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OnQ Central Wiring System
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Their address is 7203 Aloma Ave in Winter Park, FL 32792-7101. Their phone number is (407) 539-2264 and their fax number is (407) 539-0875. They do not appear to have any Internet presence which I find odd for a firm that supposedly deals with high-tech installations.
The OnQ system they installed enables all of the telephone and Cable TV wires to be routed to a singly designated location in the home. In this case, a lockable 14"x14" box is mounted in the Laundry Room.
In the photo above, the yellow cables are the Cable TV and, in this case, Roadrunner Brand Broadband Internet. The blue cables are Cat5e cables for telephone. Cat5 cabling have four twisted pairs and can support any combination of phone services up to the maximum 8 conductors. Often "services" are defined by the number of phone lines. In homes with one phone line, one twisted pair (or two matched conductors) are used. A fax line or second phone line would make use of another pair.
Notice the three wires entering the box down from the top center. These are the lines coming in from the outside. The remaining lines feed to different rooms of the home. In the specific box shown above, there is one Cat5e connected to the 6-port Telecom module and all six lines are used to route extensions to different rooms. In addition to the connected incoming Cat5e cable, there is another unused one shown and is tucked behind the Telecom module.
The single incoming yellow cable is connected to a 1x6 passive video module. Essentially, this module is a fancy video splitter that is designed to snap into the OnQ box easily and cleanly.
Third, I removed the 1x6 passive video splitter module and replaced it with a 1x8 module that accomplishes the same task. This is because I wanted to add two cable outlets in the home; a second one in the bonus room and another on a plant shelf in one of the bedrooms to host our wireless Internet equipment in a central location. I sold the original 1x6 module on eBay to help defray the cost to replace it.
Fourth, we took advantage of an after-Thanksgiving Radio Shack offer to buy a TeleZapper for under $10. Although this device is often seen in a larger form, this model is about the size of a cigar. Telezapper sends a Line-No-Longer-In-Service signal to all incoming calls. Theoretically, that signal is detected by annoying computer generated sales calls and helps to reduce them. This device works on an entire phone line from any extension, so I connected it to one of the modular plugs provided in the OnQ system so I don't have it visibly hanging off another phone outlet in the house.
We eventually disconnected the TeleZapper because the tones it created tended to irritate legitimate incoming callers.
Advantages of OnQ
I have mixed feelings regarding the OnQ system. I am not personally intimidated by the thought of cutting a phone line and splicing a new wire to it simply by matching the same colors. Or, for that matter, simply buying an adapter at any store that sells telephones. A few months ago, I bought a splitter that turned one line into five lines at a Dollar Store.
On the other hand, I am a big proponent of installing equipment neatly and sensibly so that problems are more readily remedied, upgrades are more streamlined and future technicians can more quickly make sense of what has been done in the past. OnQ compels a central wiring connect system to do all of this. In fact, OnQ promotes that their box is a perfect hub for centralized security, intercoms and audio entertainment as well. They make modules for all of these applications.
Once the module is obtained and the wiring is brought into the box, the connections are easy.
Dis-advantages of OnQ
Unfortunately, there are several disadvantages, but all of them are opportunities for OnQ to improve.
While it sounds great for a builder to say that it equips a home with an OnQ network, it does not really accomplish as much as it sounds like it does for the common homeowner. At stud stage, service providers can as easily bring their wiring to the OnQ box as they can any other location in the home. In our last home, cable and telephone line splitters were located as needed in the basement. Arguably, less wire is needed since lines are split in convenient locations and every room doesn't require a dedicated line to one box in a central location.
In our home in California, I split cable and telephone lines in the attic, simply by locating a line near my new installation and tapping into it. I also installed my surround sound system by dropping the appropriate wires into the appropriate walls; a task that has to be done with or without an OnQ box mounted somewhere.
I suspect that OnQ will grow in popularity. New homes need to be wired for Internet, phone, security and cable. The OnQ people may be successful putting a brand name on products that builders can mark-up as upgrades. All homeowners have to do is choose fancy sounding options to expand otherwise very basic cabling layouts.
