andrewilley
Fibre optic
Joined 15 years ago
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Re: Digital phone line, ethernet phone cabling question
No, the Hub is in a new build part of the house and I didn't worry about extending the phone sockets into there as our phones are all cordless, and we only wanted one base-unit located in the lounge, so it didn't seem worth bothering at the time. But I think running a new wire through the wall will do the job. Andre41Views0likes0CommentsRe: Digital phone line, ethernet phone cabling question
I did all the original network cable running in the house myself. Luckily we got the property before selling our old one so I was able to run the wires neatly behind plasterboard and through walls while a small extension was being added. Made the Virgin installer very happy when he arrived to find concealed coax already routed directly to all the box locations, and even boxes screwed to the walls; he just needed to connect the cable from the road and terminate the coax runs (I used their own stock boxes & cables, given to me in advance by the guy who came out to do the pre-install survey). Installer said it was the easiest install he'd ever done. :) So I'll probably just get the tech to drill a hole (as my drill won't be long enough) and I'll connect and terminate the RJ11>phone wires myself, unless he feels like doing it. Now I've worked out the logistics of the room layout, that cable run will actually be very short and tidy - but if they go the surface route it's about 20m of skirting boards and four door frames to tackle. Do we know when this digital switchover will happen by the way - is it discretionary timing by the consumer, or dictated by local exchange schedules?44Views0likes3CommentsRe: Digital phone line, ethernet phone cabling question
Re-locating the Virgin Hub is not an option. It's in modem-mode and needs to connect firstly (and only) via Cat-6 to my Netgear Nighthawk router, which is then the master network point/firewall/DHCP server/etc from which everything else in the house is connected. There is only one Cat-6 link from the network shelf to the lounge, so to move the Hub would require running a second return Cat-6 cable - which of course is the whole problem. Putting the phone baseunit in the network rack area shelf is also not a viable solution as it is the answerphone base unit (with call counter display so you can see when there is a message) and is also the charging station for the lounge telephone handset. I guess if Virgin would provide us with an extra charging base to go in the lounge that would be a partial solution, but still not ideal as we only ever listen to messages by pressing the Play button on the base unit (which would no longer be accessible). Not sure my wife would take kindly to being told she has to regularly check for messages on the tiny telephone handset display! ;) I think the least-problematical solution might be to bore a new hole from the lounge to the cubbyhole area. It used to be an external wall prior to an extension being built, and now I look at the configuration it might actually be relatively easy with a very long masonry bit (which I presume Virgin engineers carry)? Then we could just run a four-core phone cable from the Hub's RJ11 connector in the cubbyhole into the lounge with minimal messy internal wiring. Andre42Views0likes2CommentsDigital phone line, ethernet phone cabling question
We currently have our main landline phone (answerphone and handset) and the master Virgin telephone socket in the lounge, and there is a very short coax cable through the wall to the outdoor wall-mounted Virgin cable termination box. Conversely, the Virgin Hub (which is in modem mode) is tucked away in a back office room on a rack/shelf with various other network kit (Netgear Wi-Fi access point, 10-port switch, NAS, home automation, UPS, etc). All cabling is embedded through the walls, nothing is surface mounted. There is gigabit Cat-6 network cabling throughout, including from the networking rack shelf through to the lounge where there is a secondary 5-port gigabit Switch feeding the TV, Virgin Cable box, BluRay player, surround system, etc. When it comes time to switch to VOIP telephony, is there an option for an ethernet-connected breakout box to plug the phone into, which I could simply plug into the existing Switch in the lounge? It won't be at all practical to run extra RJ11 cabling from the Virgin Hub location to the answerphone base in the lounge (they are five rooms / four doors apart). Nor would it be possible to move the answerphone/phone baseunit onto the rack shelf, as we use it in the lounge not in a cubbyhole. Andre137Views0likes13Comments