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Comments From Page: https://www.whichvoip.com/articles/multiple-phones-around-the-house.htm
#18 : Posted by Frankie on February 20th, 2021:
I have one landline phone, can I use different extension number let say #1 me #2 wife #3 son
-> Response: For residential service normally you only have one extension. Businesses usually have multiple extensions for each phone but you pay for each one. If you have a cordless set you could intercom between each handset though.
#17 : Posted by Mike Rabin on February 12th, 2021:
I have always had WIRED LANDLINE phone service in my home, and am thinking of switching to digital phone service. I know NOTHING about digital, but have the impression that a "central" digital installation is plugged into my internet modem. If that is the case, what happens to my FOUR EXTENSION PHONES in other rooms than that central digital installation? I.e, with the phone jacks in the walls in the other rooms NOT receiving phone signals anymore (when I switch to digital), how DO they receive phone service, when the extension phones are as much as 25 feet from the room where the digital phone installation is plugged into my internet modem? (By the way, I have NO IDEA what "VolP" is!)
-> Response: Most people will use cordless phone systems for this very reason so you can still have multiple phones scattered across your home. Alternatively you can follow the advice in the article regarding the demarcation point at the house to isolate the external landline from your home and then use the VoIP adapter the VoIP company ships you to connect to the jacks in the house. I personally don't like that as it is riskier and often the adapter only has enough drive in it for a few phones. So most scenarios connect the VoIP adapter to your Internet modem and a wire to your cordless base and then use cordless devices across the house.
#16 : Posted by Alice on December 22nd, 2020:
How do I disconnect my verizon fios coming into my house now that I use Spectrum VOIP so I can use my existing phone jacks for additional phones? I see the old wiring in the demarcation box but there is other wiring when verizon put in FIOS.
-> Response: It's a tough one to answer without seeing pictures. Also keep in mind that the ATA adapter that Spectrum likely supplied typically only has enough power to drive a few phones so this could be problematic even if you do figure out the wiring. My recommendation is to just use a cordless system instead of using the internal wiring.
#15 : Posted by Sam T Hamra Md on October 17th, 2020:
I need 7 phones in my 2 story house. Cordless phones seem to be the answer. Do I buy the cordless phones separately or is there a package to get it all with one company?
-> Response: I would just buy the cordless phones from somewhere such as Costco and then connect the base to the adapter you will be shipped by your service provider.
#14 : Posted by Eric on July 30th, 2020:
3.5 acres with 3 buildings. Had everything hard wired to the ATA but lightning kept killing them (all wire was buried). Now using an ATA in each building on one network which is connected from building to building via a great wireless system, even video streaming works great. Problem is, I can call out from any building but lately I have stopped receiving calls or just not in the building that has the ringing phone. Any ideas?
-> Response: It sounds like maybe your VoIP provider is not supporting multiple registrations for incoming calls. In other words each ATA is acting as the same extension and successfully registering with the provider's servers. They are allowing you to make calls from any ATA but for incoming calls they are sending the call only to the first ATA that was registered.
You could test this by turning off two of the ATA devices and calling in from a cell phone. Do this for each building and verify that each test call works. If so then you need to talk to your provider as they may be able to fix this for you. If not I think you need each ATA set up as its own extension and a ring group for inbound calls that calls all three. This is more like a business feature though.
#13 : Posted by Miriam on April 19th, 2020:
How can I use a cordless phone answering machine/base unit in the kitchen on the first floor when the VoIP connection is in the modem in the basement?
-> Response: When people do this they normally use a VoIP provider that has the Voicemail stored in the cloud and accessible from ANY cordless phone i.e. no need for an answering machine as the VoIP provider does this for you. Since all cordless phones can then access the voicemail, you can place the base in the basement and have a cordless handset in the kitchen.
#12 : Posted by Fred on February 8th, 2020:
At present my internet server buys bandwidth from a bigger company sells it at a cheaper price. My phone at present is with the bigger company that is ripping me off big time. I want VOIP so I will have my server still. It comes into the house downstairs, I have a filter and it goes to my modem/router and WiFi to the upstairs. Phones as I understand the master phone would have to be in the downstairs (NO) I don't want it there also I have one special phone for hearing impaired. I want to know how I can get this special phone hooked up upstairs and the master WiFi phone to be upstairs too.
