How do I setup FiOS to work with my VOIP phone?

I just purchased a Polycom SoundPont IP 321 phone. The process is confusing and each time I attempt to enter config, I continuiously receive the 'Network Link is Down' message on my phone.

Is there something I need to do on my router to make this phone work?

Scott

Accepted answers

viafax999

OP would be well off to ignore a lot of the previous post.

Yes verizon digital voice is basically a land line service and as such at the premises travels on the in house copper - either line 1, line 2 or both dependant on how you plugged the ont connections.

A voip connection comes in as an IP signal and as such your local software for the service will connect via a router connection. You may well be able to extend that voip service into your premises by connecting the output from your voip software to the in house copper on a pair that is not bein used by your land line service - I actually do that with a magic jack voip adapter output connected to the isolated line 2 in house copper..

You will need to look at the port requiement for your voip device to see if you need to setup port forwarding or the like for it to function correctly behind a firewall.

All comments

bbinnard

Do you have landline phone service as part of your FIOS bundle? If you do then your ONT box is probably connected to your home's phone wiring. It may be that you will have to disconnect your phone wiring from the ONT box, especially if you want to keep your existing phone number.

SOS6

Thanks for the reply, @bbinnard. I don't have a LL; I have FiOS Digital Voice. I've got this phone connected to my router. My guess is, either I need to make some config changes in my router, and/or the phone itself.

mfizzy

Fios digital voice is a land line. At the home it does not go thru the router. You need to plug your phone into a regular phone jack at the home. If you phone only does VOIP then you need a regular phone.

gs0b

Can you determine what exactly "network link down" means? Is the phone getting an IP address?

The standard FiOS Actiontec router doesn't do anything different than most consumer NAT routers. You might want to check with the phone hardware provider and/or VoIP service provider if your particular setup can function behind a NAT router.

A "enterprise" class phone usually isn't connected through a NAT router. You may need to do some digging in the phone's manual to determine how to configure it to operate in a home network environment.

Good Luck.

Hubrisnxs

You also need to configure ports to be open in the new router.

http://www.voipmechanic.com/ is a great website that will answer a lot of basic questions, but the Ports you need are specific to your phone. You may need to go on their website and find what ports are needed.

Basic Ports are:

5060 (SIP signaling port)

H.323 uses ports 1718 to 1720 and port 2517

And then H.248, or Megaco, and MGCP (Media Gateway Control Protocol) run on ports 2427 and 2944.

Usually you need at LEAST these ports, but again it can vary from cisco to polycom and so on and so forth, so it's a good idea to check the manual, or polycom's website.

here are the instructions to do the port forwarding. If you set the phone with a static IP address, then make sure you avoid using the .100-.150 range (those are reserved for your cable boxes)

SOS6

Thanks all for the input.

bbinnard

I think you are mixing horses with cows here...

If you have FIOS Digital Voice you do have what is considered to be a land line. That means the phone signals you use to talk using the Verizon service ravel through the twisted pair copper phone wires in your house.

What's more important is how those signals get on the phone wires. It's the ONT that puts them there. The ONT processes 3 types of data - Internet, TV, and Phone. Even though you have Digital Voice (VOIP) that arrives at the ONT over the Internet it (the ONT) separates that out and puts the final signals on your telephone wires.

As long as the ONT is doing this no other phone signals can get past/through the ONT. That's why you get those nasty messages from your personal VOIP unit - the ONT has no idea what to do with those signals.

To get your own VOIP to work you have to do 2 things:

1. Cancel your FIOS Digital Voice service

2. Physically disconnect your home's phone wires from the ONT box.

1 is becuase you want only one set of phone signals coming to the ONT. The ONT simply can't handle 2 competing inputs of the same type.

2 is becuase you'll want to plug your home phone wiring into your own VOIP box so yuo can use phones wherever you have a household phone jack. This won't work if the phone wiring sees the ONT. So you have to break that connection.

viafax999

OP would be well off to ignore a lot of the previous post.

Yes verizon digital voice is basically a land line service and as such at the premises travels on the in house copper - either line 1, line 2 or both dependant on how you plugged the ont connections.

You will need to look at the port requiement for your voip device to see if you need to setup port forwarding or the like for it to function correctly behind a firewall.

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