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Line Phone Configuration?

Started by Pedro675, February 26, 2018, 10:31:07 AM

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Pedro675

I am not yet signed up for Obihai until I figure out how I am going to wire my house phones to work and need some help.

I only have telephone service which also gives us DSL (no cable option). We have a "main" wired line phone in the kitchen (main floor) and 5 cordless phones (3 on main floor, 1 upstairs and 1 in the garage) which run off one base unit in my office. Also in my office is my wifi router/modem. The telephone company's line connects to my router/modem in the office and is split through a filter for DSL and phone. The DSL split is connected to the router/modem the phone split is connected to the cordless phone base unit. All phones need to have a DSL filter set to "Phone" to hook up the phones.

I need to know physically how to wire the necessary devices to get all phones to work and what equipment from Obhai I will need to make this as simple as possible. Direct advice and links welcome.

Thanks.


GPz1100

You could connect the cordless phone base station directly to the obi unit.  Before you start porting number over or making more permanent changes I'd make sure your internet service is up to par in terms of handling voip.

DSL is not the best medium for voip due to high latency/jitter.


drgeoff

Not sure what you mean by "sign up for Obihai".  Obihai provides a hardware box.  You also need service from someone else to reach and by reached by other phone numbers.

Are you planning to cease the existing landline phone service and instead use one or more VoIP companies?  Or do you want to keep the landline and add one or more VoIP companies?  If you want the latter you should purchase an OBi212.  If the former applies then an Obi200 or Obi202 is appropriate.  The 202 has two independent phone jacks so will support two simultaneous calls if you have the requisite phones plugged in.

The single phone jack on the 212 or 200 emulates the 'phone' output from your DSL splitting filter and should be connected to your kitchen phone and the DECT base station.  If all phone service is to be via an Obi200 or Obi202 then the DSL splitter filter is redundant and can be removed - the telco line going directly into the DSL modem-router.  If you are retaining the telco phone service the OBi212 is wired between the 'phone' output of the splitter and the phones that are currently plugged in there.

Pedro675

Quote from: GPz1100 on February 26, 2018, 11:38:25 AM
You could connect the cordless phone base station directly to the obi unit.  Before you start porting number over or making more permanent changes I'd make sure your internet service is up to par in terms of handling voip.

DSL is not the best medium for voip due to high latency/jitter.

Thanks for the heads up. Yes our DSL comes from CenturyLink (CL) which has a terrible history of poor service. CenturyLink is out ONLY choice here as there is no cable available. I've had DSL connection problems with CL and they cannot be very prompt to fix. But we also have cell phones as a backup for phone service and lately CL has been more reliable. As well I purchased a new Netgear router/modem which is showing to be more reliable than the previous ActionTec model.

Not sure I understand "latency", does that mean a delay between what is said and when that is heard on the other end?

Pedro675

Quote from: drgeoff on February 26, 2018, 11:45:51 AMAre you planning to cease the existing landline phone service and instead use one or more VoIP companies?

Thanks for replying. Yes, I want to cease telephone service from my ISP (CenturyLink) and just use their DSL. I now get both DSL and phone service from a single line which uses filters at the phone jacks to route to "DSL" or "Phone"

I found a good and detailed explanation of hook up choices and considerations on a link I found on this forum but am still trying to understand it fully.

I have six twisted pairs coming from the phone company wiring into the "Network Interface Unit (NIU). Five are not being used and are capped off. The Blue wire is connected to the inside wiring Red wire and the White wire is connected to the Green wire (line 1). The inside wiring Black and Yellow are just dangling and unattached (line 2).

The instructions I have been reading say to route the Line 1 (Red/Green) to the Line 2 (Black/Yellow) so I get DSL now on Line 2. I would have to connect the Black/Yellow wires to phone company orange/white wires. Then use the Line 1 wires to connect the OBi200 to my existing phones through my router/modem which is now connected to Line 2. I can use a Line 1/Line 2 splitter connected to my telephone jack. This would enable me to connect 5 of my six cordless phones from one location at the router and use my lined kitchen 2 line phone switched to line 2.

