Women in Technology

Article:		Top Ten Questions People Ask About Switching to Internet Telephones
Subject:		2 issues
Date:		2005-07-07 09:59:49
From:		johnfmcbride
Two issues I don't see addressed: 1. Sure you can use your existing phone. But you have to plug that into the digital phone adapter. The digital phone adapter has to be plugged into the cable modem. Well my cable modem is upstairs and my family does most of its telephone talking downstairs in the kitchen. How do I get around this? 2. Vonage offers several options for having more than one phone, none of them very good. We have phones throughout the house, and I can't see going to just one. How do I get around this. Excellent article, btw. Thanks.

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

• 2 issues
  2006-02-28 14:08:02  jamesolsen [View]
  
  
  If you're savy, you can disconnect your house from the outside phone lines (so the lines inside your house are "dead") and then plug a simple phone line into your adapter to your wall jack, then all phones in your house are connected to the VoIP service.
  
  There are two potential problems with this:
  1) You must make sure you disconnect the outside phone service - things won't work right and you could even ruin your VoIP hardware.
  
  2) Some VoIP adapters can only supply enough current to power one or two phones. You'll want to make sure you don't overload it by plugging too many phones into the jacks throughout the house.
• 2 issues
  2006-03-01 22:15:04  James E. Gaskin | [View]
  
  
  Reworking your phones takes a bit more trouble than that, and isn't possible for those renting homes or in apartments etc. If you sell your home and move, as people do, rewiring things back to normal may be the last thing on your mind. That's why I recommend cordless handsets for most users.
  
  James
  

• 2 issues
  2005-07-07 10:11:54  James E. Gaskin | [View]
  
  
  This problem - and it is a problem - is addressed in depth in the book, and will be part of a second article to go up here soon.
  
  Short answer? Get a new cordless telephone with multiple handsets. You can play with your home phone wiring, but the details are far too involved to put here.
  
  James