Another wall jack question
MJINNY:
I know there have been many questions here regarding plugging an Obi device directly into a wall jack to power all phone jacks in a home. Normally I wouldn't even bother with this...just plug a cordless base directly into the Obi and use the other headsets throughout the house as many others have suggested. However, I work from home and have been thinking of getting a full featured corded office phone for use in my home office (which is equipped with a wall jack).
About 5 months ago, I decided to give this a try...except I looked everywhere in and around my house for the telco demarcation point but I could not find it. The home was built in 2005-2006 and is the type that has the electrical service underground...from the pole to the house running under the front lawn. The only overhead cable from the pole is for cable internet/tv service. I spoke to the individual I bought the home from (he operates a business in town) and HE did not remember where the demarc point was! He told me that he had home phone service through the internet/cable company but the phone service was plugged into the cable modem. I rolled the dice and gave it a try...and it worked (Obi did not fry). I've been using it for 5 months when all of a sudden Obi could not connect to my VOIP service. I would try to get it to connect and then it would say "configuring" and would not connect...finally saying "not connected". The next day it reconnected but one for two days only...same problem came up again. I bought another Obi 100, reconnected the same way as the old one and it worked. But now I'm worried...do you think I "fried" my old one? When an Obi gets "fried" in this way, does it happen instantly or can it happen over the course of a few months? Was my old one's inability to connect to my VOIP provider related to get getting "fired" from power in the phone line? When the Obi is not connected to the wall jack there is no dial tone and there is no demarc box that I can possibly find. My new Obi 100 is plugged into the wall and the phones all work fine and the Obi works fine but I'll revert to the other method if this will slowly fry my phone. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!
dircom:
Usually here is a box on the outside of your house were the CATV wire is connected and grounded
are there any phone or ethernet wires going to it?
You don't have a wiring cabinet in your house? perhaps in a closet or garage?
how many jacks do you have in your house? open a few up, if there is only one cable to each jack, then you have star connection, in which case all the wires end up at one spot
MJINNY:
Thanks dircom. The CATV comes into the house through a hole. I comes right from the top of the pole, goes overhead across the font lawn to a wire tensioner bolted to the house, then down the side of the house and into a hole. No box. I do indeed have a wiring cabinet installed in my house (on the other side of where the CATV and underground electric service comes in - inside a service closet) but there does not seem to be any telco demarc point. The only thing strange is a rectangular adapter on the outside of the service box attached to the side of the wiring cabinet (pic attached). I have no idea what this is and whether or not it has anything to do with the telephone wiring.
I have about 8 jacks in the home.
Mango:
I would be surprised if a hardware problem caused intermittent registration failures, but anything is possible. Other causes of these symptoms include your router. Of course if your new OBi has identical configuration and it works properly, that does indeed point to a hardware problem.
Your wiring cabinet is more than likely where the POTS line, if it exists, connects to your household wiring. If a POTS line is present, it may be safely disconnected there. This may have already been done, since the former owner had VoIP via the cable company.
I believe the device in your photo is a transformer for your doorbell.
MJINNY:
Ha Ha! The doorbell...of course! I didn't even consider that. That mystery is now solved. Hmm... Well I have the Obi 100 plugged into the wall and it seems to work fine...made a call today as a matter of fact. I wonder if it was because my old Obi 100 was a pre- May 1, 2014 model? I'll take another look in the wiring cabinet but it I don't think I'll find that telco box. I looked at where the underground electric comes in and it does not appear that there is any other type of connection besides electric service. Similarly, where the CATV comes in through the hole it appears to be just CATV. I don't see any POTS wires even connecting to the house. I must have the weirdest setup in the industrialized world.
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