Vonage installation question

tilt · Oct 26th, 2011, 12:53 PM

Has anyone here wired their entire home to Vonage? I mean, connect Vonage to the main incoming phone point and get access at all the points in the house?

I looked all over the intertubes and everything I foiund mentions a Demarc box outside the house. I live in a townhouse and looked all over for one, could not find one.

The only thing I found, in my basement, was a thingy with a couple of wires coming in and five sets of wires going out into my house. There is no jack I can unplug, I would have to vut the wires themselves.

So, can anyone throw any light on something like this?

Thanks and cheers

macintosh doctor · Oct 26th, 2011, 01:30 PM

you should have a demarcation box in your home the very least.. or if not.. then you have mass of wires that are your wires for all the jacks in the home..
then here is what you do..
go to rona or home depot.
get the home phone bix block punch down kit.. ( pick two colors of the four that your cords have in them.. - i.e. green and white green - or orange, white orange.. punch those down..
then the kit will have an line in port .. plug the phone cord which has a mail jack into that and then into your voyage
and your done - then plug in internet to it as well
enjoy..
hopefully you do not need to dial 911 or have a black out. .( buy an UPS otherwise you will not have any phones )

tilt · Oct 27th, 2011, 11:23 AM

OK - after extensive googling of what you mentioned in your post (mainly to understand terminology and also to make sense of what you were saying), I now know that I do not have a demarc anywhere near my townhouse, but I do have (what I think is) a Bix Block in my basement.

The Bix block is small, with six columns of things that look like miniature bagel slicers with wires wedged into each one. Each of those columns has four bagel slicers in it.

The first (Left-most) column has four wires coming into it and the other five have four wires each going out into my house.

I am presuming that the first column is where the main phone line comes in to the house and the other five columns go into the various floors and into each room's phone jack.

If my understanding of the above is correct, what I wish to do is this:

I want to disconnect the first column, thus disabling Bell from coming into the house. After that all I need to do is plug the Vonage box into any phone jack in the house and in theory I should get Vonage access in all rooms.

Am I wrong?

Also, you mentioned "mail jack" - what is that?

BTW, for 911 and for internet outages I can always fall back onto my cell-phone, right?

Thanks and cheers

screature · Oct 27th, 2011, 11:35 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by tilt
	Has anyone here wired their entire home to Vonage? I mean, connect Vonage to the main incoming phone point and get access at all the points in the house? I looked all over the intertubes and everything I foiund mentions a Demarc box outside the house. I live in a townhouse and looked all over for one, could not find one. The only thing I found, in my basement, was a thingy with a couple of wires coming in and five sets of wires going out into my house. There is no jack I can unplug, I would have to vut the wires themselves. So, can anyone throw any light on something like this? Thanks and cheers

I have Vonage and have for years. I just use a wireless basestation phone that is connected to the phone router and then have satellite hand sets through out the house. Easy peesy.

screature · Oct 27th, 2011, 11:38 AM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by tilt
	OK - after extensive googling of what you mentioned in your post (mainly to understand terminology and also to make sense of what you were saying), I now know that I do not have a demarc anywhere near my townhouse, but I do have (what I think is) a Bix Block in my basement. The Bix block is small, with six columns of things that look like miniature bagel slicers with wires wedged into each one. Each of those columns has four bagel slicers in it. The first (Left-most) column has four wires coming into it and the other five have four wires each going out into my house. I am presuming that the first column is where the main phone line comes in to the house and the other five columns go into the various floors and into each room's phone jack. If my understanding of the above is correct, what I wish to do is this: I want to disconnect the first column, thus disabling Bell from coming into the house. After that all I need to do is plug the Vonage box into any phone jack in the house and in theory I should get Vonage access in all rooms. Am I wrong? Also, you mentioned "mail jack" - what is that? BTW, for 911 and for internet outages I can always fall back onto my cell-phone, right? Thanks and cheers

Yes. Also when you set up your call forwarding preferences on the Vonage website you can have calls that would be going to the phone router go to any number of your choice in the case of a power outage or loss of internet connectivity.

Also you set up your 911 at the beginning of using Vonage contrary to what macintosh doctor seems to be implying you do have 911 calling capabilities with Vonage.

tilt · Oct 27th, 2011, 02:49 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by screature
	I have Vonage and have for years. I just use a wireless basestation phone that is connected to the phone router and then have satellite hand sets through out the house. Easy peesy.

Thanks screature. I was trying to avoid that. I have multiple cordless base stations, each one with more than one satellite. I want all rooms to be covered. Using your method I shall not be able to do so since neither base station comes with enough satellites individually. Together, they cover every room in my house. Hence my need to have all jacks activated.

I also do not wish to buy more satellites and throw out the current redundant ones I have that still work perfectly.

Cheers

macintosh doctor · Oct 27th, 2011, 06:52 PM

Vonage Canada Support - How do I wire my home telephone line for use with Vonage?

screature · Oct 27th, 2011, 07:19 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by tilt
	Thanks screature. I was trying to avoid that. I have multiple cordless base stations, each one with more than one satellite. I want all rooms to be covered. Using your method I shall not be able to do so since neither base station comes with enough satellites individually. Together, they cover every room in my house. Hence my need to have all jacks activated. I also do not wish to buy more satellites and throw out the current redundant ones I have that still work perfectly. Cheers

I get your situation tilt.... my house is small enough (1500 sq/ft) that 3 phones suit us fine, also we only have 2 occupants in the house.

I wish I could help you based on your needs and wants... just relating what works for us as it is very easy and economical. Sorry to hear that your situation is not so easily solved...

I wish you all the best in finding a practical and cost effective solution.

Despite the problems/difficulties that Vonage seems to present for you I have been thoroughly satisfied with their service and I have been with them since their early beginning.

I hope that once you get things worked out on your end, your experience is the same or similar to mine.

Best of luck.

tilt · Oct 27th, 2011, 08:14 PM

Thanks screature. Glad you can vouch for the service. If I cannot get the wiring done then I still do have your method as the fallback.

	Quote:			Originally Posted by macintosh doctor
	Vonage Canada Support - How do I wire my home telephone line for use with Vonage?

Er... that page is what sparked off this whole thread. That page talks about the NID "box" and how to disconnect it. Well, if you read one of my more recent posts here you will notice that I DO NOT have such a box, I have something completely different.

I actually did a lot of RTFMming before posting the question.

Cheers

screature · Oct 27th, 2011, 08:45 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by tilt
	Thanks screature. Glad you can vouch for the service. If I cannot get the wiring done then I still do have your method as the fallback. Er... that page is what sparked off this whole thread. That page talks about the NID "box" and how to disconnect it. Well, if you read one of my more recent posts here you will notice that I DO NOT have such a box, I have something completely different. I actually did a lot of RTFMming before posting the question. Cheers

Absolutely.

The thing, in addition to the reliable service, that has impressed me about Vonage is the fact that I have never, ever had a rate increase since the time I signed on...

Sure, there have been rate increases around me as is to be expected, but since the time I signed on my rates have not changed. Full stop.

They seem to honour the price that you signed on for and that is it... You are grandfathered.

I really, really respect that. Who else does it? Almost no one.

I don't know if I lucked in as an early adopter in this aspect or not so YMMV, but for me, Vonage was a godsend when I decide to say f**k you to Bell about 6 years ago.