Patent ID: 8761186

Claim:
A network for coupling a plurality of analog telephone devices to the Internet, the network comprising: a telephone wire pair at least in part in a wall within a building, said wire pair being connected for concurrently carrying an analog telephone signal carried in an analog telephone signal frequency band frequency multiplexed with a digital data signal carried in a digital data signal frequency band, the digital data signal containing digitized and packetized telephone data, the digital data signal frequency band being distinct from, and higher than, the analog telephone signal frequency band; a gateway connected between said telephone wire pair and the Internet, said gateway being operative to couple the digital data signal between the telephone wire pair and the Internet; and a first device housed within a single enclosure and connected to said telephone wire pair, said first device being connectable to a first analog telephone device and comprising a relay connected to the first analog telephone device, said relay being operative to couple the analog telephone signal to the first analog telephone device only when the digital data signal is not present on said telephone wire pair, wherein the digitized and packetized telephone data is based on Voice over Internet Protocol, and said enclosure is attached to a wall of a building, and wherein said enclosure is mounted in the wall of the building.