2 Line phone switch

Hi,

I'm on Orange broadband, using the Livebox. I bought a 2 line switch to allow me to connect one DECT phone to both my BT line and the livebox VoIP line. The theory being that whenever a call comes in on either line, the phone will ring. And when I use the phone to dial out, it will automatically use the VoIP line, unless I dial #0 to switch over to the BT line.

My problem is that whenever I take the phone off the hook, and attempt to use either line through the switch, the livebox loses sync and disconnects from the net. which is a tad annoying!

It's as though the switch is interferring with the DSL signal somehow. I have a filter in the right place, so I have no idea what's causing it...

Any ideas anyone? Any help very gratefully received...

[censored] filter is normally the problem or high resistance line. Does it happen without all this switchgear in place if you just plug your phone in via the filter direct into a BT socket>

How do you mean PeteK?

Before this morning I had no problems making and receiving livetalk calls via the livebox. And when the PSTN isn't connected to the switch, I get no problems.

I've been trying putting filters at every possible junction, and changing cables all over the place.

Very confused...!

Have you some details of the 2-line switch please?

Go back to a base level. Take livebox a filter and a pstn phone and connect these to the master socket. Ring your phone and dial out. Make sure your live box stays synced. Then add in your line switcher and test again. See when it fails. Skip appropriate bit of kit.

Livebox <>Filter <>PSTN Phone
................ !
.........<Master Socket>

Silly question but it has to be asked.

The PSTN side of the switch is connected to the phone side of a filter isn't it?

Thanks for all the responses.

This is the switch:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VoIP-PSTN-2-Line-Intelligent-Switch-ATA-Gateway-Phone_W0QQitemZ280035439464QQihZ018QQcategoryZ61839QQcmdZViewItem

When the switch is out of the equation. everything works fine.

I currently have the switch connected with the PSTN line going through a filter to the BT socket.
Then I have the livebox connected to it via an RJ11 cable.
Than I have the PSTN phone conncted to the switch through another filter (just in case).


Some calls don't interrupt the sync of th livebox, but about 75% do.

My guess is that the switch is allowing some kind of interferrence through that then disrupts the signal on the BT line.

Pulling my hair ou now!

Thanks again,

Chris

In reply to:

---

I currently have the switch connected with the PSTN line going through a filter to the BT socket. Then I have the livebox connected to it via an RJ11 cable.

---

Can't tell much from the picture, but if you're filtering before the switch, and connecting the Livebox to it, wouldn't you be filtering out the ADSL component before it got to the Livebox, or are you using the ADSL side of the first filter?

You're not connecting the ADSL line part of the Livebox to the switch are you? If you are, that's wrong - that needs to go directly to the ADSL side of a microfilter which is plugged directly into a phone socket on the wall. A cable then comes from the phone side of the microfilter to one of the line inputs on the switch. Another cable comes from your livebox to the second line input of the switch and then your phone on the phone socket on the switch.

Looking at a friend's Livebox a few weeks ago, I thought you can only connect IP phones to the box?

Yeah, the first filter has the ADSL line connected to the ADSL 'in' of the livebox.

The phone side of the filter is then connected to the switch.


Here's a diagram!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94926675@N00/265905344/

You can connect a PSTN phone to the livebox, they provide a RJ11>BT adapter in the box.

Edited by chrisredding (Tue 10-Oct-06 10:46:54)

Well, on paper (or screen ) it looks fine. Given that the problems occur when you have the switch in circuit, and you don't (as I read it) have to throw the switch to cause issues, I can only guess that the switch circuitry is the issue. It appears to be a US unit, so could it be something to do with that being incompatible with BT circuits?

There's never a legend about when you need one...

try putting the two filters in series on the BT connection so that the line to the switch is double filtered and the Livebox is fed its ADSL from the first filter.

If that doesn't work try a microfilter on the Livebox VoIP output.

Thanks fellas.

I'd already tried the double filtering idea. To no avail.

I've just tried it with a filter on the VoIP output, but that still causes problems.

There is a bit of blurb on the ebay listing about needing to use the correct RJ11>BT adaptors in order to get the correct pins connected. I've got some decent modem cables and RJ11 adapters, so I think that shouldn't be a problem.

How can it (as it appears to be) 'go through' the filter and cause problems with the ADSL data? Is that possible?

the design of the livebox may be such that noise on the VoIP port can affect the modem, or maybe the switch itself resonates at ADSL frequencies or something. An oscilloscope or spectrum analyser would answer the question.

Be simpler if they just integrated the PSTN line that provides the ADSL into the VoIP component to connect to a single phone.