Need telephone line relay?

[Richard Coutts]

I live in an old appartment with one telephone line than runs 20' from
the entry point to the wall receptacle. I have a splitter off the
receptacle with a 25' run to a phone, and a 3' run to a phone router
(MultiLink ASAP DR401). Off the DR401 I have a 25' run to a Fax Modem
and a 3' run to another phone.

The problem is that the Caller ID of the phones doesn't always work.
Sometimes it shows the caller number, othertimes "-ERROR-". The ring
tones always reach their destination, but the Caller ID info is
erradic.

I'm wondering if the long runs, combined with the number of devices I
have is to much for the line and if I need a line relay (if there is
such a thing) to boost the signal of the incoming calls. Does that
make any sense? If so, what kind of relay would I need? I searched
the web, but didn't see anything that fit this description.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Tim Wescott]

I live in an old appartment with one telephone line than runs 20' from
the entry point to the wall receptacle. I have a splitter off the
receptacle with a 25' run to a phone, and a 3' run to a phone router
(MultiLink ASAP DR401). Off the DR401 I have a 25' run to a Fax Modem
and a 3' run to another phone.

The problem is that the Caller ID of the phones doesn't always work.
Sometimes it shows the caller number, othertimes "-ERROR-". The ring
tones always reach their destination, but the Caller ID info is
erradic.

I'm wondering if the long runs, combined with the number of devices I
have is to much for the line and if I need a line relay (if there is
such a thing) to boost the signal of the incoming calls. Does that
make any sense? If so, what kind of relay would I need? I searched
the web, but didn't see anything that fit this description.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rich

Given that POTS lines are designed to run several miles from the switch
to you, I would be surprised that a few feet one way or another inside
your apartment would cause problems. There are line relays, but they
are made for the telephone companies to place every 5 - 10 miles on long
runs. They are ugly, bulletproof, reliable and very, very expensive --
they're probably also obsolete in these days of fiber optics.

If you can try disconnecting everything except for one caller-ID phone
or box at your wall receptacle, then call yourself on a cell phone or
otherwise arrange for some incoming calls. This will help isolate the
problem to "inside the apartment" or "outside the apartment".

 

[Vlad]

I live in an old appartment with one telephone line than runs 20' from
the entry point to the wall receptacle. I have a splitter off the
receptacle with a 25' run to a phone, and a 3' run to a phone router
(MultiLink ASAP DR401). Off the DR401 I have a 25' run to a Fax Modem
and a 3' run to another phone.

The problem is that the Caller ID of the phones doesn't always work.
Sometimes it shows the caller number, othertimes "-ERROR-". The ring
tones always reach their destination, but the Caller ID info is
erradic.

I'm wondering if the long runs, combined with the number of devices I
have is to much for the line and if I need a line relay (if there is
such a thing) to boost the signal of the incoming calls. Does that
make any sense? If so, what kind of relay would I need? I searched
the web, but didn't see anything that fit this description.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rich

I have never seen an amplifier that does what you are looking for. It
isn't a simple amplifier. It must handle the ring voltage ( in the
order of 80 volts low frequency pulses) and the voice (plus DSL if you
have it) and be bidirectional.
Telephone co. are installing some "amplifiers" on line to increase the
performance of DSL to customers that are at more than 2 miles from
the central office but I don't know if you can get one and that
wouldn't probably solve your problem

Every telephone/device, of recent design, you connect to the
telephone line has a "load factor" . The total must not exceed the
number allowed by your telephone co. Add the individual numbers and
see if they violate that number. Also if you find a unit with a large
load factor, try replacing with a more modern design, of a lower "load
factor"

Vlad

 

[Pooh Bear]

I live in an old appartment with one telephone line than runs 20' from
the entry point to the wall receptacle. I have a splitter off the
receptacle with a 25' run to a phone, and a 3' run to a phone router
(MultiLink ASAP DR401). Off the DR401 I have a 25' run to a Fax Modem
and a 3' run to another phone.

The problem is that the Caller ID of the phones doesn't always work.
Sometimes it shows the caller number, othertimes "-ERROR-". The ring
tones always reach their destination, but the Caller ID info is
erradic.

I'm wondering if the long runs, combined with the number of devices I
have is to much for the line and if I need a line relay (if there is
such a thing) to boost the signal of the incoming calls. Does that
make any sense? If so, what kind of relay would I need? I searched
the web, but didn't see anything that fit this description.

In view of the long cable from the exchange to your apartment, you can
forget about your internal wiring being an issue.

You appear to have 4 devices connected to your line. 2 phones, fax-modem
and router. This may result in marginal operation. Some phones / modems
etc 'load' the line more than others ( especially older ones ).

Try disconnecting a phone and the fax-modem and see what happens.

Not aware of any 'line relay' that'll help you.


Graham

 

[Richard Coutts]

Thanks to everyone for the comments and the clarification about the
line length not being an issue.

I've gotten up to speed about ringer equivalence number (REN) since
posting the message and am looking into that. It was recommended that
I ask my phone company to raise my ringer equivalence to handle the
number of devices I have, so I put in a request and have my fingers
crossed. Interesting, I read where it is supposedly required that
every device has an REN number on the back, but the GE phone I just
bought at BestBuy didn't have one, whereas my other devices all did
(this is something I will be looking for in future purchase). So, if
the phone company can raise my ringer equivalence, I'm going to look
at this phone as a possible culprit.

Rich

 

[Dbowey]

Rich posted:

<< I've gotten up to speed about ringer equivalence number (REN) since
posting the message and am looking into that. It was recommended that
I ask my phone company to raise my ringer equivalence to handle the
number of devices I have, so I put in a request and have my fingers
crossed. Interesting, I read where it is supposedly required that
every device has an REN number on the back, but the GE phone I just
bought at BestBuy didn't have one, whereas my other devices all did
(this is something I will be looking for in future purchase). So, if
the phone company can raise my ringer equivalence, I'm going to look
at this phone as a possible culprit.
Just curious.... Do you have any idea what is the distance to your central
office, or what is your off-hook loop current?

Also what is the total of the RENs excluding the phone that doesn't list it?
Does it have a ringer?

Don

 

[David I]

My understanding on how these routers work is that it monitors the
first incoming ring burst, and then based on the ring pattern,
forwards the ringing call to one of the output ports.

Since Caller ID information is transferred between the first and
second ring, that data may not be getting to your phones that are
downstream.

I see that some of the Multi-Link products (e.g. The Stick) have a
pass-through mode where all lines receive the incoming call for two
rings so that the CID is received, and then the unit kicks in and
restricts the call to one of the ports.

-david i