How To Setup VOIP Phones
Throughout Your Home
by Jon Arnold
We are creatures of habit, and once we get used to
doing things a certain way, it really is difficult to
change. For some people, this also applies to
implementing home VOIP service in their home. Unlike
traditional phones, where your home may already be wired
with a phone jack in the wall in each and every room,
your home is probably not wired in the same way for
VOIP. But you can still implement VOIP throughout your
home, and there are multiple ways to accomplish this.
Let's look at the component parts of your VOIP
system. Once you decide which VOIP provider to use, you
will get a VOIP adapter box, also known as an ATA box.
This box is about the size of a deck of cards and is the
"smarts" behind the VOIP. One cable from this ATA box
plugs into a spare jack on your high-speed Internet
router, and your standard RJ-11 jack from your regular
phone plugs into the other end of the ATA box.
Ok, some of you are saying you have a problem
already, since your high-speed Internet connection modem
only has ONE jack on it, and that is where you plug your
computer in so you can get online. Yes, this is a
problem but not a huge one. You are going to need to go
to Best Buy or Radio Shack or some similar place and get
a HUB. The easiest way to think of this is like being an
extension cord for your high-speed Internet modem. You
plug the hub into an electrical outlet, and then you run
a cable from the hub to the jack on your high-speed
Internet modem. Now you plug your computer into one of
the jacks on the hub (you will probably have about 3 or
4 of them), and also plug the cable from your VOIP ATA
box into another jack on the hub. Before you leave Best
Buy or Radio Shack, make sure you have the cables with
RJ45 plugs on each end - one of these goes from the hub
to your modem and another one goes from your VOIP ATA
box to the hub.
Now with your VOIP ATA box connected to the hub or
directly into your high-speed Internet modem if you had
a spare jack on it, you just connect your standard
traditional phone into the RJ-11 jack on the ATA box and
you are good to go.
But what about using your VOIP phone throughout the
house so that you are not tethered to the room that has
the ATA box and the high-speed Internet modem? You have
multiple options here. You can use a cordless phone
where you would plug the base unit into the VOIP ATA
box, and then you are good to go. I would recommend a
cordless phone that is in the 5.8 Ghz range to provide
your best coverage.
If you want to have multiple phone handsets around
the house, I would recommend getting one of those
multi-unit cordless phone setups. Some of those can
accommodate up to 8 cordless phones with the same base
unit.
There are places online that will explain how to wire
your VOIP ATA box into the outside wiring of your home
phone system so that the RJ-11 jacks you already have in
every room can still be used. While this is possible, it
is not recommended. There are multiple stories of people
who have blown out their ATA box and/or the entire phone
wiring of their home because they were not familiar
enough with the electrical load requirements of
implementing a system like that. Unless you are an
electrician or telephone company repair person, this
approach is likely to cause more problems than it
solves.
About the Author
For more information and to see a logical comparison
of the costs and features of Home VOIP
Providers please visit our web site at http://www.voipinsideinfo.com/