Cordless phone

[ebj]

We have a Merlin Magic phone system. One person in the office has a phone with extension 123 and an outside line 123-4567. She's out of her office most of the time (she's a nurse) and would like to be able to receive and make calls on the outside line. We've been told that the price of a cordless phone for the system is too much. My question is this: Can I tap into the line before it becomes part of the Magic system and put a regular cordless phone on it? Will this interfere with the Merlin phone on her desk? Is this feasible? Thanks. -Joe

 

[tdaugirdas]

If you connect the cordless BEFORE the system - the system will not know when the line is "in use" by the cordless. And - any calls to her system phone will not ring. You can attach a "cheap" single-line cordless to the system using an 016 T/R module and/or an MFM (if you have any MLX telephones). That way - the cheap cordless is part of the system - instead of outside the system. You can intercom with it and use most system features - but you need one of the two mentioned modules - so you can connect it. If you have an ETR module - you can make one of the top 6 ports a T/R port for a single-line phone - like a cheap cordless. If you ONLY have a 412 TDL or 024 TDL module - then you would need an expensive TransTalk portable.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[Dexman]

I'm not sure what is meant with "Can I tap into the line before it becomes part of the Magic system and put a regular cordless phone on it?"

If the system has either an open 016 T/R module or a 016 ETR with an open port in a position that can be configured as T/R, you could connect a cordless phone there.

Tapping into a POTs line ahead of the telephone system is a questionable practice, and connecting a standard telephone to a port wired to a 024 TDL module will not work.

 

[ebj]

I know this problem may be a bit over my head, but I'm stuck with it and am trying to solve it. This system has neither an 016 T/R module nor a 016 ETR, only TDL's. tdaugirdas, when you say, "If you connect the cordless BEFORE the system - the system will not know when the line is "in use" by the cordless. And - any calls to her system phone will not ring." Do you mean it will not ring while she is on the cordless or that it won't ring any time? What we were hoping is that it would ring on both, and if she was down the hall she could answer the cordless - if she was in her office, she would of course use the system phone. If she's on the cordless, it doesn't matter if the system phone doesn't ring...that's not a problem. And Dexman, yes, I did mean that I want to tap into a POTs line. What did you mean by it being a "questionable practice?" In what sense? Did you mean it's not the best way to approach the problem, or that it should never be done, period? Thanks in advance. - Joe

 

[TouchToneTommy]

If you tap the cordless phone into the dial tone before the Magix system, as Tom points out, the Magix doesn't know when the cordless is in use.

Incoming calls will ring both the cordless and the Magix at the same time. If she answers on the cordless, the Magix will continue to ring a couple more times, until it recgonizes that the incoming ring signal has ceased. If her voice mail covers the line, it's possible that it will answer even though a call is answered on the cordless.

If her line is part of any outgoing pool accessed by other phones, she could be on a call when someone else's outgoing call grabs the line and starts dialing, interrupting the call.

The cordless only covers calls to her outside private line, NOT calls to her internal extension number. So, internal intercom calls and transferred calls from other phone numbers will not ring at the cordless phone.

By far, the best solution is to invest in a Tip/Ring card, add the cordless as its own extension, and have that extension cover her regular extension. That way, it will ring whenever the regular extension does, internal or external calls.