Two-line splitter: super simple question 1

[DayLaborer]

I a complete novice in this area, so please keep any replies dummied-down appropriately

The previous owner of our home had two phone lines working. We cancelled one of them. We have a "two line" jack that, in order to use it, I have a splitter that splits one jack into three. But only the middle plug is active. I guess the other two are for "line two" or "conference" or something.

Using a three-way splitter seems like a bit of a hack. What is the correct device/adapter I really need to make my telephone jack usable with a one-line phone?

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[whykap]

In theory you should be able to eliminate the spliter and plug in the phone directly into the outlet since you only have one line now.

 

[DayLaborer]

...but it doesn't work: I get silence.

 

[phoneguyjr]

It sounds like it is wired with the active phone line going to the second pair of wires in the jack. The best way to fix this would have the far end(where the phone lines come into the building from your local exchange company) rewired to put your active line on the first pair of wires in the jack. If you do not want to have someone in to do this then the easiest way would to keep the splitter in place or get just a Line1/Line 2 splitter and use that.

 

[DayLaborer]

I believe I have this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RJ11-Phone-Line...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9e28a025

and you're suggesting this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-2-Outlet-Ja...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a5848945e

Since they're basically the same thing, is another option buying a second such "triple adaptor-splitter" and plugging one into the other? Will that accomplish me having three usable plugs on my single line - or will only some of the three plugs work for me still?

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[grumpyone60]

or you could open the jack and re-wire it to have the correct wires on the 2 middle pins of the connector. That would be the green and red pair. The jack will probably have 4 wires going in to it. Just switch the 2 wires that are on the green and red terminals with the 2 wires that are on the yellow and black terminals.

 

[SYQUEST]

Is it not now working on the single line phone?

If you don't know how to rewire the jack, and you don't want to pay someone to rewire the jack, then leave it alone!

....JIM....

 

[DayLaborer]

That's kind of what I'm asking now: is a simple option for me to buy a second such "triple adaptor-splitter" and plug one into the other? Will that accomplish me having three usable plugs on my single line (that's what I need) - or will only some of the three plugs work for me still?

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[phoneguyjr]

Doubling up the splitter like that will only give you some of the plugs working. There are Different adapters that do different things. A Splitter takes the different pairs that are located at the single wall jack and splits them into Multiple line jacks. A Doubler adapter makes Multiple appearances of those lines at the Wall jack and turns it into multiple jacks with the same phone number in the same location. So if you absolutely can not/do not want to have a phone technician come in and rewire then you can do a Doubler adapter into the middle jack of the Triple splitter.

Splitter= L1/L2 together on one jack in the wall, Makes L1 on far left jack, Line 2 on middle jack and usually L1/L2 on far right jack. If you look in the jacks there is typically only 2 conductors in each of the first two jacks and 4 conductors in the third. There are also L1/L2/L3 splitters so make sure you know what you have. It should say above each jack what it does. usually L1,L2,Line1,Line2 etc....Something like that.

Doubler= L1/L2 together on one jack in the wall, Makes 2 jacks with L1/L2 in both locations. This type of adapter typically will not say L1/L2 or anything like that but if you look in the jacks you will usually see 4 or 6 copper conductors.

Hopefully this helps and please ask if you have any more questions.

 

[SYQUEST]

That depends on the wiring configuration of the adapters; and since the working line appears to be on the second pair that would limit what you can do with the current wiring arrangement. Most likely, you will need to have the jack rewired to accommodate any adapter that would provide three jacks connected to a single line. Most, if not all adapters of this type are wired to the first pair. I have never seen one that was not.

Now, you could have the first and second pairs wired to the first line. That would give you the line appearing on all jacks of the adapter you currently have.

....JIM....

 

[donb01]

OK, here's an even simpler answer. Obviously you had 2 lines coming into the house and you deleted "line 1" instead of "line 2" and now the jacks don't work without the adapter.

Screw all the rewiring stuff and just go outside to the gray box on the outside of your house labelled "Customer Network Interface" (if you have one). Take a phillips screwdriver and open the cover for customer access (you won't have the tool to open the part you're not supposed to be in so don't worry about it).

Inside that box you should see at least 2 snap-in modules that will probably have red and green screws on them and a short flat grey phone cable just like you use to plug in your phone. The modules are normally close enough together so that all you have to do is "criss-cross" those 2 phone plugs outside, and that will switch the positions of line 1/line 2 on every jack in your house so you can now plug in your phones to the jacks without the adapters. Problem solved.

Now, it is possible that if you have an old enough house with old enough wiring (or you live in a multi-family unit) that everything will be hard wired and more of a hassle to change, but most of the newer stuff has the customer interface outside for the very reason so that if you have a problem you can plug in a regular telephone for testing purposes without using any of the wiring in your house.

** DANGER ** Do not do this if the grass is wet or there is water where you are standing, it is raining, snowing, or any other kind of crappy weather, and avoid touching the screws (because you're standing on the ground instead of being on an insulated floor in the house).

Hopefully that helps

 

[DayLaborer]

Donb01 (and everyone else who's been so helpful
!), I appreciate your reply.

I don't think that will work, though. Here's the weird thing - this is the only phone jack like that in the house. All of the rest of them work without any kind of adapter...

 

[donb01]

Yup - then it's easier to rewire the jack or just use an L1+L2 2-way splitter and plug into the L2 side... You can buy them at Wal-Mart or Radio Shack. What you have is actually kind of common in a home office type of an environment. You can have a 2-line phone and plug it into the L1+L2 hole, and hook one answering machine to the L1 hole for the residence and another to the L2 hole for the business, or vice-versa...

 

[DayLaborer]

All I really want is to know if anyone could point me (i.e. URL) to a 3 way splitter - so I plug the thing into my L2 side and end up with 3 usable jacks...

 

[phoneguyjr]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102901

Use this adapter plugged into the Middle port of the the adapter you have and you will have 3 ports of the new adapter at that point.

 

[DayLaborer]

Perfect! Thank you, all!!!