Vodavi Starplus STS phone system and Cox digital phone service help.

February 8, 2013 3:05 PM

My uncle has a Vodavi Starplus STS / system and KSU with 6 CO lines / which is 6 different phone #s can be used on the system. He recently changed 2 of his three lines to cox digital service. He still has one line with CenturyLink/Qwest. His phone system will not connect with the new digital lines. Cox says it's a Vodavi problem. The Vodavi guy says that there isn't enough voltage on the Cox lines. So, who's right? Will my uncle's Vodavi system work with the older CentruyLink line as well as the newer Cox digital lines?
posted by Jackie_Treehorn to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

I hope you find someone on MeFi who has expertise in this very specific area. Failing that, he should go back to whoever told him that these combinations of facilities would work together. He had expert advice on that, right? If the advice was from a vendor, he should return or stop paying for whatever that vendor sold him.
posted by JimN2TAW at 4:23 PM on February 8, 2013

Best answer: If you plug a regular telephone into the Cox device, does it work acceptably? If so, then it is clear that the Cox and Vodavi devices are incompatible. If it does not, then there is clearly a problem with the Cox equipment.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 5:21 PM on February 8, 2013

So, the thing to understand when you switch to cable for your phone service is that it's no longer using the phone lines. When you pick up a phone connected to the Cox service, it's getting its dial tone from the little black cable box somewhere in the house. That box then converts the signal to digital and uses the internet to transmit and receive voice data. Standard phone service - i.e.: centurylink - provides its own power that it transmits down the phone lines.

So, especially if it's a big house, it's entirely possible that your One Little Box is incapable of powering the entire spaghetti mess of phones in your house, especially if that Vodavi thing doesn't have its own power plug.

At the end of the day, Juffo's suggestion of "try plugging in a regular phone and seeing what happens" is correct. If you wanted to satisfy your own curiosity you could also bring the vodavi to wherever the black box is located and directly plug it in. I bet it would work ok if it were the only thing connected to the box and was immediately proximate to it.
posted by kavasa at 5:31 AM on February 9, 2013

Response by poster: Standard phone hooked up to Cox service works just fine. Phone hooked up to Vodavi that is hooked up to Cox services does not work.

This particular Vodavi box does not work with the Cox service. An upgrade Vodavi device will be ordered.

Thank you for the help.
posted by Jackie_Treehorn at 1:30 PM on February 14, 2013