I hope I've described this to make sense?

Pedro675

I appreciate the feedback and have another question. GPz1100 said I may be unhappy with the quality of the VoIP connection with DSl. Could I run the VoIP but not disconnect voice service rom the phone company AND sign up with Goggle Voice to test the VoIP? Essentially keeping two of the same phone numbers, one with Goggle Voice and the other with CenturyLink. i would not hook up the voice, but have it in standby.

If the VoIP does not pan out then I just need to remove the VoIP adapter and re-hook my original phone system wiring to the way it was and continue with CenturyLink.

Almighty1

#6
Pedro675,

All you have to do is connect the Obi device to the router just like any networking device to use your DSL connection to test it and also sign up for Google Voice.

Pedro675

"All you have to do is connect the Obi device to the router just like any networking device to use your DSL connection to test it and also sign up for Google Voice."

From my research the device can't connect to phone company line voltage, hence the re-routing of Line 1 and Line 2 to separate the phones from the Obi devise. I would connect the DSL side to the device but the phone side cannot see voltage or the device will "blow".

Is this not true?

GPz1100

Before you mess with your wiring why not just connect your cordless phone base station directly to the obi during testing?

Pedro675

Quote from: GPz1100 on March 02, 2018, 10:47:48 AM
Before you mess with your wiring why not just connect your cordless phone base station directly to the obi during testing?

I don't know why, I've just been reading about no phone company line voltage to Obi. So my kitchen line phone would be connected to Line 1 and receive/send voice via telephone company ( as it does now) and my cordless base would be connected to the Obi port for phone and my router would be connected to the Obi.

Could I just call out/receive calls? Would I not have to establish Goggle Voice to test? How would GV get me my phone number?


GPz1100

You would only have google voice service on the handsets serviced by the cordless base station.

Of course you'd need to establish a google voice account if you expect to use google voice to place/receive calls. The number google assigns doesn't really matter as it's a temp number for testing purposes.  Once you're satisfied you can port your land line number in (assuming it's in an area supported by gv) and rewire/disconect existing service accordingly.

Pedro675

Quote from: GPz1100 on March 02, 2018, 12:19:17 PM
You would only have google voice service on the handsets serviced by the cordless base station.

Yes, I see I was being too complicated for the test. Disconnecting the base station telephone wire from the wall jack would remove it from the line 1 system and any voltage but connect it to my router via the Obi.

QuoteOf course you'd need to establish a google voice account if you expect to use google voice to place/receive calls. The number google assigns doesn't really matter as it's a temp number for testing purposes.  Once you're satisfied you can port your land line number in (assuming it's in an area supported by gv) and rewire/disconect existing service accordingly.

With the GV temp number the cordless phones would not ring unless someone dialed that temp number, and we would still get the connected kitchen phones on the existing number. I'd have to enlist friends and family to dial the GV number in the test period.

Thanks for the help and simplification.

Pedro675

Quote from: GPz1100 on March 02, 2018, 12:19:17 PMOnce you're satisfied you can port your land line number in (assuming it's in an area supported by gv).....

I found this: "Please note: at this time, number porting to Google Voice is not available for land line numbers or corporate mobile numbers."

Does this mean I can't get my existing home phone number to GV?


Pedro675

I went through the tutorial link you provided and went through the entire, "Full Length Set Up". It seems that at that stage I have to accept a number that GV provides me from their list of available numbers. That would be my temporary number. I could get Obi working with that number and test the system on my cordless phone base while still being able to use my existing home phone number on the other phones not connected to Obi.

After I am satisfied that the system will work for me I then can go to "Port Your Number To Goggle Voice" using a one time use prepaid mobile phone. At this stage I can have my existing home phone number assigned to Goggle voice and that "temporary" number will no longer be used.

Is my above understanding correct?

Thanks.

