Spark Landline Over Fibre - ONT or Router Options

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Jiriteach

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#242387 25-Oct-2018 17:20

Hi There - Hoping on of the technical team from Spark can assist here.

I am helping my parents who have recently switched from WXC to Spark.

The issue is as follows -

They have a reasonably modern house with the ONT installed in the garage with a single cable to the comms cupboard which is under the stairs in the middle of the house and then this feeds ports to the rest of the house. This cabling was all in place when the house was built ~ 5 years ago.

For the last 5 years WXC has been working fine, router in the comms cupboard and landline delivered over this with the telephone plugged into the router. Recently switching to Spark, we have discovered that the landline has to plugged into the TEL1 port on the ONT which is an issue since the router is in the comms cupboard in the middle of house and the ONT is in the garage.

So - Can Spark not deliver landline where one plugs the telephone into the Spark router?

Due to this wiring issue - we might have to switch from Spark as we have no other options.

Thanks

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

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#2113976 25-Oct-2018 17:23

Spark will only do voice via ONT - it's what their system works with.

What is the cable from the ONT to comms cupboard? Ideally there should be minimum 2 runs of cat5 - preferably more.

hio77

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#2113982 25-Oct-2018 17:34

Sounds like a setup that's been done intentionally built for providers who use RGW for voice.

There should be an ITP installed next to the ONT to loop back into the house wiring.

You intentionally could request wiring integration here..

Depends if your classed as greenfields or not...

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Jiriteach

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#2113983 25-Oct-2018 17:35

RunningMan:

Spark will only do voice via ONT - it's what their system works with.

What is the cable from the ONT to comms cupboard? Ideally there should be minimum 2 runs of cat5 - preferably more.

Thanks and good to know.

Cable is Cat5e and there is only 1 cable so internet is working OK and patched to the house.

Spark did send a technician out and he had a look and said, there's only 1 cable and that we need an electrician to run another.

Problem is that an electrician cannot run another cable given the location of the comms cupboard with having to make holes in walls and ceiling which is not an option.

Guess there are no other options then?

Thanks

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

Jiriteach

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#2113986 25-Oct-2018 17:43

hio77:

Sounds like a setup that's been done intentionally built for providers who use RGW for voice.

There should be an ITP installed next to the ONT to loop back into the house wiring.

You intentionally could request wiring integration here..

Depends if your classed as greenfields or not...

Interesting - Thanks. There is no ITP.

When they moved into the area in Flat Bush - it was newly built (only ~ 5 years ago) the only provider able to provide Fibre was WXC at the time so looks like when whoever installed the ONT didn't put in the ITP.

Even if there was an ITP they would struggle to wire into the ports of the house since it all comes back to the comms cupboard and there is only 1 cable between the garage and the comms cupboard under the stairs in the middle of house.

Or am I missing something?

Thanks

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

Spyware

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#2113994 25-Oct-2018 17:54

Nope. You could use a splitter at either end of cable run. WAN would be fastEthernet, i.e., 100 Mbps.

cyril7

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#2114004 25-Oct-2018 18:15

Hi, most of us have moved to using our mobile phones, but I appreciate older folk cling to what they know.

Options, go naked and sign up to 2talk, this is my top recommdation, otherwise put a dect base station at the ont and handsets elsewhere, use a dect extender if needed. And thirdly as Spyware says, if they are just on a 100/20 connection then no impact.

Cyril

Jiriteach

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#2114009 25-Oct-2018 18:25

Thanks all. This has been very useful.

Would prefer to stay with Spark as the service and help has been great.
As you mention indeed most of us are now using our mobile but parents still like the traditional approach.

They are on 100/20 plan and won’t go any higher since dad only uses the internet for emails etc.

Keen to explore the splitter idea. Any links or ideas to where I can find one of these?

Also thought about using ethernet over power adaptor and sending the telephone over this back to the comms cupboard since there is a power port in there. Just need to check if it’s on the same circuit. Do you think this could work?

Thanks

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

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Peppery

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#2114016 25-Oct-2018 18:37

Jiriteach:

Also thought about using ethernet over power adaptor and sending the telephone over this back to the comms cupboard since there is a power port in there. Just need to check if it’s on the same circuit. Do you think this could work?

