Grandstream analogue telephone adaptor: setup question.
April 20, 2022 3:34 AM Subscribe
The customer service guy from my ISP told me that the phone and adapter would need to be plugged directly into the main router; I want to plug it into one of the points on the mesh network. It’s a Grandstream ATA, probably the HT801.
We have switched to a new broadband provider with fibre to the house, and I was planning to switch to voice calls over the internet. Which is a service provided by our ISP. But the router is not in the room where I want the phone to be plugged in.
It seems to me that if it’s just an ethernet cable being plugged into one of the ethernet ports on the back of the router, it shouldn’t care whether it’s being plugged into the main router or a mesh network access point? But I probably shouldn’t just rely on my intuition. So can anyone advise me? Thanks!
We have switched to a new broadband provider with fibre to the house, and I was planning to switch to voice calls over the internet. Which is a service provided by our ISP. But the router is not in the room where I want the phone to be plugged in.
It seems to me that if it’s just an ethernet cable being plugged into one of the ethernet ports on the back of the router, it shouldn’t care whether it’s being plugged into the main router or a mesh network access point? But I probably shouldn’t just rely on my intuition. So can anyone advise me? Thanks!
Best answer: It probably doesn’t matter, except that a wired connection for something like your phone is undoubtedly more stable and more reliable than the wireless connection between the mesh access point and the router.
Is there a phone jack near your router? If so, you can plug your phone adapter into that phone jack and then use any existing other phone jack in the house to plug in your actual phone(s). If you go this route, make very, very, very sure that these jacks are disconnected from the old-fashioned (“POTS”) phone line that may still be coming into your house. If you don’t do this, you can fry the VOIP adapter.
posted by Betelgeuse at 4:23 AM on April 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Is there a phone jack near your router? If so, you can plug your phone adapter into that phone jack and then use any existing other phone jack in the house to plug in your actual phone(s). If you go this route, make very, very, very sure that these jacks are disconnected from the old-fashioned (“POTS”) phone line that may still be coming into your house. If you don’t do this, you can fry the VOIP adapter.
posted by Betelgeuse at 4:23 AM on April 20, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Unless there's something really unusual with your mesh network or the ATA, it should work but will be a little less reliable. Wireless is inherently more flakey than a (quality) wired connection so if you're relying on this for something like emergency services, they're probably told to tell you to use the wired connection in case your neighbor's microwave goes haywire and starts trashing the 2.4GHz spectrum at the exact moment you have a medical emergency. Or the mesh extender locks up.
posted by Candleman at 4:30 AM on April 20, 2022
posted by Candleman at 4:30 AM on April 20, 2022
Best answer: Are you getting a new VOIP (network based) phone, or intending to use an existing normal (POTS) phone? Normal phones are still analog, so there has to be an adapter somewhere. Based on the linked router, your ISP has the adapter built in, and your existing phone does need to be wired directly to that port.
However, assuming your house is wired with telephone jacks, it should be possible to connect that port on your router to a jack in the room where the router is, and use your existing wiring to get to the room where you want the phone. You will need to find the point where your old phone line is connected, and disconnect those wires so that you can do this. There should be some point in your house where the existing phone line comes in, and it should be possible to isolate your house from the outside world so that you can reuse the wires inside your house. Essentially, instead being wired to a phone company switch a few miles away, your phone is now wired to your router.
posted by yuwtze at 5:06 AM on April 20, 2022
However, assuming your house is wired with telephone jacks, it should be possible to connect that port on your router to a jack in the room where the router is, and use your existing wiring to get to the room where you want the phone. You will need to find the point where your old phone line is connected, and disconnect those wires so that you can do this. There should be some point in your house where the existing phone line comes in, and it should be possible to isolate your house from the outside world so that you can reuse the wires inside your house. Essentially, instead being wired to a phone company switch a few miles away, your phone is now wired to your router.
posted by yuwtze at 5:06 AM on April 20, 2022
Response by poster: Thanks everyone. To answer various points people raised:
The router is provided by them, and I plugged in the mesh network we already had.
But the mesh network doesn’t act as a router, it needs to be plugged into a router to work, so I don’t think NAT problems are likely to be an issue (?)
We have two landlines in the house, a home phone and an office phone, basically. I was hoping to replace the office phone, so we would still have the other landline.
The phone jack thing won’t work because the line I was planning to replace only has one jack . And there aren’t any jacks anywhere near the router anyway.
It would be a normal phone plugged in via an adapter, which the ISP would supply to us.
Anyway, it sounds like it should work in principle. Probably best to hold off until I have the wifi network feeling nice and solid first.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 10:28 AM on April 20, 2022
The router is provided by them, and I plugged in the mesh network we already had.
But the mesh network doesn’t act as a router, it needs to be plugged into a router to work, so I don’t think NAT problems are likely to be an issue (?)
We have two landlines in the house, a home phone and an office phone, basically. I was hoping to replace the office phone, so we would still have the other landline.
The phone jack thing won’t work because the line I was planning to replace only has one jack . And there aren’t any jacks anywhere near the router anyway.
It would be a normal phone plugged in via an adapter, which the ISP would supply to us.
Anyway, it sounds like it should work in principle. Probably best to hold off until I have the wifi network feeling nice and solid first.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 10:28 AM on April 20, 2022
OK, reading comprehension fail on my part. Shouldn't try to post from bed before I fully wake up. I was working on the assumption that the linked device was your existing router, so I clearly didn't read/understand most of the words on that page, and Betelgeuse said it better and first.
I think you're probably right. If the wifi is stable, it would probably work, but it's possible that your ISP is doing something in their router to prioritize VOIP traffic for that device, and putting it behind your mesh router could prevent it from working as optimally as possible.
posted by yuwtze at 1:35 PM on April 20, 2022
I think you're probably right. If the wifi is stable, it would probably work, but it's possible that your ISP is doing something in their router to prioritize VOIP traffic for that device, and putting it behind your mesh router could prevent it from working as optimally as possible.
posted by yuwtze at 1:35 PM on April 20, 2022
« Older POA impasse with possible financial abuse of... | Nintendo Switch games to play long distance with 6... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
If it's your router, that wouldn't be the case.
I suspect they are just trying to guard against double Nat or something that some wifi extenders might do.
Either way I'd try it on the extender and see if it works, it's not going to break anything. If it doesn't work you can just move it back to the router even though that's not ideal. (Get a cordless base station + several wireless handsets and connect the base station to the device?).
posted by TheAdamist at 3:54 AM on April 20, 2022