I’m in the UK and will soon need to switch over from the old copper landline to VOIP for my phone use (my property is already on fiber, FTTP to be exact).
I know that I need a VOIP Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) in order to connect my old analog phones to the router. However, my ISP doesn’t seem to think that I can plug in TWO phones simultaneously (yet only one will ever be used at a time). One is a cordless phone with wired base station, the other a simple wired phone (so not cordless and no base station) which I use in the event of power cuts). Surely it should be possible to plug in some kind of multi-way/T piece adapter to the VOIP ATA to save having to swap cables whenever there’s a power failure. (the ONT box and router will be powered via a UPS).
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All depends on the REN (Ringer Equivalency Number) of the ATA and connected phones. Each phone usually has a REN number, often indicated on the information placard or sticker on the bottom of the phone. If the ATA supports 3 REN, then that is 3 normal phones with a REN of 1 or 2 REN 1.5 or 1 REN 3. All of the phones on the line should not add up to more than the REN rating of the ATA or incoming calls get auto-answered and immediately hung up on as the line draws enough ringer current for the ATA to believe that one of the phones has gone off-hook.
Thanks a lot for the explanation. So if the REN values are okay I can just plug the two old phones into a standard T-piece/multi-way and plug that into the ATA?