-> Response: You could look at a WiFi Adapter that converts WiFi to wired Ethernet (under $30 on Amazon) and then connect that upstairs to the VoIP ATA (using wired Ethernet cable). The ATA then connects to your special phone using a regular telephone cable.
#11 : Posted by Steven R. Peters on January 21st, 2020:
So there is no reason a conventional base counter top phone - plugged into a VoIP ATA - cannot have extension phones around the house?
-> Response: Yes that's definitely possible. As per the article you just have to know what you're doing with regards the demarcation point. Unless using cordless phones in which case it's really easy.
#10 : Posted by Gailan Kester on August 13th, 2019:
How does the VOIP system work when the house is wired for 7 landlines phones?
-> Response: The adapter that the provider sends can drive a number of phones but 7 may be too many. Most people that need this many phones just use cordless phones and the adapter plugs into the cordless base.
#9 : Posted by Marlin Mabry on February 24th, 2019:
I have spectrum voip with their phone modem connected to my cordless base unit with answering machine and 2 other cordless phones through out the house. But when phone rings and any phone is picked up all the other phones are disabled and if I wanted to be on a conference call I could not. Why is this happening and how can it be fixed?
-> Response: This may be a setting inside the Spectrum ATA device that needs to be changed. I recommend calling them. You should be able to use all 3 cordless phones though only for 1 phone call.
#8 : Posted by Cinthia Holman on November 28th, 2018:
I always wanted a hamburger telephone and a coca cola phone growing up. I found one to purchase today, but I do not have a land line since I use VOIP with an Ooma Box. My house was built in the 95s so it has a lot of phone jacks and has one in my sons bedroom. I would like to purchase the hamburger phone for him but I do not know how to made it work.
-> Response: Yes the easiest option would be to buy the Ooma Linx wireless unit. Plug it into his bedroom and then connect the new phone to it.
#7 : Posted by Vishal on September 13th, 2018:
I have an MRC voip phone system in my vessel. I need to install cordless phones so that when the phone rings in the engine room I can answer using the cordless phone. I have Panasonic phones and I tried installing but the phone is not ringing in the engine room. Do I need to install any adapter?
-> Response: Yes you need a VoIP ATA adapter (Analog Telephone Adapter) that the cordless base must connect to. Normally the VoIP provider will tell you which ones are compatible with their service. An example of an adapter is the Grandstream HT801.
#6 : Posted by Sue on July 23rd, 2016:
I'm about to get a home DSL hookup for wifi in my house
and am getting a voip line to plug my retro Trimline 210
phone into as well. I am 100% not interested in a
wireless/cordless base with multiple handsets.
My question is this, I hope you can help! This is hard to
research.
So, downstairs in my livingroom beside my couch will be
my 210, the DSL wifi modem, and the phone modem
thing.
Upstairs I have another jack in the bedroom and have
another 210 phone that I'd like to be able to use in the
bedroom.
I'm wondering if there is ANY way to make that second
phone work with the bedroom jack. Some sort of
adaptor?
I don't have a landline by the way. I just moved here and have
ordered the DSL with the ability to use a phone with it.
(cell service is costing a fortune until towers built in
approx one year or more). Hopping onto Wifi with my
cell will save me regarding the much more costly data issue
but the telephone issue is one of wanting multiple
corded phones (1 extra in this case) with the modem
being downstairs in the living room.
-> Response: Presumably you are only interested in having 1 phone line (i.e. use phone downstairs or upstairs but not both at same time).
Here's what we would do:
1 - Make sure no power is coming into your house on the landline - ask the DSL provider to check.
2 - When you choose a VoIP provider, they will send you an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter). This ATA connects to your DSL modem via CAT5/6 cable and the 210 phone connects to the ATA phone jack. If you get a RJ11 splitter you can connect the phone to the ATA and also connect a new telephone wire to the jack in your house downstairs. This presumably will then connect to the phone wiring upstairs and simply plug your 210 phone upstairs into the phone jack. So now all phones connect to the ATA and then to the Internet. But only one can be used at a time.
3 - The ATA actually powers the phones (and through the phone wiring inside your house based on 2 above) hence reason you need to ask about item 1 as can't have power coming into house on the landline in addition to ATA trying to power the phone lines as that could cause problems.
