works. When you unplug the 8p connector that goes from the alarm to the RJ31x there is a mechanical bridge that connects the input and output, thus if the alarm panel were suspected to be bad and causing issues with your phone line you could unplug it at the RJ31x to isolate the alarm panel and yet not disconnect the phone line.

Everything appears to be wired correctly EXCEPT that AT&T did not connect your alarm to voice port of the gateway. Your alarm currently appears connected to the VDSL line that feeds the gateway.

You need to call AT&T out and have them properly finish your U-Verse install. They should complete the following steps:

1) Isolate the VDSL so it only goes on one pair between the NID and the gateway
2) Install a dual phone jack where the RG is installed
3) Use the 2nd phone pair in that wire to feed voice back to the NID
4) Connect the pair from step 3) to the blue/white pair that feeds the alarm
5) Connect all remaining cable pairs to the orange/white pair that is the output from the alarm.

Following these steps will result in all the phone jacks in your home that were previously active becoming active again, and will allow your alarm to properly seize the phone line. You'll have to move your phone that's conencted to the back of the gateway to another phone jack. You could get a splitter and use that between the gateway and the wall jack, but then someone could use that phone to prevent your alarm from dialing out.

Joako is right this would be the right way to do it. You also want a UPS system for the RG that will run just as long as the battery in the security system. I would start with something at 1000VA or bigger. After its been plugged in for a day the battery will be fully charged up, sometimes their on the shelf at the store for some time. Run a test to see how long it can power the RG then dicide it its acceptable.