magicJack  and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Hacks Forum Index

magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Hacks


magicJack and magicJack Plus Unofficial Technical Support. Your Magic Jack and Magic Jack Plus phone service information resource
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Using magicjack for whole house



 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Hacks Forum Index -> magicJack Plus Support
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Henry180
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 7:29 am    Post subject: Using magicjack for whole house Reply with quote

I want to use my magicjack plus for every phone in my house by plugging it up to the telephone companies box on the outside of my house. When I do this it doesnt work, no dial tone, nothing. It works when plugged into a single phone. The magicjack is plugged into a wall outlet, not directly in the computer, then into my router.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
KMNugent52
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me


Joined: 14 Nov 2008
Posts: 100
Location: N.E. Georgia

PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Henry 180,
You must disconnect the house phone lines from the external tel-co connection or you run the risk of 'bricking' the Magic Jack (MJ) unit.
If you are using non-powered phones, you may need a USB hub to give the MJ unit enough power to ring all of your phones.
HTH -Kevin N.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
sabresfan
Dan Should Pay Me


Joined: 12 Feb 2009
Posts: 673
Location: Buffalo NY

PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would just get a cordless phone system. The prices have come down on them and you can place them wherever you want. I picked up a 6 phone cordless system off ebay for about $30. If you want whole house wiring search the forums here and there is a ton of info on it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Henry180
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I unplugged the telephone companies line and unplugged the magicjack into where I unplugged their line but that doesnt work. All of my phones are powered.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Henry180
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually I just noticed that the phone company jack only has two wires in it where my line has 4. Is there an adapter that can be used or something?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
greenman
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me


Joined: 20 Nov 2011
Posts: 268

PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Henry180 wrote:
Actually I just noticed that the phone company jack only has two wires in it where my line has 4. Is there an adapter that can be used or something?

There are any number of reasons why your line may not be working.
Hooking up you magicJack into the house can be a bit tricky, but I set it up in my house.

  1. It doesn't matter if you are using the two-wire phone cable or the four-wire cable. Any single-line phone only uses the two center-most wires as seen from the business-end of the RJ11 modular connector. The two outer wires in a four-wire phone cable are used for two-line phones. If your house is wired for two or more lines, the outer two wires in might then be useful for a phone that is capable of connecting to two lines. Most home phones don't have this. It won't matter to your phone if you use the two-wire cable or the four-wire cable.
  2. Check your REN load. If you have old phones, the Ringer Equivalence Number load may be too high. You've got too many handsets trying to use the magicJack's power to make them ring. Newer phones have extremely low REN's, thus reducing the overall REN load.
  3. Make sure to unplug your landline telephone service at the Network Interface Device (NID) on the outside of your home. Most people then just plug the magicJackplus into an unused wall jack, allowing all the phones in the house to pick up the signal. Instant repurposing of existing wires. Smile
  4. It's remotely possible that you may have to do some sort of cross-over connection in the wiring to make sure your magicJack is properly connected to your house phone wiring system. If you have the phone wires in the wrong polarity, it may cause problems. Buy a phone line polarity tester to make sure it's properly set. (About $5 online. You used to be able to buy them at RadioShack, but they've stopped carrying them.)
  5. There may be a fault in some of your wiring/cables. Check the continuity of your wiring.
  6. There may be other reasons specific to your home that the magicJack isn't working but the above will be the most common.

Good luck!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Sparki
magicJack Apprentice


Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 18
Location: Hells Canyon, WA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Years ago after getting rid of the telephone company service I powered up the house again with the original magic jack. That was when you had to put the 100k resistor across the line to get the caller ID to work properly. Since then I have moved into a different house after 22 years in the old one and this time I decided to rewire the phone lines in the whole house with new Cat5e cable and try the new Magic Jack Plus. That gives me 4 pair of nice twisted copper conductors inside of each cable and each room gets a cable. The cables get a breakout box on the phone end that has 4 rj11 jacks in it corresponding to the 4 pair of cat5e conductors. MJ+ gets channel 1. Channel 2 will be for experimenting with a sip to analog converter that I have that will provide dial tone as line 2. Channels 3 and 4 will be for an intercom or something else. All the phone cat5e cables come together in my server closet. I bought a 16 hole RJ45 plug block off of ebay meant for circuit board mounting that provides 16 holes for the phone cables to plug into. I point to point wired that 16 hole plug block so that all the cables are in parallel when you plug them in, meaning that each of the 4 channels go to each room. Intercom channels 3 and 4 can be changed and custom wired so that channel 3 can be the intercom channel and 4 can be a spare where you could hard wire it to provide a loop just between two rooms if you need such a thing. I mounted that jack panel high up on the wall and routed all the phone cables to it and plugged them in. Cleaned all male cable ends with thin oil on contacts and repeatedly plugged them in and out of home made jack panel to ensure good low impedance connection. Now there are about 4 desk phones and 3 cordless phones on the MJ+ net and all ring just fine and the Caller Id comes up on all of them without any resistor added. No hum. Clean sound. Thanks Magic Jack.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
max2198
magicJack Apprentice


