FYI, last I checked RFU was paying for some phone service to the building. Can someone please check to see if this should be the case? - D<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 5, 2011 at 7:55 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">
OK, that makes a little more sense. Somehow the line comes off of
the cable in the boiler room to the modem and then a phone line goes
to the POTS panel near the south door to the existing wiring there
to feed upstairs to the Finance office phone.<br>
<br>
I did remember what 344-2536 is. That's the number for WRFU and they
dropped it for economic reasons before we switched service to
Comcast, IIRC? Or I'm just clueless? But if it's dead, maybe another
case where it didn't get hooked back up, but maybe it's there and I
can't even afford to pay attention anymore. I haven't been in the
studio recently. <br>
<br>
If we're paying for 344-2536, I see no problem with using it. I
think I remember them saying that 2 lines were part of the package
we bought when Comcast hooked it up. If it's RFU's then we don't
want to mess it up.<br><font color="#888888">
Mike</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On 3/5/2011 6:23 PM, Chris Ritzo wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">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" target="_blank">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> <br>
On 3/5/2011 4:11 PM, Chris Ritzo wrote: </div>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<div>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: <a href="tel:217-344-8820" target="_blank">217-344-8820</a></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>
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: <a href="tel:217-344-2536" target="_blank">217-344-2536</a></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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