[AFMUG] Physically Hooking up Voip Lines

[Nate Burke via Af]

I'm interested in how people are doing physical Residential VoIP 
Installs.  Do you just provide the ATA and let the customer figure it 
out, or do you physically hook it into the house wiring for them?  We're 
doing more and more, and it seems like it takes almost as much time to 
do the Wireless install as it does to install the ATA.  By the time you 
track down the house wires, disconnect them from the PSTN, run a wire 
from the ATA to where you can tie into the house wiring (not always 
close by), and then wire the ATA in.  The one's we're converting all 
seem to have several corded phones they still want to use.

Also, how do you cover the crossover time between installation and 
Number port.  Business customer are one thing, I have them setup the 
call forwarding feature at the ILEC, and forward calls to a temporary 
DID until the port happens.  But trying to get an older person to call 
the ILEC and understand what they need to ask for (and not get sucked 
into a new contract) is much more difficult.

I'm not sure how Vonage does it, do they walk people through tracing 
down cables over the phone?  Or once the number port happens, they 
presume the ILEC port is dead, so then they just have the customer plug 
it in to any wall jack?

Nate