Phone Line Alternatives - Range/Wireless/Bridging?

Noraneko on 02/08/2016 - 13:30

I have a bit of an odd set up at home around internet and phone and want to see what my options are before going ahead.

The property has two houses on it, about 20 meters apart.

The property has Optus cable internet with the phone line bundled with it. The cable comes in through the middle frontage of House A and into the cable modem. This is then linked into a bridged pair of Asus routers (RT-N56U) (One in each house) that are connected through a cable. The phone line comes out of the cable modem, through jack A in the wall and around the house to come out of jack B, located at the closest point between House A and House B. This then plugs into the base station for the phones and provides enough coverage for both houses to get a good wireless phone signal.

Recently the phone died. The diagnosis appears to be that the line connecting Jack A to Jack B has been damaged (Tried both pairs of wires in the cable and nothing). The obvious solution is to replace the wire except that it's probably 20-30 meters long and goes through the side panels of the house, up into the attic, along an internal beam, back out of the house, along some more housing panels… etc. etc. It will basically be a pain in the rear to replace.

So, the question is, are there any alternatives to replacing the wire? I looked at doing something similar with power over Ethernet but remember reading an Analog VS Digital signal issue (i.e. can't be done). Are there phone range extenders or can you bridge phone base stations together wirelessly or can I somehow get a second base station to come out of the bridged router in House B?

Greatly appreciate any ideas you can come up with!

Electrical & Electronics

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Sunny84 on 02/08/2016 - 13:43

+1

I remember doing something similar years ago using 2 x Sipura SPA VoIP devices

It involved using a SPA device connected the PSTN line and then using another SPA device with a phone connected to the FXS port
ESEMCE on 02/08/2016 - 14:13

+1

Yeah, as above I'd just move to VoIP for House B… or for both houses.

Set up a WiFi bridge between the 2 houses and an Access point in House B so House B gets good network signal.
Noraneko on 05/08/2016 - 12:51

Thanks for the advice. I think we might have VoIP as the phone line is connected to the modem (assuming my understanding is correct).

In that case I'd need a 2nd bridge solution between the two properties specifically for the phone.

Will look into it!
- ESEMCE on 12/08/2016 - 09:10
  
  One problem will be that you'll need an ATA (VoIP adapter) in House B as well.
  A possible alternative option is to set up an old (or cheap) Android phone as a WiFi VoIP handset. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich included VoIP capability out of the box, so anything running that or later should be perfect.
  - Noraneko on 12/08/2016 - 17:00
    
    Am I correct in assuming that some form of ATA is included in the modem down in House A and is what I use to connect to the current one, but that to get it into House B I would have to have one come out of the Router in house B?
    
    Are these sorts of things "out of the box" solutions or is some degree of configuration required? Will I need to purchase an additional base station for House B (i.e. a new Phone item?
    
    External | House A | House B Phone Phone (New Base Station?) | | Cable------Modem ATA | | Router----Router
    - ESEMCE on 12/08/2016 - 21:01
      
      Yeah your map is exactly right.
      Your VoIP modem/router has an inbuilt ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter)
      In House B, you'll need a second ATA (or VoIP capable handset - like the aforementioned Android Phone).
      
      You'll need to set up the second ATA/Android Handset with the settings for your VoIP account - probably available from your ISP, or just copy the setting from your Modem, so there will be some setup required.

Phone Line Alternatives - Range/Wireless/Bridging?

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