Home Network Question

[ferchkc09]

I'm in the process of planning my home network for a new house we just built. I know, I'm behind the 8 ball because i should have thought of this earlier, oh well!

I believe I have my data set-up complete but my question revolves around a phone line. We use Time Warner Cable in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. Right now I just the modem supplied from TWC and in order to get a signal with a land line, I actually need to plug the phone into the modem (there is a separate RJ-12 jack on the modem).

My planned network setup is as follows:

Modem (Purchasing a Motorola surfboard...) in the basement, connected to the TWC coax, Ethernet to a router, router to switch, switch to patch panel, patch panel to drops in our office and living room.

My Question is:

Now that I will not have the TWC modem, what do I need to do in order to run voice through this setup to a drop in the office?

hopefully this was descriptive enough! Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Cienja]

So, TWC is selling DSL and not cable broadband, yet you want to run it through the Motorola Surfboard, which is cable (coax) only, correct?

You need a DSL modem. Phone line takes the place of the coax. Run the rest the same.

Who supplies your TV/Sattelite/Cable? See if they provide cable broadband and have coax installed instead of DSL. I don't know if there is much of a difference anymore with most of the DSL around here now using fiber optics...

 

[ferchkc09]

the ISP is time warner, and the internet is Cable and not DSL. I may have used some wrong terminology there, still new to a lot of this.

This is something new to TWC, at least with my experience with time warner cable, that they require you to plug the phone line directly into the modem in order for it to get a dial tone. The modem has both ethernet ports as well as RJ-12 jacks.

I do have a 66 block in the basement with phone lines running to three different rooms, however they are basically useless because I have to plug the phone directly into the modem and not one of the RJ-12 wall jacks.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense.

 

[ferchkc09]

here is a picture of the modem TWC is leasing me, currently.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yeah you have a MTA modem, which gives you data and VOIP from Time Warner. You have two choices:

1. They should have a list of MTA modems that they support if you want to purchase your own.
2. The cheaper alternative is to get something like Ooma, port your number to it, and once it is ported, drop Time Warner VOIP and then buy any modem on their supported list. That is exactly what I did with Bright House.

 

[ferchkc09]

Could I use something like this

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=33-617-008

Plug Ethernet into the switch and run a phone line to the office wall plate?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Could I use something like this

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=33-617-008

Plug Ethernet into the switch and run a phone line to the office wall plate?

Yes, that's another option that works in conjunction with Google Voice, meaning you could try to port your number to Google Voice and then use the Obi adapter. I know we have a few users here who use a similar adapter with Google, so maybe they can provide more detail. I know my Ooma can plug into the wallplate and give signals to all phones plugged in; however, my phone wiring sucks so all my phones are completely wireless so I have the base unit plugged directly into the Ooma and it connects all the other handsets. I chose Ooma over the Obi adapter for a few different reasons:

1. Fuller feature set.
2. At the time, there was uncertainty around the future of Google Voice.
3. Whether real or perceived, I felt that Ooma would give a more reliable voice experience and since I work from home, I needed that.

The Obi option is definitely cheaper than Ooma.

 

[Cienja]

Ahh, it's for VoiP. thank you

 

[ferchkc09]

It sounds like if you purchase your own internet modem, TWC will actually let you keep the same modem I already have without charging the rental fee to handle the phone the service.

 

[Cienja]

Nice. A Internet/Phone company waving a fee! Woo!