Joined: 27 Feb 2009
Posts: 17

PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the phone box (NID)
next to the test jack should be 2 screws one red and one green
dissconnect all the wires from those screws if there are muliple wires connected you have to splice all of the green wires together with a wire nut and the same to the red wires then use a 2 line adapter on one of the jacks inside the house and plug the magicjack plus in that jack and all of the phones should be working (All of the Wireing that is from the phone comany must be dissconnected or dammage to the Magicjack can result)

how mine is set up i dissconnected the line from the NID outside I only had one set of wires i cut the ends off and taped them. then replaced one of the jacks with a double jack, plugged in the phone in one and the other I plugged in the Magicjack plus. i have 2 phones working. I have 2 phones one on the first floor and one in my room both phones work with caller id


Last edited by max2198 on Thu Jul 26, 2012 3:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dorlow
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 26 Jul 2012
Posts: 5

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have my magic jack plus plugged into my phone system in my house so all my phone jacks in the house are active. You don't need to plug it into the box outside your house. You just "backfeed" it into one phone jack in the house. Just plug the phone jack of the magic jack into one of the phone jacks you're not using. I just found the terminals in my house where all my phone jacks ran and ran another one to the desk where my modem and magicjack sit. All you're doing is running phone dialtone and the magic jack to the same one wire pair the rest of the phones are connected to. Super simple.

Now we don't have phone service. If you happen to pay for phone service and you wanted this to work before cancelling, so when you pickup a phone now you already have dialtone, then you need to get rid of that dialtone. I'd just disconnect it inside your house. Don't mess around with the wires outside your house.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
greenman
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me


Joined: 20 Nov 2011
Posts: 268

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dorlow wrote:
If you happen to pay for phone service and you wanted this to work before cancelling, so when you pickup a phone now you already have dialtone, then you need to get rid of that dialtone. I'd just disconnect it inside your house. Don't mess around with the wires outside your house.
For many people in the US, the Network Interface Device (NID) is outside, on the side of the house, often next to the electrical meter. If you don't disconnect your local copper line at the NID before connecting your magicJack or magicJack plus, you could seriously damage your magicJack. Why take the chance? Best to disconnect at the NID. Most modern single-home NID's include access for the home owner to connect or disconnect as appropriate. If this results in naked wires, cover them with electrical tape. If there is an rj11 plug adapter, wrap it in electrical tape. Close up the box with the disconnected wires carefully stowed inside the home-owner access port, and you're ready to add your magicJack from inside the house.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gene45
MagicJack Contributor


Joined: 11 Jul 2012
Posts: 59

PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use MJ+ plugged into a phone jack to power the whole house. It works fine. Previously I used a cell phone plugged in the same way.

I have never had a phone line to this house so disconnecting it was never an issue. You should be able to disconnect at the juction box where the main line comes in .
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
max2198
magicJack Apprentice


Joined: 27 Feb 2009
Posts: 17

PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the way I have mine set up the wires at the NID on the customers side are dissconnected . I have only one line attached to the two screws, then that line goes to a connection block in my basement also dissconneted.
I have the downstairs and the upstairs connected together only the upstairs has a double wall mount jack. the magicjack plus is connected to a surge protector connected to the phone port the line port goes to the double jack the other jack on the double jack I have a phone connected. both phones ring and caller id works
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
edknn123
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 29 Oct 2012
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just plug cord from mjp into any phone outlet...it will feed all the other outlets.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Hacks Forum Index -> magicJack Plus Support All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB Turbo Extended Edition © 2010, phpBB Group