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Can I Use My Regular AT&T Phone Service And A Voip Phone In My Home At The Same Time?
I have had U-verse 450 for appx. four years, in addition to AT&T Internet, home phone and a five line cell phone service. I don't watch TV but I subscribed to the U-verse 450 so that My Chinese wife and stepson could improve their English. I cancelled the U-verse 450 part of my bundle because they no longer need it but I still have my home phone, Internet and cell phone service, all provided by AT&T. When I cancelled my U-verse service I returned the receivers, remotes and the wiring. My modem/router (3801HGV) and battery did not have to be returned so it remains the same.
I have Dish TV with the Great Wall package so that they can enjoy many Chinese channels. I didn't go with Direct TV for the Chinese channels because Direct doesn't offer any good Chinese packages. I am now going to cancel my Dish TV service because I have decided to go with italkbb, which offers many more Chinese channels at a substantially lower price.
Now, for the meat of the matter. I want to retain my AT&T landline phone while also using the italkbb VOIP service so that my wife and stepson can have their family members and friends in China call them here in the U.S. free of charge and vice-versa using the italkbb VOIP phone. I don't think I'll be violating any of my AT&T service terms. I use a three phone Panasonic 6.0 plus system for my AT&T home phone service and I have my older Panasonic three phone 6.0 system that I will use for the italkbb VOIP phone service. I may be wrong, but I assume that my AT&T home phone service coming through my U-verse modem is not VOIP because I have the Linebacker service for it. The italkbb VOIP phone service will plug into the italkbb box, which will connect to my AT&T 3801HGV modem through either Ethernet cable or wirelessly. I haven't decided yet which way to go.
Is it possible to have both services in my home at the same time? That is my question. I would certainly appreciate any feedback from those who have the knowledge pertaining to this matter. Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance provided.
Accepted Solution
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aviewer
Expert
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10.1K Messages
10 years ago
If you move that base station to the RG & plug it in to the phone 1/2 jack you will get dial tone. You want to to be prepared to do that if you ever gave a problem with the phone. If you have no dial tone at that jack, it is an att problem. If you have dial tone , at that jack & lose it when you to the wall jack, it is your responsibility.
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aviewer
Expert
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10.1K Messages
10 years ago
Both services will have an analog tel connection to connect phones. These two will need to be kept separate.
One way is to have totally separate wiring.
tel wiring is designed to carry two lines. One on the red/green wires (center prongs of RJ-11 connector) and one on the black, yellow ( outer prongs). Two line phones take advantage of this convention. That is, a two line phone system (wired or wireless could be connected to the two analog access points using a two line splitter.
The two Panasonic phone systems sound similar enough that they may not work independently on two different lines. Or, maybe they will keep the two lines apart. Probably, there is a pairing number to keep them separate.
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julywashere
Guru
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349 Messages
10 years ago
If you use U-Verse and your phone service is provided through your RG, you are using VoIP. AT&T U-verse phone is VoIP. You'll be able to use your other VoIP service using the set-up you have (One set of phones for AT&T U-Verse Phone, and another for your additional VoIP service.) If you're in two simultaneous calls on U-Verse and your additional VoIP service, and for any reason line quality degrades, U-Verse Phone will have preference and you may experience quality degradation for your additional VoIP service. (This is very unlikely, though.)
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sichuan
Teacher
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19 Messages
10 years ago
I thank both of you for your replies, aviewer and julywashere. Your responses were very quick and I appreciate it very much. Actually, the Panasonic 6.0 Plus phone system I use for my AT&T home phone is plugged into an ordinary phone jack in the wall of my living room, the power connection plugged into an electrical outlet in the living room, and the two other phones simply have a power adapter plugged into electrical outlets in two bedrooms, which I assume is for charging the rechargeable batteries in the phones. I assume they receive their connections wirelessly from the unit in the living room.There are no phone lines coming out of the 3801HGV modem.
I had AT&T Internet and the AT&T home phone service, in addition to my AT&T wireless plan, before I added the U-verse 450, if that is any help to you. I used a different AT&T 2Wire modem, which did not use a battery backup, before the U-verse TV installation, at which time they provided the 3801HGV modem and a battery backup.
EDIT: I just remembered that when my U-verse TV would stop working in the past, I also lost my Internet connection but I'm not sure whether or not I lost my home phone service at the same time. I have also lost phone service only in the past and the Internet connection and U-verse TV were not affected. Does this make sense to you?
