Help with AT&T/ vonage and what is DSL filter?

[Blondie]

Yikes- My phone dies- of course it did...I am packing for Puerto Vallarta and have no time for this stuff!! I buy an AT&T phone with 4 handsets. I have Vonage. The directions in the phone say I need a DSL filter? What is that?? I have just started charging all the phones and will not know until tomorrow if they sound ok or if there is interference. Snowstorm coming...of course! I assume I could buy such filter at Radio Shack... Any thoughts? I never had this filter thingy before and I am just replacing phones- albeit going to a DECT 6.0 whatever that is. Thank you thank you.

 

[Luanne]

Google is my friend.

A DSL filter, also known as a micro-filter, is a small in-line device sometimes required in DSL installations. It filters line interference to standard telephone phone equipment when the equipment lines share the same line as the DSL service.

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, an always-on Internet service provided through in-place telephone lines. The ISP providing DSL service uses these standard telephone lines to provide a high-bandwidth channel that can deliver downstream speeds up to 3mbps. A special DSL modem is required and DSL filters may also be required, depending on the installation method.

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A DSL filter is a small in-line device that blocks Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet frequencies from landline telephone phone equipment to decrease interference. It is an inexpensive, optional addition to any home or office network.

DSL service runs on traditional copper telephone lines, channeling incoming and outgoing Internet data on frequencies too high to interfere with traditional voice traffic. This makes it possible to use the phone for voice calls while simultaneously surfing the Internet – a feat not possible with dial-up Internet services. Although the frequencies used for DSL Internet service should not interfere with voice calls, some people prefer to block these frequencies from the phone line to avoid bleed-through. A DSL filter does just that.
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You can get them at Radio Shack, among other places. We have them on our phone lines.

 

[Fisch]

It's a plug in device that goes in the phones wall jack. You then plug the phone into it.
If you order DSL through your phone company, you should get a few with with your modem.
Without them, you hear a "buzz" on your phone line.
Al

 

[rosebud5]

DSL Filter

If you don't have broadband high speed Internet access through your phone provider (DSL), I dont think you need one.

 

[Lee B]

That's right. If you get your broadband Internet from your cable provider, for instance, you don't need a DSL filter at all. Also, If even one phone is plugged in somewhere without a filter, your DSL may not work at all -- no Internet. That happened to me.

For some reason, recently two of my filters went bad at the same time. The result was poor internet speed and noisy phone connections. I went around disconnecting phones until the problem went away, then determined which two filters were bad.

I figured out a way to avoid needing filters at all, and now things are really great.

Since you use Vonage, you probably don't have DSL because usually you pay a premium to the phone company for broadband if you don't use their phone service too.

 

[davidvel]

Yikes- My phone dies- of course it did...I am packing for Puerto Vallarta and have no time for this stuff!! I buy an AT&T phone with 4 handsets. I have Vonage. The directions in the phone say I need a DSL filter? What is that?? I have just started charging all the phones and will not know until tomorrow if they sound ok or if there is interference. Snowstorm coming...of course! I assume I could buy such filter at Radio Shack... Any thoughts? I never had this filter thingy before and I am just replacing phones- albeit going to a DECT 6.0 whatever that is. Thank you thank you.

You do not need a DSL filter. Even if you are using DSL, the filter is only for (traditional) phones connected directly to the phone lines. You are using Vonage and will connect your phones to Vonage.

 

[Lee B]

You do not need a DSL filter. Even if you are using DSL, the filter is only for (traditional) phones connected directly to the phone lines. You are using Vonage and will connect your phones to Vonage.

...via the Vonage adapter box that you connect to the Internet. This is a good point.

When you travel to PV you can take that box with you, along with a small, lightweight phone, and receive calls to your number and make calls to the same places you could from home. That is IF you can connect to the Internet.