VoIP My House -- How to quickly distribute a VoIP phone line to your entire house

VoIP My House

How to quickly distribute a VoIP phone line to your entire house

- Unlimited calling to U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico

- $4.99/month (plus taxes and government fees)

- Must purchase BasicTalk device from walmart.com

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- Unlimited calling to U.S. and over 60 other countries

- $10/month for 6 months, then $28/month

- Sign up and get a $50 e-gift card - Get full details

If you purchase Vonage, please do so via the link above<br>-->

TIP: Review this entire web page article before working on your house,<br>especially the<br>DSL warning [&sect;20] and<br>Disclaimer [&sect;23].

1. VoIP - the new way

2. POTS - the old way

3. VoIP advantages

4. VoIP disadvantages

5. POTS network interface

6. POTS phone jack

7. VoIP phone jack

8. The VoIP solution

9. An ounce of prevention

10. Ringer Equivalence Number

11. Twisted Pairs

12. Structured Wiring

13. Alarm systems

14. Color coding standards

15. Safest VoIP solution

17. Phone line polarity

18. Splicing wires

19. Verizon sucks

20. DSL warning

21. The cost of 'always on'

22. More Information

23. Disclaimer

24. Feedback

1. VoIP - Phone service the new way

VoIP = Voice over IP (internet)

Most of us have high speed Internet in our homes -- so why not use the Internet to<br>connect your whole house directly to a new (and cheaper) phone company's network?<br>Quite simply, that is what VoIP can do for you.

VoIP: 'Voice over IP': Connecting to a newer phone company's network<br>directly (via the Internet instead of by dedicated copper wire), providing you with a<br>device which provides phone service (a dial tone).

And yes,<br>you can connect your whole house to VoIP [&sect;8],<br>and you can continue to use all of the phones that you are using right now.<br>Nothing changes. You just plug your new VoIP device into a spare port on<br>the router connected to your Internet modem.

Think of switching to VoIP as simply switching to a new local & long distance phone carrier.

As of early 2014, 38% of homes no longer have POTS land lines. They have switched to VoIP,<br>or use only a cell phone.<br>source

2. POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service

Phone Company Exchange Building

POTS, or 'Plain Old Telephone Service'<br>(wiki info)<br>is the old way. There is a reason 'Old' is part of the definition of POTS.

A Telephone company ('tel co', or just 'telco') has proprietary internal high<br>speed networks (like an Internet) connected to 'central offices' (CO).<br>A CO building (example right) is usually a very plain non-descript brick<br>building in your neighborhood with no windows (for security reasons).

The CO building may have a telephone company name on the exterior of the building<br>(but many don't for security).

These central offices then run copper wire (or even fiber, like Verizon FiOS) to your<br>residence or business, providing your home with a phone line with a 'dial tone'.

The end of POTS is coming: When the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)<br>blogs about the end of POTS,<br>then that is a landmark shift in thinking by the agency that regulates POTS --<br>the end of POTS is coming.

3. The case for 'Voice over IP' (VoIP)

More Features / Lower cost:<br>VoIP phone service has tons more features, and<br>is usually much cheaper than POTS. You really can save a lot of money. Plus, you can take your VoIP<br>device with you when you travel -- and anywhere you can plug into the Internet,<br>you have a dial tone and your phone service.

TIP: Look into Walmart's BasicTalk, which<br>is just Vonage -- but without most advanced features -- so it is rock bottom inexpensive<br>(around $4.99/month)!<br>NOTE: This lower $4.99/month price (see box cover right) is currently only<br>available if you purchase BasicTalk from the<br>walmart.com web site<br>(this lower price is not yet in retail Walmart stores).<br>Sorry, it looks like Walmart no longer offers BasicTalk.

High Quality:<br>I have been using Vonage since 2005 and I can tell you first hand<br>after using my VoIP device all over the country, that call quality is<br>'excellent' -- often times better than the local phone company.

If VoIP does not work well for you (as in poor call quality), it is almost<br>certainly caused by a bad high-speed Internet connection. Look for a<br>new internet provider.

TIP: If you consider your Internet connection 'reliable', then VoIP service<br>should also be 'reliable', with excellent call quality. In one house,<br>Internet via 'cable' was horrible (constantly going up and down). But after<br>switching to DSL, Internet access has been rock solid and 'always up' ever since.<br>If you have poor cable/DSL Internet access, consider switching<br>from cable to DSL (or from DSL to cable).

Linksys PAP2 VoIP device

Vonage V-Portal VoIP device

4. The case against 'Voice over IP' (VoIP)

Reliable Internet:<br>Since VoIP works via your high speed Internet connection, your VoIP<br>call quality will be totally dependent upon the quality of your high<br>speed Internet connection. The great news is that virtually...