Can an ATA be used with an Eircom line connected?

[Macker]

Hi,
I read somewhere that you should disconnect the Eircom line before connecting your ATA to your telephone jack, as the power could damage the ATA - is this correct?

Also, if you connect the ATA to the "entry" wall jack (e.g. Hall Phone connection!), can you now use your other phones in the house on VoIP - as the ATA is generating the dial tone for all phones connected throughout the house? Meaning you've connected your old phone "system" to the ATA by connecting it to one wall connection?

My plan is to disconnect from Eircom, but I'm worried that they will take a while to disconnect me and the ATA gets damaged in that time. I want to be able to use our existing house phones in their respective rooms using Blueface.

(Yes, I am new to this!).

[Al.]

Hi Macker,
The most convenient way to use multiple handsets with an ATA is to use multiple DECT handsets with the base station connected to the ATA.

The phone port* on an ATA is designed to be connected to a single phone; it's not designed to be connected to a phone line (wall socket).

If you wanted to re-use the existing twister pair wire in the house then you would need to disconnect the main feed from eircom first; and there's no guarantee that the ATA can supply the power to get a decent signal through the circuit to the other phone(s).

* I'm talking about the FXS port. There are ATAs which have PSTN passthorugh and failover which do have FXO sockets for connecting to wall jacks, but since you're planning on dumping your eircom line these won't apply.

hth.

[Macker]

"If you wanted to re-use the existing twister pair wire in the house then you would need to disconnect the main feed from eircom first; and there's no guarantee that the ATA can supply the power to get a decent signal through the circuit to the other phone(s)"

Thanks Al.
I got the impression, from friends and from some Internet sites, that this was a common setup (using the existing twisted pair circuit) and that one of the benefits of VoIP was being able to use your existing phones.
Are there any ATAs able to give the power to run three or four phones?
In your experience, how long will Eircom take to disconnect the connection?
Thanks,
Macker:

[Al.]

Originally Posted by Macker

I got the impression, from friends and from some Internet sites, that this was a common setup (using the existing twisted pair circuit) and that one of the benefits of VoIP was being able to use your existing phones.

Yes re-using your existing phones is an advantage.
But I'm not aware of anyone using VoIP in the manner you've described (if anyone out there is - shout up!).
As mentioned in my previous post some ATAs (e.g. Grandstream 486) allow for an FXO connection to the wall socket. The ATA is capable of using VoIP AND of using the PSTN directly for outgoing calls.

Are there any ATAs able to give the power to run three or four phones?
In your experience, how long will Eircom take to disconnect the connection?
Thanks,
Macker:

The ATA's we have typically have 2 phone ports and I expect they'd have enough power for a couple of phones each, particularly if the phones have their own power supply and so it's only signal degradation that's an issue.

[Martin]

Originally Posted by Al.

Yes re-using your existing phones is an advantage.
But I'm not aware of anyone using VoIP in the manner you've described (if anyone out there is - shout up!).

I use exactly that configuration and it works a treat. Only caveat is, as you mentioned, make sure you physically disconnect the incoming Eircom Line from your house's internal wiring. This can normally be done at the NTU closest to where your line comes into the house. When eircom "disconnect" your line, its normally just a soft disconnect and there can be still up to 48V DC on the line.

I found it more convenient to connect the ATA to the internal wiring at "the other end" rather than at the point where I had just disconnected the Eircom line. i.e. my ATA was closest to one of the wall jacks upstairs rather than the front door!

BTW I agree that using DECT phones with the ATA is as good an option. I actually use the internal wiring to "extend" the RJ11 socket to where my DECT base unit is located. Most ATA's should be able to handle a number of phones hanging off them in parallel... check the REN value for the phones you are connecting to the ATA and check the specs for your ATA for what it can handle. As a general rule of thumb each phone has a REN of 1 (although most modern phones are less than this) and Eircom support up to REN 5 or 5 phones with a REN of 1 (from memory).

Hope this helps!

[Buffer]

I've been using my house's original phone wiring with my ATA connected to blueface for almost a year. I made some notes about it a couple of months back but then never got around to posting them.

In case any of you would like simple instructions about how to re-activate your old phone sockets using an ATA, here they are.

Not only does this allow you to re-use your old phones, chances are that the standard phone sockets in your house are in convenient locations, but your internet connection might not be. For example, I like to have the cordless phone base station centrally located where I can hear it ring.

Instead of connecting the phone port of your ATA to an analogue phone, you connect the phone port to a domestic phone socket, using a standard phone cable with an RJ11 plug on each end. This will make your domestic phone circuit live, so that you can connect phones to the other sockets around the house.

This all works because standard phone wiring is trivial and all branches are fully connected. However, there are two essential steps to making sure that this works:

1. Physically disconnect your domestic phone circuit from the outside world, as described below.

2. Check your ATA’s REN to ensure it supports multiple extensions. I have a Digium IAXy which has a REN=5.0, and I’ve connected three extensions each with REN=1.0, so that’s no problem.

Even though your old phone service will have previously been disconnected, your phone circuit will still be physically connected to the local exchange and there will be a current on the phone line which will prevent the ATA from working.

To disconnect from the local exchange, you’ll have to identify where it enters your house. This might be at a box on an external wall or it might be in a ‘master’ phone socket, most often located inside the front door. Once you find it, it should be simple to disconnect. Make sure you note how it was wired so that you can reconnect it in the future. Check all socket points afterwards, because if you disconnect at the wrong place, you might just be cutting off one of your extensions.

Hope this is helpful to someone ...
Buffer.