Incoming Phone Calls Interrupt Internet Service

[Bimmerknut]

We've had U-Verse since March. I have a NEW Dell desktop as does my wife. We also have two Dell laptops which we use through our wireless router. This all seems to work fine until the phone rings at which point the internet drops for about a minute. Note: the router doesn't seem to lose signal as I don't get a red blinking light on the gateway. As a final note, we do also have a HP 3680 fax machine.

Just today I solved the internet dropping. I disconnect the fax line from the DSL Filter and plugged the phone into it and all seems well when the phone rings. Previously I had a splitter at the phone jack in the wall, then the filter in one port and the fax in the other. I removed the splitter altogether and just run the filter from the jack as I mentioned with the phone and modem running from that.

So, my question is this. How do I now hook up the line from my fax machine? I tried plugging it in both of the phone 1/2 port and tried the aux port as well on the gateway but I don't get a dial tone. Any ideas?

Thanks folks!

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

Bimmerknut - This is kind of complicated. We may have to go back and forth.

Do you have POTS or U-voice??

Also, did you have ringmaster for the FAX. U-verse does not support ringmaster. If you have POTS you should be able to keep ringmaster.

If you have POTS - the tel is seperated from U-verse at the NID. Your in-house tel wiring should remain the same as pre-U-verse. & your tel wiring would not feed the RG. The NID to RG should be a home run cat3, cat5 or coax.

If you have U-voice - the dialtone comes from the RG - you connect one or more phones to the tel jack in the RG. If you want to distribute it through your existing network you connect the RG jack to a wall Jack. You also make sure the network does not connect back to the NID.

I was just rereading your post. A couple more thoughts. You should not need any filters when correctly wired.

I remeber some FAX machines provide a connecting cord the has a reversal of pairs. Try a regular phone cord.

Sounds like you have U-voice if you are looking for dialtone on the RG.

[Bimmerknut]

My landline is AT&T but not U-Voice.

I have no idea what ringmaster is.

NID? Tell me what this is and I'll get right back to you.

Thanks for the assistance!

[Bimmerknut]

RG?

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

Ok, You have POTS. The NID is a gray box on the side of the house where the tel line (drop) terminates. It splits u-verse & POTS.

ringmaster is a bellsouth feature where you get a "free" number for your FAX. When someone calls that number the fax auto answers. You still only have one line coming into your house. Just mentioned it in case the auto answer was critical to you.

You should have one wire from NID to RG for U-verse. One wire from NID to feed your phones. The tel jacks on the RG are not functional.

RG is the modem that serves the house with U-verse services.

[Bimmerknut]

OK, I basically have a single port wall jack. The NID is the source for that jack. Correct?

Coming out of that jack is my dual DSL dual-port filter. One port says Phone and the other port says DSL. The telephone 2-wire cord goes from the Phone port to the phone. The DSL port has a GREEN cord, supplied with my RG, that goes from the DSL port on the filter and goes to the GREEN phone port on the back of the RG. Then I have a YELLOW wire going from the Netgear Wireless N-300 router and it goes to one of the ethernet ports on the RG. Does this seem more clear than what I posted earlier?

Now I'm just needing a resolution to where to plug in my fax machine.

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

Your dial tone source is the wall jack labled phone. 

To connect more than one device (phone, fax) you need a splitter. If your fax has two jacks connect one to the wall & one to the phone. see if the phone has dial tone.

If it does not work try another cord. Fax cord could be using different pins.

[Bimmerknut]

Somewhere we're missing something. As I mentioned in my original post, I WAS using a splitter and the fax was working fine. The problem was that I was getting booted off the internet every time the phone rang. By eliminating the splitter, the internet no longer disconnects when the phone rings. But by eliminating the splitter, I'm having to eliminate the fax that went into the other port on that splitter.

I also tried changing the location of the dual-port FILTER. I tried putting the filter INTO one port on the splitter, with the fax using the other port on the splitter. Then I tried putting the FILTER.

Now I have the FILTER plugged into the single port on the wall jack.

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

Bimmerknut - I understand - I was just trying to say how it is supposed to work & what are the possible roadblocks. Since I am not there I cannot try substitutions. As I said initially  - It is complicated.

Perhaps you need  a tech visit to look at the wiring.

Maybe the splitter is bad. Not sure why you need a filter. Filters are used with DSL but not U-verse. POTS should split at the NID. Maybe your installer split it at your wall Jack. I do not know if the (DSL) filter is supposed to go on the DSL termination or the phone termination. I think a knowledgable person needs to look at the wiring behind the wall jack.