In our case, I found that our builder did not provide easy expansion access to our OnQ system. Dropping new lines to the box from in the attic was a daunting challenge that took a great deal of time. I actually expected a wide tube in the attic marked for OnQ lines to be dropped through. Instead, I had to plow through blown insulation and maneuver past awkwardly positioned studs just to push through a pilot wire. After that, it was still difficult to pull through just two new cable TV and two new Cat5 lines.
OnQ seems to be targeted to benefit installer's most. Their expansion modules are not readily available although similarly designed products can be found at Lowe's and The Home Depot. It is not that any of their products are difficult to use. For instance, the video splitter works like any other video splitter available at Wal-Mart. It's just that the OnQ splitter is mounted on a costly mounting bracket so it snaps into their box easily.
OnQ parts took some time to obtain. I finally got hooked up with Worthington Distribution; a wholesale distributor that also takes end-user credit card transactions. Their prices are relatively good and shipping was fast; same day when I finally spoke to someone. (They don't respond to their email when placing new orders.) I finally found Mr. Mike Rizzi there to be very responsive. By rights, OnQ components should be as easy as visiting Home Depot, but they're not.
In July of 2005, we decided to add a new cable TV connector to our guest room in order to rearrange furniture. All of the cable connectors in the OnQ box were already full and an expansion panel would cost much too much for what benefit it would provide. Instead, I simply tapped into an existing cable connector in adjacent room with an inexpensive "Y" adaptor from Lowe's. It works fine.
Finally, OnQ modules are pricey. That's great if you're a middleman or installer, but very unnecessary if you're a homeowner that can figure out how to connect color coded wires together without the module.
One Final Observation
The OnQ installers and builder were not able to work with me properly when installing the phone outlets in our home. It took me a while to figure out why.
When we shopped for homes, it was an important factor to me whether the home would be Internet-ready. I had a Linksys wireless system that we used in Illinois, but until I actually connected it in our new home, I could not be assured that it would work as well in a new location. Factors such as metal studs and longer linear distances between points in rooms and offices concerned me.
I requested more than once some assurance that the new home would be equipped with Cat5 wiring because the model I had seen did not show off the fact that Cat5 was behind the walls. In each case, the model's rooms had only one phone jack; not the additional RJ45 I expected for an Internet-ready environment.
At one point, this concern was driven home with the builder's sales office when an early walk-through showed me that only standard modular phone jacks were in the proper locations. Finally, they agreed to add an RJ45, which to me, makes it truly Internet-ready by allowing me to wire computers together through the walls.
At a final walk through, I found that the installer had simply replaced the standard RJ11 modular telephone jacks with RJ45 outlet jacks. I still did not have a phone jack plus the computer communication jack that I expected. I pointed this out to our Quality Control Supervisor and after checking the paperwork, he agreed it was still not wired correctly for our home.
Soon thereafter, I found myself explaining the situation to the installer. After a short while, he nodded, agreed what I wanted could be done and told both me and our builder that he would wire each wall plate with two jacks. The primary phone line would be connected on top and the Ethernet lines would be wired in a separate jack beneath it. After he left, we tested the phone line and everything seemed fine.
Everything did seem fine until I later found that two of the six primary phone jacks were not working. Thinking I could fix a loose connection myself, I removed a wall plate and found that it was in no way wired according to what we agreed to. I removed a second plate and it also was not wired for Ethernet on the bottom RJ45.
I contacted the builder and installer was called out again. The same installer arrived and I asked him why he did not wire the outlets the way that we agreed. In a very long, complicated and confusing conversation, it finally became clear that he was trained only for connecting the wires so that broadband was accessible through the phone company. He could not grasp the fact that I had broadband coming in from cable and may want to set up an Ethernet connection between two computers by connecting the wires properly through the OnQ box. I finally agreed to let him off the hook if he just fixed the two primary line extensions. By this time I found that my wireless Internet was working well and I would rewire the bottom jacks myself if I ever needed to do so. |
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Click HERE for a copy of the OnQ Owner's Manual. |
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photos ©2003-2005 Donald A. Thomas, Jr.
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