Richard Hector
#Chorus #UFB phone connection question:
My parents are moving house; the new place also has fibre, but I'm not sure the previous tenants used a phone connection. To connect the phone cabling to the ONT, will it be sufficient to use a 2-way splitter in the nearest phone jack, and connect one of those ports to the TEL port of the ONT?
I'm sure a separate jack would be better, but hopefully this will do for now ...
Jun 11, 2023 at 8:36amWeb
Show threadMarkJun 11, 2023
@richardh
Chorus often install cabling from the fibre router to the phone wiring making switching a trivial bit of rewiring at the phone demarcation point. Give them a ring, or have a look yourself.
Show threadRichard HectorJun 11, 2023
@zl2tod 2 good points, thanks - I should look more closely, and I hadn't thought of calling Chorus. I just assumed it hadn't been done. The ONT is nowhere near the central cabinet though, which is a pity.
Show threadRichard HectorJun 13, 2023
@zl2tod so I haven't called Chorus, but I did have a look - the phone port isn't connected to anything. Is my double adapter plan likely to work?
Need to figure out how to test before it's active, at which point it becomes urgent. Maybe I can find an old ATA ... and hopefully not need to set up a server for it to talk to ...
Show threadMarkJun 13, 2023
@richardh
Chorus will probably sort it out if you call them.
The double adapter may work depending on a number of things:
You really don't want to be driving the incoming line all the way back to the exchange so that will need to be disconnected.
If the existing connection blocks don't have "2" cast into the front your ringers may not work.
The wiring of the connecting cables varies a bit and some won't work.
Show threadRichard HectorJun 13, 2023
@zl2tod
Thanks. It's a semi-structured setup, with everything run back to a patch panel, using BT jacks in faceplates rather than the old square blocks. I think it's all 2-wire. Cables are 2-pair, so I'm now thinking it would be better to use the spare pair for a new jack and take the 'incoming' line from the ONT back to the panel. I think I can see where the old line patches in, but it's confusingly labeled 'alarm only'. Will need to do a bit of testing to confirm.
Show threadMarkJun 13, 2023
@richardh
The incoming line is often diverted to the alarm first which then sends it back to the rest of the wiring when the alarm is not activated.
Show threadRichard HectorJun 14, 2023
@zl2tod
Ah, ok. AFAIK the alarm doesn't use a phone line; it has a cellular device in it. Will check with the alarm techs. Thanks
Show threadMarkJun 14, 2023
@richardh
Might be worth grabbing a punchdown tool, perhaps from tardme.
Show threadRichard HectorJun 14, 2023
@zl2tod
I just need to find my punchdown tools :-) And cable tester (just a simple rj45 continuity tester), and others ...