Had my “service” call. The tech shows up and says he is there for a “self install” (if that’s all it was I would have done it myself). I explain that the demarc will need to be rewired and he knows nothing about how to do that. I also asked him about moving the power source for my drop amp from the garage to inside the house (if I rely on the signal for phone, I want the amp power inside so I can have battery backup). He does not know what a power inserter is. So, he basically hooked up the voice modem and provisioned it. I am being charged $75 for this?
The old copper phone line is still hooked up to my house at the demarc. The old land line is currently dead, so it apparently does not interfere with Cox voice using my phone wiring, but I bet if Verizon does something to the land line it will screw things up in my house.
Verizon offered to convert me to fiber-base phone for free, but I wanted to move to Cox. Starting to regret the choice. This entire process from start to finish has been a disappointment (grand understatement).
It's probably my terminology. "Demarc" is probably old school. The tech, however, knew to disconnect the phone line from the outside world.
What do you mean your phone line is dead? Didn't the tech connect the eMTA to a phone outlet? They should be checking all this stuff.
Why can't you move the amp? Do you need longer/shorter coax?
Cox is supposed to be transitioning customers to Cox Voice for free. The moderator said it depends on the market but that sounds like BS.
Sorry for the confusion. I didn’t use the term “demarc” with the tech, I said “where the old phone line enters my house” or something similar. The tech did NOT disconnect the phone line from the outside world.
When I said the phone line is “dead” I meant the old landline (from Verizon). The box that serves my street is in my neighbor’s yard and he smashed it with his weedeater (seriously) and it knocked my phone out. Verizon refuses to fix it and used it as an opportunity to try to force me to go with fiber phone (for free) and I decided to switch to Cox. So, the old Verizon line is still hooked up to the entrance of my house, it’s just a non-functioning line (so apparently it does not mess with the eMT's use of my house phone wiring).
The eMTA is connected to a phone jack in my house and send phone to all jacks in my house.
The drop amp is where the Cox cable enters my home (outsider). It gets power from a power supply in the garage that sends power via a coax line through the garage wall and to the amp. Moving the power supply is doable, moving the amp is not really a good option.
Thanks for the reply Kevin. Not sure about the terminology. I have a grey plastic box on the side of my house that says “Telephone Network Interface”. It has no Verizon branding or signage on it. It looks the same as the boxes pictured in Wikipedia entry for “demarcation point”. This box is where the outside world meets my home’s phone wiring. It sure seems like there should have been some change (such as disconnection) made at this location.
I'll get in touch with cox help folks since the only reason I scheduled a tech service call was for the appropriate changes to the wiring at the home entrance. I did not need someone to perform a "self install" for me.
