Does my phone line have a currrent?

garlad

Hi,
Currently with Eircom, have the main line coming into kitchen, and branches off from main box to 2 other boxes around the gaf.
Want to plug one connection point into my ATA router (to use VOIP and get rid of eircom), but heard that if theres a current going through your phone line in your house, you will damage router.
Any easy way to tell if theres a current on your line?
Cheers

Mellor

All phone lines will have a small current.
Current that will damage the router would be a power surge. This can be caused during lightening storms. You should always unplug your modems/electric equipment from phone lines during storms. I didn't and fried a modem. A common way for people to get electricuted is by using phone during storm.
There may be a way to protect against these surges, but I'm don't know.

Lex Luthor

I'm a bit confused??? How do you expect to use your router if you don't plug it into your phone line?

The current is so negligible that it wouldn't cause any damage to your router.

garlad

Lex,
Router currently plugged into NTL Internet Line, and DECT phone connected to router. Also have an eircom line, but no phones connected.
What I want to do is disconnect the eircom line coming into the house. Then connect the router to one of the phone sockets in the playroom. Then I should be able to connect a DECT phone upstairs and in the kitchen.
But if theres a current, where does it come from? The external eircom line? If so, once I physically disconnect it, there should be no current on the internal phone line, right?

FX Meister

Mellor wrote:

The most common way for people to get electricuted is by using phone during storm.

That's complete rubbish, it really is. FACT

Reyman

FX Meister wrote:

That's complete rubbish, it really is. FACT

Electrocuted by the phone -- I agree with FX -- most unlikely. In Ireland anyway

Never heard of a case in fact

Mellor

So the most is a bit much there, but it can happen. I am not talking about electrocuted and killed, the wires would never carry a strong enough current. I mean a small shock, not anything that will put you in hospital. I was pointing out that in a storm can cause strong than normal currents in a phone line that will damage computer equipment.

To the original poster, when you disconnect the system from the eircom line then that source of current will be gone, but the router will be plugged in and this will replace the current. It need it to transfer signals. The current in a phone line is only one tenth of an amp. But the setup you describe is not going to be affected by surges from the line, I assume the router is plugged into a surge protecter

FX Meister

So how does the current get from the receiver of the phone to you? It hardly arcs across the air.

Lex Luthor

garlad wrote:

Lex,
Router currently plugged into NTL Internet Line, and DECT phone connected to router. Also have an eircom line, but no phones connected.
What I want to do is disconnect the eircom line coming into the house. Then connect the router to one of the phone sockets in the playroom. Then I should be able to connect a DECT phone upstairs and in the kitchen.
But if theres a current, where does it come from? The external eircom line? If so, once I physically disconnect it, there should be no current on the internal phone line, right?

don't get too hung up on the current on a std phone line...its negligible and is only there to transfer the signals back & forth...nothing else. It wouldn't fry any electrical device that is plugged into it.

From what I gather, your router can support a telephone plugged into it, so am I right in saying that you want to connect this output of your router into one of the dead telephone sockets in the playroom that are wired to other telephone sockets in the house, therefore allowing them to work through the router?

Don't see any issues in that.

I think the issue with the person who is telling you not to do it because of the current from the eircom line, is that it might cause interference, but I can't see it doing any damage, but you would be right to get the main eircom line coming in, isolated from the telephone sockets that you want to connect your phones to. You can do this by disconnecting the inoming line from your kitchen socket...

Just make sure you keep both wires apart & isolate them and don't touch them together or you'll have eircom out cause you might short something back along the line

Endymion

Yes there is current on your eircom line, yes you would have to disconnect it in order to avoid interference.