icemaninil's profile

Tutor

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4 Messages

Tuesday, June 17th, 2014 2:33 PM

Uverse on Multiple Phone Jacks

I am totally confused about installing my uverse interenet and voice service, which is scheduled for self installation tomorrow (7/18) after 8 pm.  I am finding conflicting information on the att support website and various forums...how do I set up the voice so that I can use all the phone jacks in my house?  The agent I chatted with last night said I simply need to connect the 'Phone 1 & 2' jack on the gateway to an exisitng phone jacks will then have a dialtone.  Won't I get interference from the internet connection if I do that? Other information I read indicated that I need to disconnect a wire in the Network Interface box outside my home.  Yet other information I have read indicates that I will need a technician to come out in order to make this happen. THere is no infomriaton in the set-up kit that I recieved that indicates how to set up all the phone jacks.  It only shows how to connect one phone directly to the gateway.

 

Also, I am switching service from my current AT&T DSL and phone service and I am not getting uverse TV.  I currently have DSL filters on each of the phone jacks.  Do I need to keep those filters on each of the jacks or remove them?

 

Please help.

ACE - Expert

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34.7K Messages

10 years ago

To use U-verse voice on all your home extensions, you have to backfeed dialtone from the RG on to your house wiring.  This will be difficult on a self install, since the blue pair will likely be carrying the DSL signal to your RG.


What you would need to do to accomplish this would be:

  1. Change the wiring at your NID to move the data from the blue pair to some other pair (green or orange).  Be sure that the blue pair in your home is disconnected from any external wiring (this is important).  
  2. Ensure that the pair you select gets to the wallplate where you want to have your RG intact (continuity check)
  3. Change your wallplate at the RG out for a two-jack wall plate and wire one normally (center pair blue) and another one with your chosen pair on the center *OR* Get a RJ11 splitter that will plug into your wall jack at the RG wall plate and split your chosen DSL pair on to the center two connections.  
  4. Plug a cable from the data connector on the RG to your DSL pair jack, and the LINE 1 connector to the jack with the blue pair in the middle (the normal jack).  This brings the DSL signal into the RG and allows it to "back feed" the dialtone on the center pair through the house.

 

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

icemaninil - DSL can distribute both DSL and POTS throughout the house to appear on each jack. In this case a filter can be applied to a jack to use it for POTS instead of DSL.

Uverse does not want all these jacks. It wants one dedicated line to one jack for u-verse service to the gateway. Since you do not have POTS that would be the only connection to the NID.
It is correct that if you connect from the tel jack on the gateway to a house jack (other than the one serving the gateway - not possible if you plug-in the gateway first) that is connected to all the other house jacks, dial tone will be available throughout the house.

In summary, connect only one pair at the NID to feed the modem, connect the tel jack on the gateway to any other house jack to distribute dial tone. Make sure these house wires are NOT connected at the NID. You do not need DSL filters. You can do these things or have a tech do it. The house wiring is your responsibility. Check out what you have & decide if you can follow the rules above. Post again if you have more questions.

Tutor

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4 Messages

10 years ago

Thank you for the information.  Unfortunately, I am not knowledgable enough to know quite what to do yet?  I will have to take some time educating myself to be able to know what to try pairing or disconnecting.  Fortunately, it is not a 'life or death' situation. 

 

I've attached a picture of the inside of my NIB. It looks different than most of the images that I have seen online.  I'm not sure if I should be focused more on the right side of the box or the left side of the box when looking to make the changes.  Any hints or suggestions would be helpful.

 

IMAG0067.jpg

 

I am a bit frustrated with AT&T and the agent I chatted with when I was first looking to order the service.  Although she wasn't directly misleading, she certainly wasn't forth coming with all the information.  I did ask if the uverse voice would work on all the phone jacks in the house and she indicated that it could be set up that way.  However, she should have made it clear that it would probably require a technician rather than a self install. But, maybe I'll be able to figure this out on my own. In the end, I can always get some additional extensions for my cordless phone.  But, I was really hoping that I would at least have the wall phone in my first floor kitchen wired so that I had at least one wired phone connected.  (My gateway is going to be on the second floor in a bedroom.  Sure, seems kind of silly for AT&T to provide a battery backup for the gateway if a cordless phone is going to be attached to it anyways)

 

Again, thanks for the information.

1 Attachment

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

I see that Jeffer posted another method of accomplishing your goal. It is a good method, as well.

I guess I focus on a dedicated line to the RG because it seems simple and consistent to me. But, I realize it may not be able to accoplish using an existing cable or a new cable. But, it is a choice.

If you start using different wires in the same cable, it would be a good idea to leave a note( & maybe a diagram of how it is wired) in the box, so anyone that comes along does not have to try to figure it out.

Another I like is to use a double jack wall plate at the RG location - one is the u-verse feed & the other is the dial tone back feed. This is easily done with either different pairs in the same cable or different cables. All you have to remember is - The signal (U-verse or tel) is connected to the center contacts on the jack. That is where a standard cord/device will be connected.

Tutor

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4 Messages

10 years ago

Thanks for responding again.  I did some searching this afternoon and I think i 'get it' now!  I found a youtube video that was also very helpful.  (Link below).

