Vonage and Multiple Phones

Vonage is a great service. It works with just about every existing phone set up there is. Well.... almost.

I've been on some calls and seen some pretty crazy stuff that was unfixable. Usually it's the inside wiring that needs to be replaced or some rouge phone that won't work, because it was installed oddly.

Some of the easier calls I get are when a customer has multiple phones and only one is ringing through Vonage.

This is a very easy fix.

First you have to make sure that at least one phone is working with Vonage. That will make sure the electricity is off the NID and disconnected from the telephone pole and the number was ported on Vonage's end. If you don't hear any static or a busy tone or any other strange issues then you can assume all is well.

You will need:

Phone Line Splitter
2 Telephone Cords

Use a telephone line splitter and plug it into a wall jack where your old phone used to be when you had a Telco carrier.

Plug one phone cord into one side of the splitter and run that to the telephone that was plugged into your Vonage router/ATA.

Plug another phone cord into the other side and run that to the Vonage router/ATA where the working phone was plugged in at.

Working Diagram:

After it set up you can do a test call to 1-800-444-4444 and you will get a read back from MCI about what number you are calling from.

This seems like a no brainer and to regular telco guys in the field this is day one stuff, but I can't count how many calls I get that are all fixed with this set up. I just keep in mind that this is the stuff I get paid to know not the customer and I always explain to them what I did and how it works when I am finished.

If you want more in depth discussion about Vonage's Services and fixes for complex or baffling problems with the Vonage Service go to the Vonage Forum. Here you will find other field techs and intelligent people with WAY more experience than me that can answer just about every question you will have.

JS