Upgrade Device

If you have a Vonage system and you use DSL internet connection and you want multiple phones to work you run into problems with inside/outside wiring.

If you just have one phone that you want connected to Vonage then everything will work out fine. Its when you plug the Vonage Router via the Telephone cable into the phone jack/biscuit you get a busy signal from the phone.

This is because with voltage running through the pair your Vonage system will send a busy signal to the tele set.

To fix this you need to send the voltage through a separate pair on the jack and have the rest of the house set to the other set.

WARNING: NID's come in all shape and sizes. It would be best to research the particular NID you are working on before continuing. Most telephone companies use Red,Green,Black,Yellow wires for working pair. This is not a hard set rule and may be different in your area. I take no responsibility for any injury you may sustain or device's you may break in the process.

For simplicity sake I will use the Red and Green pair as the current pair in use with Black and Yellow as the second pair. The pictures I'll use are random ones I've gotten from the Internet.

On the NID outside the building you will see Red and Green attached to the NID Posts. This picture uses the Red and Blue wires for a live connection.


Looking at this picture you see that Black is twisted to White and Yellow is twisted to Green. The Black and Yellow are the colors from the Telephone company the Green and White is from the installation cable.

The first thing to do is remove the live connection from the NID posts. Unplug the RJ11 connection as the picture shows. I like to mark my wires with masking tape just for reference, because you never know what can come up while your working these. Untwist the ground pair (Yellow, Black) mark them and let hang.


You will now connect the Red and Green that was originally connected to the NID posts to the pair that the Yellow and Black were originally on. Basically just switching the wiring connections.

I recommend using Scotchlok's from 3M to connect your wires instead of twisting them together, but if your in a pinch ~ twist and cap the connections.



Here is a link to Digikey to purchase Scotchloks.

You now should have a Black and Yellow pair to connect. Wrap those on the NID posts the Red and Green were on and head back inside to your wall jack.

At the wall jack you need to remove the Red and Green pair and place the Black and Yellow pair on. So if Red and Green are on the 1 and 2 connects place the Black and Yellow pair on the 1 and 2 and the Red and Green on the 3 and 4.

You now have electricity going to that jack from the NID on the Black and Yellow pair. You can plug in your DSL connection. Turn on the Modem and get sync. This will allow you to get an Internet connection for your Vonage system and computer. You can test this by plugging in a phone to the jack and you should get a busy signal.

All the other phones in the house will be on the Red and Green pair and have no electricity going to them. So when you pick up another phone in the house you will hear no busy signal or dial tone just yourself breathing into the phone.

This is where you must make a decision. You can either run a telephone cable to a non charged outlet or you can wire up a dual jack wall plate.

Here is a crappy picture of the reverse side of a dual jack plate.

I prefer the dual jack method. This way you have a live DSL connection and a dead Vonage connection all in one spot.

To do it just connect the Red and Green pair to the 1 and 2 connects on the plate back. just as all the others in the house were/are. All wall plates are wire color coded to make things simpler.

I can only recommend that you test continuity with a tone tester or at least a voltmeter before you plug your phone in. Also make sure you close up your NID box outside to protect if from the weather once you are finished.

This may seem confusing while reading it, but once you get into it you will see very quickly what is going on. You are just taking voltage from one set of wires and putting it on another then ending that connection on the other end.

I've run into problems with older house wiring that this will just not work due to other IW issues. I cannot stress enough that color scheme and NID types vary all across the world and this blog post is by no means an end all solution to the DSL Vonage problems. If you continue to have problems you can also check on the Vonage forums.

JS

There are multiple ways to install a NID splitter, but they all come down to the same thing. You want to separate the Voice, Data, and Network signals.

Sometimes there is static on the phone line or the fax machine will knock off the DSL connection among a host of other things that could confirm a reason to installing a NID Splitter.

I am using a scenario that involves a generic 66 block that you find on most Demarks, a Suttle Outdoor NID Splitter and a 4 post telephone jack or biscuit.

First thing you need to do is find the circuit that the DSL line is sharing. Sometimes it's marked and sometimes it is not. That is when you need a butt set to test the circuit. Connect your alligator clips to the 66 Block and get a drop tone and verify the circuit by calling 1-800-444-4444. This number will spit back the phone number MCI sees on their end.

If you are on the correct circuit and there is no dial tone verify with the Internet Service Provider (ISP) that you are not using dry loop DSL. If you are using a dry loop DSL there should be no reason to install a splitter, but I've seen crazier things happen.

Please take a look at my other posting on how to make a homemade Lineman's head set or butt set in one of my earlier posts if you don't have one or yours is out of commission for the moment.

Once you find the circuit take a look at how it is being used. It could be used for just the main land line or possibly the fax line. Then you will want to run this first to your voice side in the splitter all the way down to the biscuit.

Verify that you have connectivity at the splitter on the Voice Posts with another phone or your butt set. This way you know you are getting an electrical current all the way from start to finish.

After that it is all down hill. Connect a run from the 66 block to the Data posts and connect your last run from the 66 block down to the network posts.

Below is a picture of one type of proper split set up.
I hope this makes some sense to those reading. It looked much better when I created it...

The 66 Block is labeled. The NID is between the two with the 6 posts on it. Those are the Network, Voice and Data posts.

Row 1 Column 2 on the 66 Block is using a Blue and White cable and Row 1 Column 3 is using an Orange and White cable. Row 2 Column 2 is using a solid Blue cable and Row 2 Column 3 is using a solid Orange cable. (Just for clarification)

The color of the cable DOES NOT MATTER. Just keep them the same for simplicity and future use. Make sure you label the jacks if they were not before. Remember this is just ONE of many ways to install a NID Splitter. It all depends on the situation presented to you at time of install.

JS