 

What is interesting is that what I have found is that the phone wiring in my home is inconsistent.  When I look at the NIB, the red and green are wired consistently (i.e. red to red and green to green).  But, the yellow and black from AT&T are connected to the blue and white wires going into my home. The ends of the yellow and black are in the NIB but not connected to anything. 

 

When I pulled ta couple of jacks in my home I found one jack (the one I will be using for the RB) with only the red and green are connected to the jack.   The yellow and black are there but not connected and I can't find the blue and white. Another jack had the red and green, and green and the yellow and black connected to the 4 terminals on the jack (but since the yellow and black aren't connected and the NIB, they probably aren't carrying any traffic.)  I haven't checked the other jacks yet but will do so before making changes. I'm surprised at the inconsistencies.  ( I probably shouldn't be.  I live in a town home and over the years have found a lot of short cuts that the builder took when contructing the place.). 

 

What I think I need to do is disconnect the red and green (as well as the blue and white) at the NIB and cap them.  Then connect the yellow and black (going in the house) to the red and green coming from AT&T.  Then install a dual jack with the yellow and green connected to the center wires on one jack (for the DSL), and the red and green connected to the center on the other (for the connection to the phones). 

 

Does that seem correct?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8I2Vv7SXWM

 

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

In standard house telephone wiring r/g carry the first line on the center jack pins & Y/B carry the second line on the outer jack pins. Certainly you can connect them any way that works. Since most houses do not have a second line the Y/B connection is not required.

I have a concern about the r/g/y/b cable. It is not adequate u-verse TV. Since it is used for DSL, it may be OK for just internet.

What you really want is cat5. The blue pair indicates cat5. Can you figure out where it goes?

ACE - Expert

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34.7K Messages

10 years ago

I noticed in your picture that it appears that you have two quad (R/G/Y/B) cables in your NID.  Do you have only two phone wallplates in your home currently?  I'm wondering if each quad cable goes to one wall plate (and if so, which).  This complicates your situation a bit.  I was picturing that you had Cat3 (or newer) twisted pair snaking throughout your home from the NID.  That is obviously not the case.

 

As aviewer said, the quad wiring is older, pre-1980s wiring.  The twisted pair wiring is preferred because of noise reduction, but depending on the speed you run, you might get away with it, though it has a higher chance of crosstalk between the pairs.

 

Tutor

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4 Messages

10 years ago

Here is what I found after look at the various jacks in my home.  Both cables from the NIB contain 6 wires, solid red/solid green/solid yellow/ solid black/solid blue/solid white.     So, I don't think the blue and white are cat5.  They are just two additional wires in the cables running into the house.  The red and green wires of both cables are connected at the NIB.  I suspect, but am not certain that one cable goes to the upstairs and the other to the downstairs.  

 

There is one jack has another cable with only 4 wires (solid red/solid green/solid yellow/solid black) that appears to have been tapped off of the cable in the bedroom where I will have the RG.  This additional cable doesn't appear to go to the NIB.  It just runs between two rooms  After investigating further, I was able to find the solid blue/solid white wires there connected to the red and green on the cable running to that jack.  The jack is located behind furniture in another room.  I have never used it (forgot it was even there). But, when I tried connecting a phone to it tonight (both with or without a DSL filter), i don't get a dial tone (which I expected since I don't have a second phone line).  In other words, the solid blue and the solid white wires aren't currently being used.  Maybe the previous owner used it for a second line or something, who knows.  Only one of the six wire cables has the solid b/w wires connected at the NIB.

 

So, here is my plan, we'll see how well it works...

 

Tomorrow after 8 pm, when my uverse service is supposed to be ready, I'll set up my RG as planned and connect just one phone directly to it for now.  This means it will be running across the red/green wires.  I only have Uverse Internet Elite (6mb download speed) and Voice, not uverse TV.  So I hope the wiring is sufficient for that.  I am coming off AT&T DSL Pro (3mb download speed) which has been running off of that same set of wires for years without much of a problem. 

 

Assuming that works as planned for a day or two, I'll try working on the wiring to see if I can get the VOIP to work across all the phone lines.  First I will disconnect the b/w from the 'tapped' line. I'll use the b/w for the Internet connection.  I'll switch the b/w at the NIB from where it is currently connected to the connections curently being used for r/g.  Then I'll splice the red and green wires at the NIB with the 'Jellybean' caps.  I'll install a dual jack where I will have the RG set up and connect the b/w wires to the center posts for one jack (internet connection) and the r/g wires to the center posts for the other jack (to connect to the phones).  I'll leave the y/b wires alone since I apparently don't need to use them. Hopefully this gives me the desired result of being able to use multiple phones with the uverse voice.  If not, I'll change the set up back to the original config and go with plan B...some additional extensions for my cordless phone.

 

Thanks again guys for all your excellant help.  I'm learning a lot more than I ever imagined about the phone wiring in my home.

 

Contributor

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2 Messages

8 years ago

That link to Youtube is no longer available. Bummer; I'm SO frustrated with same situation; I was told my kitchen phone line would still work, along with its existing answering machine, after i hooked up the Uvoice (U Verse email). Not so; that line is now dead. I also tested it with my cord  phone. 

Expert

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20.4K Messages

8 years ago

@Leesutter  Did you ask the tech to do that?  He'd just have to back feed the phone line back into the phone circuit at the Nid.  Then all your old phone locations would work. 😉

 

Edit:  If self-install, tech install would have done that for you.

 

Chris
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