topic Re: Connect phone to landline in Talk

Connect phone to landline

Hareshaven — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 10:22:16 GMT

I apologize if I am using wrong terms in this attempt to report my difficulty!

We have an Irish house, which we are visiting for the first time since March 2020.
In our absence, Sky installed internet, TV, and (supposedly) a telephone landline.
Bought a three unit phone system.

There are two (that I can find) phone jacks in the house, from the previous owners. Plugging the base phone unit into them gives no apparent result.

The unit came with a removable wire that has a plug on it I do not recognize, but which is neither regular small telephone plug nor ethernet.

There is a flat black Sky box in the vicinity of the house entrance of the internet service, and the TV. The only unused jack on the back is for ethernet. I do not know if this is a Sky "hub" or not.

Just for yucks, there is, among the tangle of wires in this area one with a phone plug on the end. Jacked into the base phone unit, this also produces no result (such as a dial tone.)

I suppose it is redundant and unnecessary to report that there is no apparent way to get human tech help out of Sky, Any of their phone numbers say to try later.

I do not know if we have a landline service, nor how to connect with it.

Thanks,

denno

Re: Connect phone to landline

TimmyBGood — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 11:17:52 GMT

@Hareshaven wrote:

In our absence, Sky installed internet, TV, and (supposedly) a telephone landline.

ISPs such as Sky don't 'install a landline': they supply a voice call service alongside broadband over whatever bearer cable the national infrastructure maintainer has at the address (for RoI that would be Eircom). They'll typically try to do this without entering the premises, unless advised by the ISP on behalf of the occupant that there's no existing cabling to a 'master' phone socket.

The 'flat black Sky box' sounds like a Q Hub.

Re: Connect phone to landline

Hareshaven — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 16:06:21 GMT

@TimmyBGood

Thank you. I've spent some time exploring the infratructure.

Simplest question: should I get an ethernet-to-phone wire and plug in on the back of the Sky Box?

Further observation: on the back of said box are the ethernet, also two USB jacks and an "optical out."

A friend who is visiting and is far less steamed up over the situation of trying to get customer service out of Sky and Eir makes the profound suggestion that I simply buy, and use when I'm here, a "burner phone" with an Irish sim card, and tell Sky (possibly by means of a seance) to quit charging us for a landline.

Thanks,

denno

Re: Connect phone to landline

TimmyBGood — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 16:26:03 GMT

@Hareshaven wrote:

Simplest question: should I get an ethernet-to-phone wire and plug in on the back of the Sky Box?

No: those adapters are for use with business phones in commercial premises and have zero domestic functionality.

Further observation: on the back of said box are the ethernet, also two USB jacks and an "optical out."

Single ethernet and 'optical out' suggests a Sky television box, not anything to do with either broadband or telephony. Does it have an HDMI port?

Re: Connect phone to landline

TimmyBGood — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 17:10:51 GMT

@Hareshaven wrote:

and tell Sky (possibly by means of a seance) to quit charging us for a landline.

To have terrestrial broadband at an address a 'line' is required (either copper or fibre optic). You pay for that out of the broadband subscription: typically any bundled voice call service is 'free' unless outbound calls are made or an additional call bundle is added.

Re: Connect phone to landline

Hareshaven — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 19:47:39 GMT

Well, this is gonna peter out. my wife insists that we are being charged extra for a "land line;" but any such bills are back in the USA. There is an HDMI wire on the back of the box, presumably running into the TV.
Eir references a "main block" or some other item meaning a thingee on the wall into which we might plug the phone if it has the right jacks. There are, as I said, a couple such upstairs that apparently have zero connectivity. There are two downstairs that are connected to something incoming, each possessed of a co-axial jack to which nothing is plugged in.

I cannot properly answer your questions, and I cannot obtain any further information here and now.

We're gonna cut the mustard and get a sim card for the phone we already own from a previous trip (Huawei) and try to run with that.

If I ever figure any more out I'll report back.

Cannot tell you how gratifying is your knowledge and interest. If I had more information we might indeed get this up and running.

Cheers!

denno