6 phones on the line

[Elise]

I like the service so far. The only problem is that I get problems with people hearing me sometimes, and when the phone rings, sometimes there is a several second delay before I find out who is calling. Also, automatic busy signal. It seems, from tech support, that I have too many phones on the line. The problem is that I need them all. Hopefully, technology will improve to accomodate this.

[hatterasdj]

I know this is an old post but I figured others might benefit from an answer. Ringer equivalency number (REN) is basically the total load of a telphone device on your phone line when the device rings. The normal total REN is about 5 in the US. Each telephone device should have a REN rating on it. If all device's values add up to more than 5, you have too many devices on line at once. This may affect how the phones ring or act in general. Think of it as using your deep fryer when the microwave and dishwasher are already running. Too much power usage on too small a power source. Hope this helps.

[voxabox]

some ATAs have the ability to drive more phones than others
look for FXS Port Power Limit: under the Regional tab

my SPA1001, for example, claims to support up to 8 phones(RENs)!
While I can not attest to that, but currently I have 5 phones hooked up
4 are modern phones and 1 old ma bell phone
CID seems to work just fine

One might have to play with Ring Voltage and Ring Waveform also

[KLH]

You might also see if you can shut off some of the ringers if that is possible.

Or a more expensive route, (but better) would be to setup an Asterisk (trixbox is what I'm using) server and give each phone their own extension. But then you would either have alot of telephone adapters, or have to buy IP phones.

[sbradshaw]

...and when the phone rings, sometimes there is a several second delay before I find out who is calling.

How long are you waiting for the CID to appear? CID is designed to be sent to the ATA between the 1st and 2nd ring (not a VT thing, but a standard). So it does take a few seconds to see CID.

[chas3]

I have 7 devices hanging on my PAP2T and it works. But, I had some difficulty until I upgraded the firmware to the latest.

I even run distinctive ring, and found that the caller-id needs about three seconds after the first ring to send the data. If you make the ring too short, the CID does not wake up. If there is not enough silence between rings, there is not enough time for the CID data to arrive.

[DracoFelis]

I gave up on multiple physical phones and just bought one of these multi-handset cordless phones. Just get one in the 5.8Ghz range if you use 802.11b/g.
If you have the money, go for the DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) phones (better sound quality, and also a little more "private" vs someone else listening in on your call).

For example, my Uniden TRU-8866 (2 line) wireless set is very nice (allowing up to 10 handsets, with each handset being able to talk on either "line" and also able to "intercom" between them). Not the cheapest solution, but very feature rich (and good sound quality as well).

BTW: I've got my TRU-8866 base station hooked up to both my SPA-3000 (I'm a ViaTalk BYOD customer), and my telco POTS line. As a result, all the wireless phones in the house see the telco/POTS line as "Line 1" and my VoIP as "Line 2"...

[GregM]

My PAP2T was being provisioned with FXS power set to "3". I turned off provisioning and set it to "5" which better matches the cable runs and devices in my home. This cured a problem with a stuttering ring. The PAP2T has settings up to "8".

[DracoFelis]

My PAP2T was being provisioned with FXS power set to "3". I turned off provisioning and set it to "5" which better matches the cable runs and devices in my home. This cured a problem with a stuttering ring. The PAP2T has settings up to "8".
Good to know.

However, where did you find out that the adapter setting actually corresponded to the REN? I know there was a lot of people over on the Voxilla forums (Voxilla sells LinkSys adapters, including the PAP2) have speculated for some time that the setting might correspond to the REN power of the adapter. But so far as I know, nobody was able to find any LinkSys documentation to support that theory.

Still, it seems like you've tried it and it works. So who's arguing with success?

[GregM]

Good to know.

However, where did you find out that the adapter setting actually corresponded to the REN? I know there was a lot of people over on the Voxilla forums (Voxilla sells LinkSys adapters, including the PAP2) have speculated for some time that the setting might correspond to the REN power of the adapter. But so far as I know, nobody was able to find any LinkSys documentation to support that theory.I found several conversations regarding FXS power settings by letting my fingers do the walking. Google can be your friend.;)