Thanks

I am somewhat certain this wouldn't work if you were doing voice through the PoE adapter, and from experience I wouldn't recommend putting WAN over it either - they're incredibly hit or miss and the ones I've used have all been fairly flakey with poor speeds.

just an idea, if the phones are cordless you could stash a base station in the comms room?

nickb800

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#2114018 25-Oct-2018 18:47

Just need one of these at each end, and possibly a few patch cables which you'll have lying around
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/ITPFPD040/Dynamix-C-RJ45LT4-T4-connector-RJ-45-Dual-Adapter

cyril7

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#2114019 25-Oct-2018 18:49

Hi, just get a couple of these, one goes at the ONT, where the first ethernet port of the ONT connects to the port shown with the Computer, the phone port to the one shown with the phone. The common plug connects to the line going to the comms cupboard. In the comms cupboard do the reverse, easy peasy. Obviously you will need three or four patch leads, even though all the sockets on the adaptors are 8p8c (ie full 8wire RJ45) you can still used RJ11/12 phone cables on the phone side of the link.

So to explain further, there are four wire pairs (transmission lines) in a cat5/6 cable, all four are required for GigE, but only two are required for Fast Ethernet (100Mb/s), so one of the remaining two can be used for phone service.

Cyril

Jiriteach

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#2114026 25-Oct-2018 19:25

Peppery:

Jiriteach:

Also thought about using ethernet over power adaptor and sending the telephone over this back to the comms cupboard since there is a power port in there. Just need to check if it’s on the same circuit. Do you think this could work?

Thanks

I am somewhat certain this wouldn't work if you were doing voice through the PoE adapter, and from experience I wouldn't recommend putting WAN over it either - they're incredibly hit or miss and the ones I've used have all been fairly flakey with poor speeds.

just an idea, if the phones are cordless you could stash a base station in the comms room?

Good to know and thanks for the heads up. Yup cordless phones so the base station idea is one option.

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

richms

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#2114030 25-Oct-2018 19:31

Put the dect base by the ont and get one with enough handsets that you have enough base stations around the house.

Richard rich.ms

Jiriteach

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#2114032 25-Oct-2018 19:34

Thanks for the heads up on the adaptors.

So if I under this correctly -

For the ONT in the garage
GE1 --- > PC icon on adaptor
POTS1 ---> Phone icon on adaptor

Then RJ45 end of the adaptor into the wall socket.

For the comms cupboard
PC icon on the adaptor ---> Router
Phone icon on the adaptor --> Patch that goes to the kitchen where the base station is located

Then the RJ45 end of the adaptor will need to be JOINED to the cable coming in from the garage. I just use an ethernet joiner (https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/ITPAT-AG6/Dynamix-RJ45-INLINE-JOINER-female-to-female-for-et) right?

This would work?

Thanks

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

cyril7

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#2114035 25-Oct-2018 19:44

Hi, yes that is correct, just be aware that the phone socket on the ONT will be an RJ12 (ie 4/6pin RJ connector, not an 8pin RJ45, but the phone circuit is on the center pair so picked up by either) so you will need an RJ12<>RJ12 cable at the ont to provision the phone circuit, the RJ12 plug will happily slot into the phone socket of the adaptor. For the ethernet circuit at the ONT a standard data RJ45<>RJ45 is required between the ONT and adaptor.

At the comms cupboard, again a standard data RJ45<>RJ45 cable between the computer port of the adaptor and the router, and depending on whats in the comms cupboard you can also use a RJ45<>RJ45 data cable to patch the phone circuit to the kitchen assuming there is a full "data" RJ45 socket in the kitchen, and then a RJ45<>RJ12 to the phone base station. Hope that makes sense.

The key thing here is that the phone circuit is carried on the centre pins of the sockets, therefore will be picked up by both an RJ45 (8pin data) or a 4/6pin RJ12 plug. The ONT phone socket and the phone will have RJ12 sockets, and you can plug an RJ12 into a phone serviced RJ45 socket on the adaptors etc, so you need to take that into account. Just remember that an RJ12 will happily plug into an RJ45 socket, but an RJ45 plug will not plug into an RJ12 socket on the ONT or phone

Cyril

hio77

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#2114043 25-Oct-2018 20:06

Jiriteach:

the only provider able to provide Fibre was WXC

Right, that's greenfields..

Chorus won't touch it, I'm not sure when that changed or if it's simply they started enforcing it.

a decent electrician should still be able to do some cable work..

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

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