Hope this helps.
#5 : Posted by Ejv on December 1st, 2015:
But I need my POTS line to connect my computer to the internet (DSL). So likely not an option? Or am I missing something?
-> Response: You are absolutely correct, if you have DSL then this is not an option to you. My recommendation is to use cordless phones with multiple handsets, it is definitely the most popular way to do this.
#4 : Posted by Wayne Hooten on September 10th, 2015:
Maybe you can answer my questions before I make the switch. I have four wireless phones and two land lines that are all connected to my router/modem through my cable service. Will my land lines phones work the same as it works now? As of the present I use Skype for all calls out of my local area and to Germany. Can I still use Skype or must I also switch my VoIP sever.
-> Response: When you say landlines you just means regular analog phones connected through your internal phone wiring yes?
Presumably your cable provider already disconnected the phone wiring coming into your house at the NID on the side of the house, in which case you should be fine. This is needed as otherwise you have live power on the phone lines from the PSTN side and the VoIP ATA (presumably this is inside the
modem/router) also tries to power the internal phone lines. This would cause problems.
Making all of your phones cordless is likely the easiest thing to do but it should be fine with your current setup, so long as disconnected at NID.
VoIP is all IP based so you can still choose to use Skype and another (or
more) VoIP providers. It is just Internet traffic and they distinguish each other by the port (e.g. 5060) and MAC address i.e. the physical address
(unique) for each hardware element connected to the Internet.
#3 : Posted by Val on August 18th, 2015:
I live in a 10
storey apartment
building which is 30
years old. I want
to get voip and
since the building
uses Bell cables I
have been told I
must get a dry loop.
The problem is that
my computer
equipment must stay
in a specific room
although I have 5
other phone jacks in
the apartment. At
present I have Bell
service and my main
phone is connected
in the computer room
with 4 satellite
phones spread
through the
apartment.
I have been told 2
things. When they
put in the dry loop
in I may only be
able to use one jack
for the phone.
Others say that all
jacks can all be
used. Doesn't
matter how many ways
I ask the question
and I have asked a
Bell installer, my
internet provider
and the VOIP company
that I want to use.
Everyone says they
can't tell me if I
will be able to use
the jack in my
computer room. What
has been your
experience. The
internet provider
orders the installer
to put in the dry
loop but say they
cannot ask them to
come to the
apartment to be sure
the proper jack is
working. The Voip
service only sells
the product and
doesn't have
anything to do with
the installation and
the Bell Installer
that I talked to while
he was working on
another repair in
the building
couldn't tell me how
to have the
installation done
correctly or even
who to phone to have
it done even if I
was willing to pay
for the extra
service myself.
Do you have any
suggestions of what
to do.
-> Response: So long as you have Internet, VoIP has a chance. Use our VoIP test in order to check your current Internet (or future Internet if you need the dry loop DSL).
The test will verify that you are capable of running VoIP on your Internet.
Assuming this is successful I would get some cordless DECT phones and the VoIP provider of your choosing should be able to send you an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA). You connect your cordless phones into the ATA and then the ATA connects to the Internet modem and you are done. You won't need to use ANY phone jack in your apartment if you go down this path.
Does this make sense? I don't know why the Internet/VoIP companies didn't present this option as it's the most obvious one to me as it reduces your risk.
#2 : Posted by Dave on May 9th, 2015:
I have two(2) or three(3) MagicJack modules. Can I simply plug each of them into my network behind the firewall and use a different phone on each module?
-> Response: There should be no issue doing this as each MagicJack has a different MAC address so no issue with routing even if each MJ is on the same SIP port (e.g. 5060). Of course your firewall has to be able to handle this (i.e. port forwarding). Presumably you need 3 different phone numbers and this is why you are doing this, yes? I say this as it sounds painful to have a different phone hanging off each MJ. I don't know your requirements but one idea that comes to mind (if your call volume is relatively light) is to buy one IP phone that has 3 lines and configure each line for a different phone number and route them straight to a trunking provider. I say this as I wrote an article on this some time ago and it seems it might be of interest if you want everything to go through 1 phone instead of 3.
#1 : Posted by Trevor on March 19th, 2014:
Wish I'd found this article before. I connected my ATA to my home wiring and ended up having to replace the ATA which cost me another $20!!
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