Here's a little more detail from what I've read in Comcast's voice documentation and what it means for our setup. <br><br>All our outgoing calls are routed through the cable modem, but essentially the infrastructure inside the building is still on POTS. So this is the reason why there's a phone cable from the south hall patch panel to the modem in the boiler room, and once I trace the line going to the Finance office, I'll better know how it's patched through the patch panel. I was reading up on this today at the library. <br>
<br>I think your suspicion about the BTP phone being off since we switched to Comcast voice is likely correct. Getting it corrected may have just slipped through the communication cracks. Anyway, if we're not using the other line for anything, I think the quickest, easiest solution would be to run the second line to BTP, then junction it off to Bike Project. They would share the second #, leaving the main # for upstairs. <br>
<br>In the longer term, we could easily set up an open source PBX on a server placed in the boiler room. I know Josh had this in his grand plans for tech, and I've been reading up on it today. Also have a friend that runs one at his house & could tap his expertise. Also have quite a few new tech folks in the Makerspace who might be interested in working on this. <br>
<br>I agree that we should find or make covers for the patch panels in the south hall. Tenants do use them, for instance, C4A. There's a clearly labeled line for their service.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 5, 2011 at 5:29 PM, Mike Lehman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rebelmike@earthlink.net">rebelmike@earthlink.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Chris,<br>
Thanks for playing sleuth. Here are a few more things.<br>
<br>
The main patch panel in the hall near the south door used to have a
cover. My guess is that someone took it off, it got misplaced and
then who knows? Unless it's sitting on top of those various boxes
and was just missed. <br>
<br>
I can't quite figure out if the line between the VOIP Comcast modem
is just left over from when the VOIP was installed and is not in
use? Or if it actually connects the VOIP modem to the old phone
panel near the south door for some reason I don't understand? I
presume that there wouldn't be a reason to connect to the POTS since
we have the VOIP bringing in things via cable. But since I know
nothing about the VOIP modem, maybe it has to be connected to both
cable and POTS?<br>
<br>
This also is making me wonder if the B2P phone has actually been
down ever since we installed VOIP two years or so ago? That's
entirely possible, but I'm amazed that no one noticed until now if
that's the case. This would account for why the B2P phone is not
working, because it was NEVER hooked up to the VOIP and that it's
connection to the old phone panel was taken out of service after we
dropped AT&T.<br>
<br>
344-2536 sounds familiar, like it was the number of someone I know,
but don't recall it ever being used by the IMC? I remember talking
about having a fax line, but never that we actually did. Between
getting old and the diss, I just don't trust my memory anymore,
though<span><span> :-( </span></span><br>
<br>
The old patch panel is used for AT&T service to other users in
the building, AFAIK all tenants. So it is active. I just figured it
was superseded by the Comcast VOIP for the IMC.<br>
<br>
The fancy phone network box in the boiler room is the PO's phone
service. There's probably alarm stuff connected to it, too, so we
should be cautious around it. I don't think anything in the hall
near the south door is still used by the PO, but am not certain.<br>
<br>
It wouldn't hurt to extend 344-8820 to B2P, Bike Project, etc, but
there is the potential for people to leave phones off the hook, etc
where it would interfere with its use upstairs. If it is the case
that the B2P phone was never hooked up to VOIP, then maybe the lines
can be spliced together to connect it to the VOIP? In any case,
before we do that, let me check with Jamie in B2p to see if I can
get to the bottom of when they last noticed the phone working.<br>
Mike <br><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<br>
On 3/5/2011 4:11 PM, Chris Ritzo wrote:
</div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div></div><div class="h5">I spent some time beginning to document the phone
infrastructure situation in the building. I'm writing up my
documentation on the imc wiki in the Tech Admin docs which is
password secured to the tech group. Once it's complete I'm going
to look at creating a Building Infrastructure section of the wiki
which would be protected to IMC members & place it there..
I'll work with Leon on that- he may have started something
already. This could also be a space for others to document
infrastructure & building issues like the HVAC system for
instance.<br>
<br>
Here's the rundown of what I found today:<br>
<br>
- We are indeed on Comcast Voice. The cable modem service
terminates on the west wall of the boiler room. The cable modem
has four phone ports, two of which are active, one which is in use
currently. Both lines below were tested at the modem this morning
and confirmed to be working.