GPz1100


Almighty1

Quote from: Pedro675 on March 02, 2018, 10:36:29 AM
"All you have to do is connect the Obi device to the router just like any networking device to use your DSL connection to test it and also sign up for Google Voice."

From my research the device can't connect to phone company line voltage, hence the re-routing of Line 1 and Line 2 to separate the phones from the Obi devise. I would connect the DSL side to the device but the phone side cannot see voltage or the device will "blow".

Is this not true?

What does this have to do with the phone company line as all you do is connect it the LAN side aka Ethernet port of the DSL Modem or the router which has nothing to do with the telephone companies phone line.  The Obi is a Voice over IP device, it's a Internet connected device and connects using your internet.  Your phone devices goes behind the Obi.  You connect the phones phones itself to the phone side of the Obi to test things out.  Then when things work, that's when you need to connect the phone side to the Obi which is not hard at all if you use a DSL splitter since all you do is disconnect the voice side from the splitter and connect that to the Obi.  If you use a DSL filter, then it will be more difficult since you will need to run a dedicated pair for the DSL and disconnect the rest of it.

Pedro675

Quote from: Almighty1 on March 03, 2018, 01:55:23 PM
If you use a DSL filter, then it will be more difficult since you will need to run a dedicated pair for the DSL and disconnect the rest of it.

Yes, that was my point. I have DSL and voice on the same line. For the initial test I can run the phone side of the Obi directly to my portable phone base unit as the router and base unit are at the same location under my office desk. The other phones in the house will still be connected to the phone company Line 1. But after the test I'll need to connect the other phones in the house using the house phone wiring. It's then I'll use the Line1/Line2 split.


Almighty1

Quote from: Pedro675 on March 04, 2018, 02:07:52 AM
Quote from: Almighty1 on March 03, 2018, 01:55:23 PM
If you use a DSL filter, then it will be more difficult since you will need to run a dedicated pair for the DSL and disconnect the rest of it.

Yes, that was my point. I have DSL and voice on the same line. For the initial test I can run the phone side of the Obi directly to my portable phone base unit as the router and base unit are at the same location under my office desk. The other phones in the house will still be connected to the phone company Line 1. But after the test I'll need to connect the other phones in the house using the house phone wiring. It's then I'll use the Line1/Line2 split.



DSL usually shares the line with voice unless you had DSL only without voice service but in both cases, the line connects to the telephone network so basically what you want to do is get a DSL splitter and split the line except voice side needs to be disconnected and then connected to the Obi for the line in question. 

drgeoff

#19
Quote from: Almighty1 on March 04, 2018, 02:44:50 PM
Quote from: Pedro675 on March 04, 2018, 02:07:52 AM
Quote from: Almighty1 on March 03, 2018, 01:55:23 PM
If you use a DSL filter, then it will be more difficult since you will need to run a dedicated pair for the DSL and disconnect the rest of it.

Yes, that was my point. I have DSL and voice on the same line. For the initial test I can run the phone side of the Obi directly to my portable phone base unit as the router and base unit are at the same location under my office desk. The other phones in the house will still be connected to the phone company Line 1. But after the test I'll need to connect the other phones in the house using the house phone wiring. It's then I'll use the Line1/Line2 split.



DSL usually shares the line with voice unless you had DSL only without voice service but in both cases, the line connects to the telephone network so basically what you want to do is get a DSL splitter and split the line except voice side needs to be disconnected and then connected to the Obi for the line in question.  
AIUI the OP has two phone connections to the telco line from the house phone wiring.  When he wants to have his OBi's PHONE port connected to both, he will NOT be able to use the house wiring to do that as the house wiring will still need to be connected to the telco line to get the DSL signal to his DSL modem.

The phone or base station that is near the OBi can be easily wired to the OBi.  The one that is elsewhere in the residence will be the problem. No amount of using DSL splitter filters can solve that.

House wiring usually has more than one pair. If so it is possible to use a second pair for the phones, independently of the DSL on the other pair connectrd to the telco line. Either adaptors or specially wired cables will be required.