Page 5 of 12

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:32 am
by southsound
exp_ops wrote:I currently have an Ooma Hub, with dialtone working to all the jacks in addition to my home alarm.

The reason for the post is I want to make sure it is hooked up correctly. Prior to Ooma I had digital voice service through my cable provider, at the time of install the dial tone to the alarm did not work. Cable company came out and fixed this by bringing out a another jack that was off the orange/white pair of my cabling. I plugged into this with my old VOIP cable phone(now Ooma) and everything works OK I'm assuming they also did some work at the breakout box in my house to support everything?

I assume that the cable guys disconnected everything properly, but do I need to double check their work at the NIB box outside? If not disconnected, and I disconnect should I expect everything to work OK?

Best and thanks,
Matt
It sounds line you had some pretty competent people doing the cable VOIP install that included feeding your alarm system from the orange/white pair and a new jack. That is very good news because their work is just what you needed for your ooma to function properly and ooma doesn't provide onsite technicians. It would not hurt to check out your NIB to see if the plugs that connect the house wiring to the telco central office have been disconnected - but make sure you don't mess with any of the actual wiring unless you are really sure of what you are doing.

Have you done some alarm tests with your monitoring company to verify that the cable folks got it right? If so, then you should be all set. Welcome to ooma and feel free to reply with any other questions.

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:10 am
by lbmofo
Hi SouthSound,

Here is a pic of my NIB. I guess for my kind of NIB, no male plugs to couple to connect the house wiring L1 and L2 :)

The cover hatch would unplug from the test jack as it opens, disconnecting Telco from the house.

Here is what I am thinking, please tell me if I got it correct.

The red and green screws are ring and tip from Telco.

To disconnect the house wiring from Telco, I'd just need to get the wires off the screws.

I am thinking the 2 sets of L1 (blue) coming from 2 sets of wire bunches connected to the screws are for 1) alarm and 2) rest of the house.

Assuming I got everything straight so far...

After pulling the wires off the screws to disconnect from telco, do I just connect the 2 sets of blue and 2 sets of orange wires together to connect L1 and L2 within the house?

What would be the best method to get he wires connected?

Thanks.

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:41 am
by southsound
Answer deleted as I was getting confused from a new poster who was tagging on to an existing thread without giving enough information to give a valid answer.

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:22 pm
by lbmofo
My original post
Your reply
My new reply


southsound wrote:
lbmofo wrote:Hi SouthSound,

Here is a pic of my NIB. I guess for my kind of NIB, no male plugs to couple to connect the house wiring L1 and L2 :)
The cover hatch would unplug from the test jack as it opens, disconnecting Telco from the house.
This the newer kind of NIB - the little hinged plugs act just like the corded plugs.

Okay, so the hinged plugs are connected to the red/green ring/tip screws?

Here is what I am thinking, please tell me if I got it correct.
The red and green screws are ring and tip from Telco.
To disconnect the house wiring from Telco, I'd just need to get the wires off the screws.
Correct - unless you can manage to put the cover back on without the hinged plugs making contact. I have seen some covers that allow that. If yours does not, disconnecting the wires (keeping the white/blue wires together and separate from the blue/white ones) and making sure they are insulated from each other will do just what you are after.

Got you on keeping the rings together and tips together also making sure to insulate them.

My understanding of the coloring:

R1 = blue with white stripe/mark
T1 = white with blue stripe/mark

R2 = orange with white stripe/mark
T2 = white with orange stripe/mark

On top of disconnecting house wires from the telco, I also want to feedback from ooma Hub through L2 all the way to the NIB and then connect L2 to L1 at the NIB so that any alarm line seizures won't disrupt the ooma Hub feedback.

To do this, (after getting R1 and T1 off of the screws) do I just connect R1 to R2 and T1 to T2 from both wire bunches?


I am thinking the 2 sets of L1 (blue) coming from 2 sets of wire bunches connected to the screws are for 1) alarm and 2) rest of the house.
This would be unusual. It looks like wiring where there is no alarm installed. With a properly installed alarm, the alarm panel supervises control over your phone line - what that means is that only one pair (T & R) would go to the telco central office from the RJ31 that serves the panel - all of the phones are connected to the other side of the RJ31 (T1 & R1). If there were phones connected directly to the NIB they could be used to disrupt an alarm report.

What you said about "unusual" make sense; I guess if any phones are connect directly at the NIB, disruptions would be possible; not sure why there are 2 L1s going to telco. From NIB, these wires go to an OnQ panel (OnQ 1x11 Basic Telecom Module 363484-01; there is one RJ31 jack marked "Security" that the alarm is plugged into). I doubt it but would that 1 RJ31 jack enable line seizures for both L1s at the OnQ panel?

Assuming I got everything straight so far...
After pulling the wires off the screws to disconnect from telco, do I just connect the 2 sets of blue and 2 sets of orange wires together to connect L1 and L2 within the house?
What would be the best method to get he wires connected?
The white/orange pairs in your NIB are still coiled for future use. This leads me to believe that the cable installers wired their jack directly to the RJ31. I would not do anything with the wiring in the NIB except to either (1) leave the hinged plugs in the out (disconnected) position if the cover will allow that or (2) disconnect the wires as discussed above and insulate them with a good grade of electrical tape - or if you have some, scotchlok connectors.