<p>
<b>Line #1: 217-344-8820</b><br>
Active, in use phone line. This is the main number for the
UC-IMC. The line plugged into the modem runs along the ceiling
in the boiler room, through the maintenance room and along the
basement east hall and terminates at the telephone patch panels
near the south basement door. Every few feet or so, this gray
cable is now marked with a green sharpie. <br>
</p>
<p>The phone line terminating in the Books to Prisoners space runs
through the wall, across the hallway and south to the same
telephone patch panels. This cable is also gray and now is
marked "BTP" in green marker in several places along the cable
run.<br>
</p>
<i><b></b></i>Somehow line #1 is patched to another
cable run that terminates in the first floor Finance office. <br>
- <i><b>TO </b></i><b>D</b><i><b>O:
this line needs to be traced back from the Finance office <br>
<br>
</b></i><b>Line #2: 217-344-2536</b> <br>
This is also an active line, though currently not in use. It may
have been used in the past as a separate fax line? I plugged a
phone into it at the cable modem and called my cell to confirm
that it's working. <br>
<br>
<b>**SUGGESTION** - If this line is not in use, it could be used
for BTP, or another purpose. </b>I'm posting this here because
I'm not certain whether it's set aside for something or not. Tech
group / others - can we talk consensus on what to do with this
second line?<br>
<br>
<b>NEXT STEPS:</b><br>
- Trace phone line going to Finance/Production and document<br>
- Re-patch cable running to BTP and test<br>
- NOTE: I don't have a clear understanding of how the phone
patch panel is used to patch & connect lines. I'm doing some
research, but if anyone has expertise...<br>
- There are five large phone wire patching panels near the
south door and another one or two in the boiler room.These are
part of the OLD phone infrastructure of the post office and we've
simply reused it. We can certainly continue to do so, though I
think we should put a box over the patch panels after this. <br>
- We could also go with something much simpler and re-wire
using some standard phone junction box connectors at key points,
eliminating the old patch panels. Thoughts on this???<br>
<br>
- Pending approval or whatever, we could run a phone line from the
boiler room to BTP. Given security concerns on that end of the
building, lines could also extend to the Family Room and the Bike
Project. <br>
- I'll leave it up to Building/Finance to determine that. Tech can
implement whatever is decided..<br>
<br>
A final aside, tech has been talking about rewiring/re-securing
phone and data wiring for a while now. This is a longer term
project- we have a functioning network where we need it, but want
to take it to the next level, make it better looking more secure,
etc. Just so folks are aware. It really won't impact people except
will clean up the wiring cable tied around pipes, etc., and the
network will be better documented for future techies. Brian
Duggan's been doing a rad job of recruiting some new folks into
the IMC who are tech-savvy, and it's my hope we can begin getting
them involved in this initiative maybe by summer.<br>
<br>
ttfn -Chris<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 6:13 AM, Chris
Ritzo <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chris.ritzo@gmail.com" target="_blank">chris.ritzo@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<p>Not sure. I think there are just a lot ofwirea running
around and the phone stuff near the south file could have
been snagged or pulled inadvertently. I plan to do some more
tracing sat. and try to map out the lines so stuff is better
documented.</p>
<div>On Mar 2, 2011 8:50 PM, "Mike Lehman" <<a href="mailto:rebelmike@earthlink.net" target="_blank">rebelmike@earthlink.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<div> Chris,<br>
Well, that's interesting. I didn't look closely the other
day because I didn't have a light, but I thought things
looked a little rough, even for something at the IMC.<br>
<br>
Since I didn't look in detail, I'm just speculating,
but...<br>
Maybe someone was trying to steal copper and got
interrupted?<br>
<br>
If so, yet another reason for improving security. <br>
Mike
<p><font color="#500050"><br>
<br>
On 3/2/2011 8:22 PM, Chris Ritzo wrote:</font></p>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p><font color="#500050"><br>
><br>
> I've taken an initial look at the phone situation
and done a little tracing and testing. There'...</font></p>
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