I knew I was in trouble when the Verizon guy came down off the pole after running a nice new fat wire to the nice new service box outside our office building, and then started running a four-pair wire in to the punchdown block.
'excuse me," I said quite politely, despite the fact it was now 7 pm, he had left the site twice for more than an hour without saying anything, and had already made two jokes about overtime and being able to go slow, "but can you explain how this works since I don't know how phones work.... but since we have five telephone numbers how does that happen on a four pair wire?"
He pulled his little scrap of paper that had our phone numbers on it...the phone numbers he spend all day trying to get to the outside of the house (no work order, never introduced himself etc.etc.), went back to the truck and ran six pairs.
At 8:30 I was done.
Next morning, called to review with Verizon the previous day, put note in file that we will be disputing bill when we get it, went to Lowes, bought a punchdown tool, and did all the shit myself.
End result, a new skill, a 66 block that looks a little amateurish, and five phones in the office with 4 lines each and a working fax.
I still don't do anything on the bikes, but my list of house pseudo handyman skills is growing. ceramic tile, electric, copper, drywall, framed a new (non-load) wall.
It feels good to buy a tool instead of paying some tool.... but the list of stuff on the to-do list gets really make the beast with two backsing long.
My law office is now moved... I'm off to go unpack more boxes.
good for you statler [thumbsup]
oh wait... you like this guy better [bow_down] ;D
enjoy your new office!
Interesting.... ;D
http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/attorney-is-a-slightly-better-job-than-bookbinder/ (http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/attorney-is-a-slightly-better-job-than-bookbinder/)
Quote from: humorless on August 28, 2010, 04:46:56 AM
Interesting.... ;D
http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/attorney-is-a-slightly-better-job-than-bookbinder/ (http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/attorney-is-a-slightly-better-job-than-bookbinder/)
ahahahahahahahha. That was awesome.
Quote from: Statler on August 28, 2010, 04:24:16 AM
I still don't do anything on the bikes, but my list of house pseudo handyman skills is growing. ceramic tile, electric, copper, drywall, framed a new (non-load) wall.
It feels good to buy a tool instead of paying some tool.... but the list of stuff on the to-do list gets really make the beast with two backsing long.
It's amazing how long a list like that can get.
I am curious why you'd run separate POTS lines instead of a fibre optic and use VOIP/FOIP. Do you have a phone switch or are all phones run to each line?
Just curious. I worked in telecom for a long time before being an attorney.
I am assuming those were pots lines and not T1/PRIs...
It's the little things in life ............ [thumbsup]
Dolph :)
Quote from: ducatiz on August 28, 2010, 08:53:13 AM
I am curious why you'd run separate POTS lines instead of a fibre optic and use VOIP/FOIP. Do you have a phone switch or are all phones run to each line?
Just curious. I worked in telecom for a long time before being an attorney.
I am assuming those were pots lines and not T1/PRIs...
I'm new at this so I may need some 'splainin. had to look up Plain Old Telephone. ;D
copper is the only thing available in that neighborhood, so if we kept Verizon it's regular phone service or nothing. They run our voice mailboxes so with this move (which was everything moved in one day..phone, computers, etc. and up and running that day with no overlap in lease) it was easiest to just change the billing address on our existing account.
I put a 66 block in a central location in the basement, and ran single 4-pair lines from that to each outlet so each phone has our 4 numbers. If I want to change the location of the fax (5th line) I just change which outlet line is punched to the fax number on the block.
I bet there's a way to terminate the lines near the block so that I can just plug different lines into a user- end switch like the network with short patch cords over to the different incoming #s. maybe that's next. easier to change things then...but for now all phones with all numbers is what we need and this woks.
We may package deal phone with our net at some later date, but this was easier in terms of not changing any accounts and easier because I can grasp it enough to make it work.
Happy to learn better options. ;D
Do some research on mini PBX's. That's what you're talking about, I think. I don't know of one of the newer ones that will allow you to plug into all 5 lines though. Most of the newer ones are VOIP based and integrate with your network so all the voice traffic inside your office is over your network.
advantages include email-based fax reception and storage. If you get a VOIP end to end, then you can either plug your phones into the network (VOIP phones) or the PBX interfaces with your network and then punch down the other side into your phone wire panel.
Lots of options.
One advantage of running the setup like you do is the free voltage -- each of those copper lines has 48VDC even if the power goes out (federal law requires it!). That's why the telcos have been "upgrading" everyone to fibre -- no way to send voltage over fibre so they are exempted.
You can find old PBXs on ebay and cl for cheap cheapo -- old analog boxes as big as your desk. New network-ready ones are tiny, like a toaster.