I never had cable digital phone service. I got the house new so no cable guys ever messed wtih my wires to provide VoIP service.

Thanks.
It sounds like the only thing you need to do here is to make sure you are disconnected from the utility's wiring just to prevent any noise or possible backfeed to the utility - I would not reconnect anything regarding the alarm since it has worked well with the cable system and now the ooma.

I guess unless I want to be adventurous and figure out which of the 2 wire bunches are not needed, after getting the wires off the screws, I'd go ahead and feedback from ooma Hub through L2 and at the NIB, connect both wire bunch's L1 and L2 together?

(Bunch 1 R1 connected to R2) connected to (Bunch 2 R1 connected to R2)
(Bunch 1 T1 connected to T2) connected to (Bunch 2 T1 connected to T2)


Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:05 pm
by southsound
lbmofo,

Please forgive me for getting you confused with exp_ops who was using a cable VOIP before and had his/her cable company come out and do some special wiring to put the cable VOIP signal where it needs to be. I have no idea where your alarm is wired because your wiring looks pretty straight forward as if there is no alarm installed. Please disregard my previous answers as they are based on bad assumptions.
lbmofo wrote:My number port isn't complete yet so ooma Hub's local and toll free calls are still routed through the landline; this is when I hear a loud buzzing background noise (if I connect my phone directly to the wall outlet, the buzz is less pronounced but it is still there; discovered through leaving myself VMs, to the other party, the buzz is loud all the time; it doesn't matter if my phone is connected to wall jack or ooma Hub).

Today, I went to the NIB outside the house and plugged my phone directly into the landline telephone company (via test jack) and I still hear the buzzing noise. So for me, I am sure the buzzing isn't coming from my ooma Hub or the house wiring. I am amazed that I lived with this annoying buzzing noise on my landline for all these years (ooma Hub made me notice and focus in on this buzzing noise; it isn't ooma Hub's fault, the Hub just amplifies the buzzing).

When I make long distance calls, I have no buzzing noise in the background and the voice quality is exceptionally clear; I am so looking forward to my number port completing so that I can enjoy crystal clear calls long distance or not.
So at this point I don't know if you have DSL or cable as your ISP - If you really want clear answers, why not try posting a new thread with enough details that we can make an appropriate response?

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:38 am
by lbmofo
Not a problem at all ;)

I might just do as you suggested; post a new thread and start over.

I am going to do some playing around with the wires this weekend. Can't hurt because when the plugs are out, the house wires are isolated, no risk of shock when someone calls.

I lived in my house since new for almost 10 years now. I've had DSL until recently and I moved on to Cable internet (just broadband service). I've had the same 1 landline number since moving in. I installed ADT right after I moved in. I watched the tech plug in the alarm plug into the "security" jack on the OnQ panel (I am thinking RJ31) and had the alarm operate that way since. I haven't tested if alarm's line seizure works and I am not sure if the ADT installer ever tested it.

From your experience, what would be the most common reason why 2 sets of L1 are connected to Telco at the NIB?

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:20 pm
by lbmofo
Good news SouthSound.

Image

I was wondering why there are 2 L1s connected to the Telco so I did some playing around with the wires yesterday.

Turns out only 1 bunch is connected to all the phone jacks throughout the house; RJ31 jack on the OnQ panel properly handles line seizure when this L1 is connected to the Telco.

The other L1 from the other bunch is apparently connected directly to a 4 port jack in the den (because when that L1 is connected to the Telco, no other jacks in the house had dial tone; no dial tone on the OnQ panel either (RJ31 and another "line" jack). Whoever wired the NIB shouldn't have connected this L1 to the Telco because a phone connected would have been able to disrupt alarm system call outs.

Anyway, now, I know exactly what to do. Distribute ooma Hub's phone + wall back to the NIB using Den's L1 and then connect it at the NIB to the L1 that feeds the house so that my alarm line seizure would work properly. :) Can't wait until number porting is complete.

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:12 pm
by southsound
Great news! It seems like when the house was wired it was assumed that at some point you would move from standard telco service and either the alarm installer or the builder gave you an easy way to connect VOIP without disrupting line siezure or needing to run additional wires. All alarm companies and/or builders should be so kind!

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:22 pm
by lbmofo
southsound wrote:Great news! It seems like when the house was wired it was assumed that at some point you would move from standard telco service and either the alarm installer or the builder gave you an easy way to connect VOIP without disrupting line siezure or needing to run additional wires. All alarm companies and/or builders should be so kind!
Yeah, I lucked out for sure. :D

So this Scotchlok connector you speak of, that we can get from Lowes or Home Depot, do they look like this?

Re: Dial Tone through out home

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:07 pm
by southsound
That's the one. They are gel filled and completely seal the connection when you press the button with your pliers. They come in several sizes and are made for specific numbers of wires so make sure you buy the right ones. The other option is called a "beanie" but they are most often used by telco and alarm installers. They come in both the gel filled and plain varieties. I have never seen them sold in quantities of less than 50 so the Scotchlok connectors may be a better choice.

Image
- Wire "Beanie" Connector