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aviewer
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10.1K Messages
10 years ago
sichuan - OK, I was thinking you have u-verse voice. But, it now sounds more like POTS - Plain Old Telephone service. It is with at&t & you get a separate bill. It is a DC service (not VOIP). It removes any possibility of conflict with the service you are considering.
EDIT: If you would like to learn more, check this out - http://forums.att.com/t5/U-verse-General-Care-and-Support/How-did-voice-data-and-TV-service-evolve-and-how-do-they-fit/m-p/3903831#M23489
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julywashere
Guru
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349 Messages
10 years ago
@aviewer, you're right. It does sound like POTS, although it's odd that they'd provide him with a battery backup if he's not U-Voice.
@sichuan, your VoIP service will work, regardless. As far as your Panasonic phones, you'll just have to ensure you register with them with the BASE station when you set them up, and if their battery dies, or you can have some bad interference. If your VoIP adapter doesn't work out of the box, you may need to configure the appropriate ports on your 3801.
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sichuan
Teacher
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19 Messages
10 years ago
ALL MODEM PORTS WILL BE LABELED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM ON THE MODEM:
OK, I have some more information, after closely looking at the modem. The top port on the back of the modem (port 1) has a green wire coming out of it. The description of this port is Phone Lines 1&2. This green wire goes to one of two input connections on a small white box that has handwritten on it "Data Tone Signal" and the white box is two an one half inches by three and one quarter inches. The identifier tag on this green wire is 6001-000110-000 and it also says "data cable". Going into the second input connection on the same small white box is the green wire from the seventh port of my 3801HGV modem and this green wire has a white tag on it that says DATA CABLE. This seventh modem port down is labeled DSL (the sixth and seventh modem ports are bracketed as Broadband, the sixth port being empty). There is a small diamater white cable coming out of this same white box that goes under the room and into my crawl space. I don't know where it goes from there.
Modem ports 2, 3, 4 and five are for Ethernet connections and three of them are being used; one for my desktop computer, one for my stepson's desktop computer located in the next bedroom and one for when I connect to compuers that I am fixing for other people when necessary. The number six port down is colored pink or orange and is empty. Port number 7 is labeled Data and this green wire is the one I mentioned earlier that also goes into the small white box mentioned earlier. The number 8 port on the modem is labeled "Cable" and coming out of this port is a larger diamater white cable identified as SUPERIOR E**EX J RG6 TRI-SHIELD COAXIAL CABLE 75 OHM. This cable goes down into the crawl space and I assume it goes to the AT&T box on the side of my house. I don't know. And of course, the bottom wire coming out of my modem is a black wire to the battery. Nevertheless, my AT&T home phone is simply connected to a regular telephone jack in the living room wall, as mentioned before.
I apologize for my ignorance and the fact that I did not include this information in my first post.
LOL. I tried to post this reply and it was denied because I used the word S E X, which of course is part of my definition of the large diameter white cable coming out of port 8. This is why there are two asterisks in SUPERIOR E**EX.
EDIT: aviewer, I never received a seperate bill for my AT&T home Phone. It was included in the bundled bill that covers all services. However, I have not received a new bill since the U-verse 450 was removed. I may in fact get seperate billing in the future. I don't know.
julywashere, I assume BASE station is the main unit of my Panasonic three-phone 6.0 systems. The phones registered automatically as soon as I initially powered them up. I don't know if both systems use the same frequency. I suppose I will find out when I hook up the second (older) Panasonic system.
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sichuan
Teacher
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19 Messages
10 years ago
Thanks for the information, aviewer. I have Linebacker service with my home phone so I don't have to pay if there is a line problem within the house. AT&T has been here before concerning line problems and I never had to pay. I also keep a corded phone in the basement and a spare corded phone in storage in case I lose electrical power from AEP and must depend on a regular wall phone jack.
Anyway, considering what you and julywashere have told me I should be able to simply plug my secondary Panasonic 6.0 phone system into the back of the italkbb box and have the itlkbb VOIP service working through the italkbb Internet connection. I don't really know.
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aviewer
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10.1K Messages
10 years ago
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sichuan
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19 Messages
10 years ago
Thank you again, aviewer, for your assistance. I appreciate both you and julywashere assisting me. It's nice to know that people with the proper knowledge are willing to spend their time assisting those of us who know little.
One last question. Since my AT&T home phone is VOIP does that mean that if I have a need to call 911 they will not know my location from the phone data alone? It's my understanding that VOIP phones will not display the actual location of the call.
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