[blu] broadband phones?

[Chris Marget]

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004, David Kramer wrote:

> We're looking into VoIP as a cost-cutting measure as my current consulting 
> contract comes up in a few months.  Looks like I have two big limitations, 
> though:
> - I need phones throughout the house, and most of these systems are 
> designed for only one phone.  I can do all the wiring if they say it will 
> work, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

you can plug many phones into your ATA.  it doesn't care, provided that
the total ringer equivalency of all your phones doesn't exceed the
rating of the ATA.

my sipura 2000 has a REN of 3.  so it can ring 3 old-school telephones
with a mechanical whacker hitting a 4" bell.  most modern phones have a
rating much lower than 1.  look at the bottom of your phones.

best bet, unplug your house from the telco box, plug your house into the
ATA.  be careful that nobody accidently plugs your ATA into the telco
network.  badness happens.

...or buy one of the cool multi-handset cordless phones.

> - I have DSL, not cable.  It's my understanding that I can't drop my 
> current POTS phone line, because then my DSL won't work.

"won't work" might be overstating the case.  "won't be supported" might
be more like it.

/chris